Molecular Breeding

What if you had the ability to choose if your children had gills or not!?!? What if you could choose to have your children be immune to all diseases? despite what you think, this is not as science fiction as it sounds.

This article that we read talked about how people have been taking plants and genetically modifying them so they can do amazing things like survive in harsh environments and increase the resources that plant produces. A few things that i thought were really interesting about this article are that people have changed the physical properties of a certain rice plant and made it so that it can survive under water for up to two weeks. I also read in this article that two different breeds of corn can be so different that the relationship between humans and chimps are closer than the relationship between the breeds of corn.

Molecular breeding and genetic modification are a very controversial topic and a lot of people think it is very wrong. But I for one think that this is one of the best things i have heard of(in science). I mean who wouldn't wanna change life for the better? I am definitely on the genetic modification train.

Discrimination of the Genetically Diseased

A mother, pregnant with a baby that she did not know that had a genetic disease known as Down's syndrome. The mother also did not know that her unborn baby, her baby's babes, and several generations after them would grow up to be discriminated against by insurance companies. because of this disease this family will have a hard time finding protection if any protection for accidents that might happen in the future.

In the paper that I read in biology recently it talked about discrimination from insurance companies against people with genetic diseases. This paper talked about how people with these diseases are not able to have coverage under a lot of the insurance companies. Even if you don't have any of these diseases you can still be at risk. If you have anyone in your family that does have one of these diseases some insurance companies wont cover you because you're a liability.

After reading this i was not surprised. Now i don't think that this is right in the slightest. But all the insurance  companies are just businesses and their main goal is to make as much money as possible. So its not their fault that they have to discriminate. If these companies have coverage over people that are more likely to die thats just bad business. So what I'm saying is that i don't think its "right" to discriminate against anyone but i also think that insurance companies need to keep in mind what is best for the business

Convicted by Juries Exonerated by Science

One afternoon an 18 year old man was walking to the market. He

was spotted by a rape victim that thought that he was her 

rapist! He was kept behind bars for 27 years.

His name is Thomas Haynesworth. he was convicted of rape in 

1984. But he was an Innocent man

DNA fingerprinting was introduced in 1985 by an English 

geneticist named Alec Jeffreys. He found that some parts of DNA 

contained sequences that were repeated over and over again. He 

also discovered that these sections could differ from person to 

person. After Jefferys discovery, he invented a technique to 

examine the length variations so he could preform a test to 

prove someones identity. Sense then DNA finger printing has 

become very popular in the criminal justice department.

These storys we have watched over the past few days have been 

very touching. I had very little knowledge about wrongful 

convictions and this has really changed my views on our justice 

system. I will take away from this story an understanding of the 

corruption of our justice system. This unit also made me fully 

understand the full power of science, and the influence it has by 

making the evidence in a case very clear.

Lucy: chimp or human

We listened to a radio talk show about a chip named Lucy that raised like a human and was fairly intelligent. Lucy was raised by a man and a woman that were conducting an experiment that would determine if a chimp was raised by humans if it would act like a human. after a while the chimp started showing signs of human activity. after the chimp became to big for them to handle her they had to send her off to the wind. after a year of trying to find a place for her to stay, they decided on one of the Galapagos islands. scene they were so attached to Lucy they asked a graduate student to stay with Lucy until she able to survive on here own. Lucy could not adapt to the new internment so the grade student was not able to leave for a long time.

Lucy's transition into the wild was very difficult for her, during the transition she lost her hair, wouldn't eat, and would not find shelter for herself

This story showed me that chimps have an emotional capacity that I had never thought possible. This story made me sad. I really don't think that they should have kept Lucy in the first place because its wrong to take something or someone out of there natural habitat. Also i was amazed that Lucy drank gin and tonics and masterbate to Playgirl, i would have never guessed that she would do that.