due dates are at the end of each week

Written Assignment: Biology and Technology in the Real World

Addresses course outcomes 1-4:

recognize and explain how the scientific method is used to solve problems

make observations and discriminate between scientific and pseudoscientific explanations

weigh evidence and make decisions based on strengths and limitations of scientific knowledge and the scientific method

use knowledge of biological principles, the scientific method, and appropriate technologies to ask relevant questions, develop hypotheses, design and conduct experiments, interpret results, and draw conclusions

1. Select one of the topics listed below (a-e).

2. Find at least three reliable information sources related to your chosen topic. You are encouraged to use the UMUC library in your search: https://libguides.umgc.edu/science .

3. Write a paper with title page, introduction, several paragraphs addressing the questions, conclusion and references. You must write in your own words and paraphrase information from the selected information sources, addressing each of the questions for your chosen topic. Your paper should consist of less than 10% direct quotes. Your paper should be 750-1500 words, excluding references and title page. Use APA style for references: https://sites.umgc.edu/library/libhow/apa_tutorial.cfm

4. Submit your assignment to the Assignment folder by the due date listed in the course schedule.

a) Stem cells. Your friend has suffered a spinal cord injury after a bad car accident. The medical team has decided that he is a good candidate for a clinical trial using stem cell therapy. Your friend has not had a biology course since high school, so you decide to write him a letter sharing your knowledge of stem cells. Include in your letter a description of the biology of stem cells and how these cells are unique from other cells. Contrast the different types of stem cells, including pros and cons for each type. Explain how stems cells can be used to treat diseases and injury, with special focus on spinal cord injuries. Include information from at least one research study or clinical trial. Conclude with your own opinion.

b) Genetically modified organisms (GMOs). A friend tells you that she avoids foods containing GMOs because they are unhealthy. You decide to use the knowledge gained from your biology class and some additional research to form your own opinion on GMOs. Answer the following questions backed up by reliable information sources. What is the purpose of genetically engineering of crop plants? Include at least two specific examples of commonly grown GMO crops. How are GMOs created? Use the provided course materials and make a connection to the central dogma of molecular biology in your explanation. Which foods in your supermarket contain GMOs? Are foods that contain GMOs safe for human consumption? What types of regulations exist for these foods? Clearly explain your reasoning for each answer in your paper and conclude whether or not you agree with your friend.

c) Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) has been the most recent breakthrough discovery in bioengineering that enables scientists to edit DNA. Because you have studied biology in this course, you have volunteered at your niece’s Middle School Science Club to monitor a student debate about CRISPR. The students will be watching the following video before the discussion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=252&v=2pp17E4E-O8 and you need to be prepared in case there are any questions. Please research and write an answer to each of the following questions: What is “CRISPR”? What role does Cas9 play in the CRISPR process? How does the CRISPR-Cas9 system snip and replace any DNA sequence? What are the potential benefits and drawbacks of gene editing? Include specific examples. Do you believe that the inherent risks of modifying animal DNA is worth the rewards? Explain. Do you believe that it is ethical to genetically engineer humans and/or animals? Explain.

d) Vaccines. Your friend is worried about the many vaccines that his newborn son is scheduled to receive and asks you for advice since you are taking a biology course. Start with an explanation of how vaccines work. Briefly contrast the traditional methods used to create vaccines with more recently used biotechnology techniques. Then list some of the diseases that babies and children in the US are routinely vaccinated against. How has vaccinations impacted the frequency of these diseases over the past 100 years? Why are some people worried about giving their children vaccines? Is there scientific evidence to support these concerns? Conclude with advice to your friend in regard to getting the recommended vaccines based on what you learned from reliable information sources.

e) Fracking (hydraulic fracturing) and tar sands (oil sands). With society’s dependence on nonrenewable fossil fuels, the oil & gas industry is turning to hydraulic fracturing and tar (oil) sands to extract natural gas and oil. A friend asks you “What’s all this controversy in the news about fracking and tar sands?” Briefly explain to your friend how hydraulic fracturing and tar (oil) sands are used to obtain these fossil fuels. Then, in more detail, describe the environmental problems that may result from these processes and why they are controversial. Issues that should be addressed involves water, air and soil pollution with special focus on global climate change, effects on human health, and effects on other species and natural ecosystems. Finally, give your opinions on possible solutions to these environmental problems, with your reasoning backed by information from reliable information sources.

Week 4 discussion

Discussion 1

As regular users of the World Wide Web, both for personal and instructional purposes, we all share a concern over the accuracy of information available on the Internet. Indeed, one of the Internet’s most powerful and novel features (its ability to provide a world-wide forum for the ideas, opinions and beliefs of anyone with access to a server) can also be one of its biggest liabilities.

Many members of the scientific community have made statements to the effect that scientific information on the Web is often inaccurate, flawed or unreliable. However, as scientists we are trained to be skeptical of generalizations until we have data to support them.

