Extra Credit Bioethics Reading

Summary:

There are currently around 29,000 rhinos worldwide. In the last five years, poaching for rhino horns has increased dramatically  putting them in danger of becoming extinct.  Luckily, there is a new 3D printing technology that is capable of creating synthetic rhino horns. By engineering yeast cells to produce the same keratins found in rhino horns. Scientists can combine these keratins with trace elements of rhino DNA, and use the resulting material as an ink in a 3D printing process. The finished product is one with identical physical, genetic, and spectrographic properties as a wild horn.

Benefits: Currently, rhinos are dying at much higher rates than they are being born. With the development of 3D printing technology, fewer Rhinos will be poached and killed for their horns. Also, the illegal market for rhino horns will go away completely.  

Risks: Many people believe rhino horns are able to be used as a blood cleanser, fever reducer, hangover cure and even cancer treatment. The issue is, producing the synthetic horns reinforces the idea that they have some medicinal value when there isn’t any scientific evidence to support it. The past few years, scientists and conservationists have been denying that rhino horns have any medicinal value in attempts to discourage people from poaching them. But, if we continue to incorporate the 3D printers, we are only diverting additional attention away from more tested approaches to combating the issue.

My Position: In order to save more rhinos lives, we should keep 3D printing. Although there are many people who discourage the production of synthetic rhino horns. With the number of poachings increasing each year, using 3D printers is the most efficient way to stop a large number of rhino deaths.  

Works Cited

"3D Rhino Horns – Conservation or Exploitation?" PlanetSave. N.p., 06 July 2015. Web. 27 Jan. 2016. <http://planetsave.com/2015/07/06/3d-rhino-horns-conservation-or-exploitation/>.

The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2016. <http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/synthetic-rhino-horns-are-being-3d-printed-in-an-effort-to-defeat-poachers-10334751.html>.

N.p., n.d. Web. <http://wildtech.mongabay.com/2016/01/could-synthetic-rhino-horns-help-save-the-rhino/ >.

Unit 6 Reflection

This unit is about different types of Biotechnology. We learned about Biotechnology, the study and manipulation of living things, specifically the understanding of DNA, proteins, and inheritance. We also learned about the four applications of Biotechnology. 

I felt like I learned gained a strong understanding about exactly what Biotechnology is and it is applied. I struggled in the lesson about Recombinant DNA because of the different types of technology and I had issues understanding the different sequences because there are so many letters for me to try to process.

The labs that we did include:

• The Recombinant DNA Lab:

In this lab, we learned about Recombinant DNA and about antibiotic resistance in relation to recombinant plasmids. In addition, we learned about enzymes and their relations to plasmids and cell DNA.

• The Electrophoresis Lab and Candy Lab

In this lab, we learned about the conductivity of artificial and natural dyes. Also, we learned about each dyes' charge. The color yellow was moving closer to the negative cathode because it was more positively charged than the other colors.

• The pGLO Lab

In this lab, we learned that when the pGLO was positively charged and has ampicillin added to it, the most colonies appeared. When arabinose was added, fewer colonies appeared. Under the UV light, the colonies were purplish white or greenish white.

I want to learn more about other chemicals that would increase the number of colonies. I wonder why the charge of the plate affects a number of colonies on the plate. 

For the next step in my New Years Goal, I will research the different types of Tesla motors and electric powered engines. I will create a model engine, and label the different parts of the engine. On a separate piece of paper, I will explain the different functions of each part. To become an eagle scout, I will be a good listener, work hard and be a good team player. 

pGLO lab

pGLO Observations , Data Recording & Analysis

1.

Obtain your team plates.  Observe your set of  “+pGLO” plates under room light and with UV light.  Record numbers of colonies and color of colonies. Fill in the table below. Plate Number of Colonies Color of colonies under room light Color of colonies under   UV light - pGLO LB 0 none none - pGLO LB/amp 0 none none + pGLO LB/amp 6 none purplish white + pGLO LB/amp/ara 2 none greenish white

2.	What two new traits do your transformed bacteria have?
	Each got the plasmid and the bacteria they also create a colony and they were green when you flash the fluorescent light on it.
3.	Estimate how many bacteria were in the 100 uL of bacteria that you spread on each plate. Explain your logic.
	We were spreading from one  bacteria to the petri dish.
4.	What is the role of arabinose in the plates?
	It got the plasmid to glow green that was protein plasmid that grew in  all of the colonies in the petri dish.
5.	List and briefly explain three current uses for GFP (green fluorescent protein) in research or applied science.
	One use is to use green fluorescent protein as an indicator to see if the organism got another desired trait. Another use for green fluorescent protein in animals as protection. Another use for green fluorescent protein is glow sticks.
6.	Give an example of another application of genetic engineering.

              Seed Companies genetically seeds so that they are resistant diseases and pesticides.

           

 

Candy Electrophoresis Lab

Candy Electrophoresis Lab

1. They all were the same color as the reference dyes.a.Yes, the yellow band faded more than the reference band.

b.The blue reference faded more than the reference.

c.In the yellow candy band, we started to get a slight shade of blue.

d.blue and yellow moved towards the cathode.

These dyes were probably artificial dyes, the same as the reference dyes, as they all moved similarly as the reference dyes.

2.Dyes that moves towards a positive charge are usually artificial dyes. The yellow and the blue dyes moved in an opposite direction towards the negative charge. All of the reference dyes moved from the wells. Fast green FCF and citrus red 2 would move in a similar direction because they are artificial.

3. They used artificial colors in dog food to preserve the nutrients and to make the food look like food that is appetizing to dogs.

4. One reason why artificial food coloring is preferable to natural food coloring is that artificial food coloring lasts longer and might be cheaper to produce.

FD&C Dye	Color	Natural Alternative	Source of Natural Dye
FD&C Blue 1	Blue	Natural Blue Dye	vegetable juice
FD&C Green  3	Green	Natural Green Dye	spinach
FD&C Red 3,	Red	Natural Red Dye	beet juice
FD&C Yellow  5	Yellow	Natural Yellow Dye	turmeric

5.What two factors control the distance the colored dye solutions migrate?

1. Charge of the dye
2. the size of the dye

         

6.The force that helps move the dyes through the gel is the electrical current which drives the  force of attraction between negative charges and positive charges ( the negatively charged dyes are pulled towards the positive cathode and the positively charged dyes move towards the negative cathode).

7.The electrical current of the electrophoresis system  causes the molecules to move by charge and the gelatin that the molecule is put in causes the molecules to separate by size. The electric current makes the molecule move but the smaller the molecule is faster it can move through the gel compared to the bigger molecules. That is how they are separated by size.

8. The DNA molecules would separate by size with the lightest DNA molecule to travel the most distance ( 600). The way they separate in the order of the largest distance to the shortest distance is 600, 1000,2000, and 5,000 daltons.

Recombinant DNA lab

In this lab, we learned about recombinant DNA. It would provide resistant to Kanamycin resistance for antibiotics would this plasmid provide resistance would be important. I think antibiotic resistance would be important because it help protect from harmful diseases. I didn't use Ava II and Hin dIII, Bam HI, Bgl II, Hpa II,  Sac I, Xma I and Asp II and LIGASE because it doesn't work because each different restriction enzyme. The 3 antibiotic were tetracycline, kanamycin, and ampicillin in each trial I had to be aware of whether these are resistant. The one we used was Eco RI because it was the closest.

New Year's Goal

1. I will complete my 20% time project in Biology. I will write out the scientific method for completing the 20% time project. I will research Tesla Motors and electric powered engines.

2. I will become a eagle scout before I graduate from high school.





I am currently First Class in Boy Scouts.