G: In sci-fi films, directors highlight the importance of symbolic codes in promoting ideas in such films. R: In the 1997 film, Gattaca, the director Andrew Nicoll, presents viewers with a seemingly utopian film, where the people featured in the film are genetically engineered to create a perfect society where their genetics determine their jobs and social status. O: Nicoll uses symbolic codes such as a crucifix/infinite symbol, a staircase shaped as a genetic ladder and bars to…
about to agree if our talents and personalities come from our parent or environment. The coding of genes in each cell in humans determine the different traits that we have, more physical attributes dominance like ear size, eye colour, height, hair colour and other traits. However, it is still unknown whether our abstract attributes like sexual orientation, intelligence, preferences, personality are gene-coded in our DNA. Therefore, this essay is going to analyse the nature vs nurture debate from…
We, as a society, should always be moving forward and bettering ourselves, but is genetic manipulation the best way to do it? Gene editing can help cure fatal diseases in children however it could be possible for parents to choose their children’s personality traits. Science should be used to better a person’s life, not determine it. It is not a moral obligation of a parent to screen out “personality flaws” but it is a parent’s moral obligation if they want to cure their child of sickle cell…
The Difference in Frogs Humans are all under the same general specification of Homo sapiens, but they are all different from height all the way to thoughts. The same goes for any other types of species with the same universal name. Each are disparate like frogs for example. The term frog is a synonym to its more specific name: Amphibians. Both of these names are umbrella terms for these animals. Yet, there are many different varieties of frogs such as the Turtle Frog and the Clawed Frog.…
lifetimes that could change the appearance and biological structure of ourselves, with the changing of one specific gene. This is soon becoming an everyday reality as technology advances with the development of a gene editing tool called CRISPR (Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) which will make gene editing faster, more reliable, and cost effective. Although, current gene editing techniques cost tens of thousands of dollars for a vast amount of applications and therapies…
Drosophila melanogaster is also known as the fruit fly. It “has played a central role in developmental biology during the twentieth century”. The fruit fly is considered a model organism for many reasons. Drosophila is low maintenance creatures that are easy to care for. Since they are such a small size, scientists are able to control numerous amounts of the Drosophila melanogaster at any given time. Drosophila reproduces many offspring and the offspring are created in a very fast fourteen-day…
of genes within and across species boundaries to produce improved or different organisms. There’s all kinds of benefits to genetic engineering starting with genetic therapy according to Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia genetic therapy is the alteration of germ cells, that is, sperm or eggs, which results in a permanent genetic change for the whole organism and subsequent generations. Applying such “germ line gene therapy” to humans raises profound ethical…
Similar to the example of Huntington’s Disease mentioned above, the idea of using genetic therapy as “the only hope of cure” (Gene Therapy, 207) applies to a variety of different diseases. For example, Meredith and Derek are expecting a child and both are carriers of the gene for sickle cell anemia. They want to make sure their child, Ellie, does not have this disease because the chances is very likely. Because there are safe and effective technologies…
Smaller sized prey would be able to find hiding spots, and would be more likely to survive and reproduce. The result would be that genes associated with small size would become more common in future generations. An example of this is an owl hunting for field mice. The large field mice would have a difficult time finding a hiding place; however, the small sized field mice could hide…
Rhetorical Analysis A paper that I have written called, “To Modify or not to Modify?: An Argument for Genetically Modified Crops”, presents an argument in support of GM crops. In order to investigate the quality of the paper, I will analyze my own writing. Here I will look back on my writing, and give an rhetorical analysis regarding the persuasiveness of my argument, as well as the effects of the argument on others. The main argument of the paper defended the safety of genetically modified…