Many people would argue that a teacher’s most important role is to build/develop a student’s skills in CRITICAL THINKING and CRITICAL READING. This creates a student who can teach themselves, enabling lifelong learning.

One of the Internet’s potential liabilities (its ability to provide false or inaccurate information at the click of a button) also creates an opportunity to build and reinforce skills in CRITICAL THINKING and CRITICAL READING.

For this week, I want you to do a little web research. Choose a topic, perhaps something like “Smoking and Cancer”. Limit your topics to the sciences. Use your favorite search engine and look at the first several items that come up. For “smoking and cancer” on Google the first item that comes up is a bunch of ads (unfortunately), then this –

Smoking and cancer |

Cancer Research UK

www.cancerresearchuk.org/…cancer/…cancer/smoki…

Cancer Research UK

Smoking is the most preventable cause of cancer in the world. Smoking account for more than 1 in 4 UK cancer deaths. Quit smoking and reduce your risk.

‎How smoking causes cancer – ‎Smoking facts and evidence – ‎Passive smoking

On Bing, I get this, after the ads –

smoking causes cancer – National Cancer Institute

www.cancer.gov › … › Causes and Prevention › Risk Factors › Tobacco

A fact sheet that lists some of the cancer-causing chemicals in tobacco smoke and describes the health problems caused by cigarette smoking and the benefits of …

I want you to look at the article that comes up for your search and evaluate it for suitability of the reference. Use the following questions to guide your conference post.

Look at the scope of the article (does it cover the subject appropriately)

Who it the targeted to (is it a scholarly article, or is it written for a lay person)

The timeliness of the article (is the information current)

The authority of the article (who is writing it).

What about the documentation of the article (does it site other good references).

Finally, is the article objective.

http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/instruct/guides/evaluation.html This is the reference that inspired these questions and will provide an expanded explanation of the questions. This discussion was inspired by an article on evaluating the accuracy of scientific information on the internet by Dr. Jory Weintraub, as a matter of fact I pulled some of this discussion from Dr. Weintraub’s article.

Discussion 2

:

Sexual Reproduction

Why do you think that sexual reproduction is considered a pillar of evolutionary advancement? Practically all species (except the most simple) have the ability to reproduce sexually. What do you think are the evolutionary advantages of sexual as opposed to asexual reproduction?

Week 5 discussion

Discussion 1

Last week you looked at the web resources and the quality of the information that you can find on the web. This week, it is important to continue the lessons that you learned last week by comparing scientific and non-scientific sources of information and asking whether the information in those sources are scientifically sound. Meaning do they have a solid scientific foundation. You can use the article/site you found last week as one of your articles/sites, or you can find two new articles/sites. One should be from a scientific source such as: a scientific journal (e.g.; Science; Popular Science; Nature); a government web site (e.g.: National Cancer Institute; FDA; CDC); or a recognized national organization (e.g.; Cancer Research Foundation; Susan G. Komen Foundation; etc.). The non-scientific source and be from any non-scientific source… they should be easy to find, usually they are trying to sell you something at the end of their article.

Compare them. Think about the sources of their information. Are their sources of information credible? Did they employ the scientific method? Is their scientific foundation to be trusted?

For this week’s discussion you can either post the web links to your papers/sites or the PDFs of your papers/sites.

State the scientific question the two papers/sites are trying to answer.

State the methods the papers/sites showed to get to their conclusions.

State whether you believe the articles have a solid scientific foundation. Why? Why not?

Also, as an aside, just because information is from a non-scientific source doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have a scientific foundation… they sometimes do. Critically evaluate both resources.

Discussion 2

Explain how personal habits and individual choices can affect a person’s risk of developing cancers. Do you have a personal habit and/or an individual choice that affects your risk of developing cancer?

Week 6 discussion

In the online text we are learning some interesting things about macroevolution and speciation.

These are some kick-off questions for the discussion. You can answer one or two of them, or propose your own questions based on the reading.

What is macroevolution?

What is speciation? How do new species arise?

What is a mass extinction? Why would/does it happen?

What is a taxonomy of an organism? What is phylogeny?

What did you think of these sections? Are the sections making you think about genetic diversity and the evolution of species over our planet’s time?

Week 7 discussion

Discussion 1

During the summer of 1988, lightning ignited huge forest fires that burned a large portion of Yellowstone National Park. The National Park Service has a natural-burn policy: Fires that start naturally are allowed to burn unless they endanger human settlements. The fires were allowed to spread and burn while firefighters primarily protected people. The public accused the park service of letting a national treasure go up in flames. Park service scientists stuck with natural-burn policy. Do you think this was the best decision? Support your position.

Remembering the 1988 Yellowstone Fires

Discussion 2

As we read this week’s readings and look at the news one can feel like everything is going wrong… oil spills, organic wastes, thermal pollution, landfills, and acid rain.

For this week’s discussion pick an environmental problem you’ve found in the online readings, say chlorofluorocarbon damage to the ozone, describe the problem, then describe how we can be part of the solution. What can we do to save our planet and protect our fragile biosphere?