Published: Saturday 14 january 2012
Level of difficulty:**
BEFORE YOU READ
1. What do you know about the latest developments in genetic engineering?
2. What are your feelings about these recent developments?
3. Have you heard the term synthetic biology? If you have, what exactly is it? If you have not, what do you think it is?
4. Read the title of the text. What is your first reaction? Why do you think such a species was created?
QUESTIONS
1. Freckles, the spider goat, is a product of .....................................................( Be specific)
2. Explain what synthetic biology is according to the information provided in the paragraph.
3. Randy sees no difference between breeding animals to produce milk for example and breeding animals to produce dragline silk because both procedures involve.........................
4. Wouldn’t it have been simpler to farm spiders? Why or Why not?
5. Why is Randy’s experiment getting so much financial support?
6. In paragraph 9, the writer refers to the “universality of this code”. Why is the code universal according to the text?
7. Now state clearly what the implications are concerning human health of synthetic biology.
8. In paragraph 10, what does “it” refer to in the phrase “It did live and it hadn’t lived before”
9. What was Venter’s purpose in creating Synthia?
10. In paragraph 12 ( second paragraph on page 3), what does “that” refer to in the phrase “that’s really the essence of synthetic biology”?
11. What is the greatest current problem in synthetic biology?
12. What is the advantage of the assassin cell over chemotherapy?
13. Why do you think synthetic biology enthusiasts are called bio-hackers? Use your own words.
14. How is synthetic bio-diesel produced?
15. Read the arguments against synthetic bio-diesel. What is the primary concern?
16. State clearly what the writer’s warning is concerning synthetic biology.
WRITING TASK
Write a paragraph or an essay detailing your views concerning synthetic biology
SYNTHETIC BILOGY AND THE RISE OF” THE SPIDER GOATS”
KEY AND TEACHER’S NOTES
This wonderful text describes the very latest in genetic engineering and will therefore appeal to science majors. I do advise you to trawl through www.ted.com/talks for related videos to watch before or after to spice up the lesson or prepare a mini power point presentation. The task and the text are relatively straight forward but can be attempted as a pre writing activity even if it is too simple due to the wow factor.
KEY
1. Crossbreeding
2. Putting living things back together but not necessarily as evolution decread, and certainly without the clumsy constraints of mating.
3. Breeding animals to produce things we want.
4. Yes but they are very cannibalistic
5. Spider silk can be used in ligament repair, it is very strong, you can put it in the body and you don’t get inflamation or get ill.
6. All life is based on an alphabet of just four letters, which when arranged...
7. Identifying the genetic basis of all cancers...
8. Synthia
9. To create a living template on to which new genetic functions could be built.
10. Taking what we understand in computing and applying it to programming biology.
11. The baffling “noise” in the molecules that make up living organisms. Make sure to ask them what noise means; it is in the second half of the sentence.
12. The assassin cell destroys the tumour whereas chemo both the tumour and healthy cells. Assassins are snipers and chemo is a blundrbuss is unacceptable. An answer needs to be explicit in itself without requiring additional explanation.
13. Open ended. Possible answer: synthetic biologists also disrupt genetic codes like hackers do.
14. By modifying brewers yeast so that instead of fermenting sugar to produce alcohol, diesel seeps out of every cell.
15. The fact that synthetic biodiesel organisms need food.
16. Without an informed public discource, fear of this unprecedented and sometimes unsettling technology may hinder the world changing promiss it harbours.
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