Week 2 Prompted Post: Blog vs. Scholarly Article

While I was searching for more information on biomedical engineering, I came across two different sources- a blog and a scholarly article. Both were about two completely different topics. The blog post was about a researcher turning a HP Touchpad Tablet into a MRI Lab and the article was about how a biomedical engineer from Boston University has reprogrammed organisms to have improved functions.

An example of these improved functions discussed in the article is a reprogrammed organism that is able to convert sunlight or biomass into fuels of interest. Unfortunately, for every $1 worth of fuel it can cost $4 to make (Collins 1). What is so interesting about this synthetic biology is the fact that it could have major uses in the medical field.

The blog post talks about how Andrew B. Holbrook, a bioengineering research associate from Stanford, with the help of TouchPad hardware engineers has created a more plastic version of the HP Touchpad Tablet with a lot less glue. Electrical equipment is kept away from the MRI machine so that it doesn't cause interference because of the strong magnetic field that a MRI produces, but since this new version of the HP Touchpad is made almost entirely of plastic it doesn't cause any interferences with the MRI ("Biomedical" 1). This innovation has brought many advantages to the MRI lab including a high-powered HP server system.

I immediately noticed very big differences between the two sources of information. The blog was much easier to understand and was meant for an audience such as I who doesn't know much about the field of biomedical engineering.The blog was still very informative, but kept it simple while having great descriptions of how this new invention would have great uses in the MRI lab. The article, however, had very advanced language that was way over my head and was obviously meant for professionals in the field. I think that to completely understand what the article was trying to say you would need to have studied biomedical engineering for a good while.

Works Cited

"Biomedical Researcher Turns HP TouchPad Tablet to MRI Lab." Biomedical Engineering. 

N.p. 9 December 2011. Web. 12 September 2013

Collins, James. "Circuit Capacity: a Boston University biomedical engineer, Collins reprograms organisms to endow them with novel or improved functions. Nature Outlook asks him how things are evolving." Nature Outlook 483.7387 (2012): S11. Print.