2015-04-23 Evening: genetic engineering

Greg Malivuk
[email protected]
http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk
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Homework: p. 70-74: reading and questions
p. 74 A - 1, 5, 7
p. 72 B
1 physics
2 revered and feared
3 They compared it to the physicist's power to break apart atoms.
4 disease-causing capabilities capable of seriously disrupting human civilization
(dread = fear very greatly)
5 mostly unregulated but
6 human germ-cell manipulation is still off-limits
7 “No governmental body wants to take responsibility for initiating steps that might help redirect the course of future human evolution.”
8 “‘superpersons’ whose far-ranging talents would make those who are genetically unmodified feel redundant and unwanted”
9 in plants - “much the way we can already protect plants from viruses by inserting antiviral DNA segments into their genomes”
10 “as special only by those in their immediate circles and are likely to pass as unnoticed in later life”
11 “better procedures must be developed before more couples commit their psyches toward such unsettling pathways to producing healthy children”
p. 73 part C
1 c
2 a
3 c
4 b
5 c
6 a (We also have the expression, “It cuts both ways.”) [the euphemism for bisexuality is “swing both ways”]
7 b
8 a
9 a
10 c
11 b
12 c
13 b
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“If, however, the added genetic material fails to work, better procedures must be developed before more couples commit their psyches toward such unsettling pathways to producing healthy children.”
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Rosalind Franklin - the woman whose photography techniques Watson and Crick used to “discover” the structure of DNA and win the Nobel Prize
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“cross the Rubicon” - pass the point of no return
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p. 67 part A
1 b
2 c
part B
1 future (“which may predict…”
2 now
3 future
4 now
5 future (when this was recorded)
6 future
7 now
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p. 68-70 - listen again and write the words you hear
1 figured
2 raise
3 foretell (= predict = prophesy, sort of)
4 predictions
5 lifespan
6 predictors
7 fabric
8 gauge
9 mapped
10 implications
11 manipulate
12 stripes
13 ramifications
14 spine
15 stellar
16 be stricken
17 certainty (the noun from “certain”)
18 predispositions
19 hold
20 cut
21 distressing
22 probability
23 reluctance
24 screenings
25 routine
26 panicking (trafficking, picnicking, etc.)
27 specter
28 discriminate
29 contract
30 catalogued
31 souls
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Homework: Read and think about the questions on the handout (and below), and if you can, answer at least the yes/no questions (we will discuss these questions in class on Tuesday).

Do you think we should clone animals?
Would you ever clone a pet?
What problems could cloning animals solve?
What problems could cloning animals create?
Do you think food should be genetically modified?
What do you think about eating meat from cloned animals?
Do you think we should clone people?
Do you think human cloning might already be possible?
Would you ever clone yourself?
You have the option to be cloned after you die. Would you do it?
What problems could cloning people solve?
What problems could cloning people create?
Do you have beliefs that speak out against cloning?
If we could clone dinosaurs like Jurassic Park, would you want to?
How about if we could clone ancient humans, like Neanderthals or the early homo sapiens? Would you want to clone ancient humans?
What if science could clone famous people like Albert Einstein or Leonardo Da Vinci? Do you think they would be as successful if they were brought back as clones?