Inquiry in the Natural World -             Spring, 2005

Student Guide:  Topic 11:   Why do we resemble our parents?

 

Topic Objectives

  1. Know the fact that humans have been aware for centuries that certain traits are passed on to successive generations and have used that information for selective animal breeding and plant grafting.
  2. Know the various early theories governing reproduction and heredity.
  3. Know that Mendel discovered the mechanism by which genes are transmitted from one generation to the next; not how genes act.
  4. Understand that the discovery of DNA eventually led to a basic understanding of how genes act, summarized in the central dogma: DNA makes RNA which makes proteins.  Genes are a blueprint for making proteins.
  5.  Know that our current understanding of genetics provides us with the ability to manipulate genes in a way that can be both useful and potentially harmful.
  6. Understand that the mechanistic view of inheritance has led to views that genes control everything, especially their own survival.

 

Wednesday,  April 27 - Lecture in Murphy:  Reading assignment:  "Introduction to Genetics, pp. 1-14, Genetics, A Conceptual Approach, B. A. Pierce, 2nd ed., W. H. Freeman & Co., 2005.

Points for discussion: 

1) Contrast the incredible diversity of life with the remarkable similarity underlying each

    organisms genome; its common format and common coding system, making   

    recombinant DNA possible.

2) Why are we so willing to take drugs manufactured by genetic engineering while

    genetically engineered foods remain controversial?     

 

Friday, April 29 - Reading assignment:  "Will Genetics Destroy Sports?"  Michael Behar, Discover Mag., pp. 41-45,  2004.

Points for discussion: 

1) Should gene therapy be limited to treating life-threatening genetic disorders?  What

    about conditions that are not life-threatening; but severely disabling?  Should the

    therapy be permitted to enhance physical or mental performance?

2) Should gene therapy be considered as just another form of medical therapy?

 

Monday, May 2 - Reading assignment:  "A Question of Genes: Inherited Risks", Educator's Guide, Oregon Public Broadcasting,  11 pages.  1997.

Points for discussion: 

1) Case Studies 1-7.

 

Wednesday, May 4 - Reading assignment:  "God's Utility Function", Richard Dawkins, Scientific American, pp. 78-85, Nov., 1995.

Points for discussion:

1) Dawkins use of the concepts of reverse engineering and utility function to conclude

    that DNA is "selfish" and callously indifferent to suffering.