Genetic engineering

HeeY..
Håber der en en som vil ret det her til mig, da jeg skal aflevere den imorgen. Det er sådan en lille synopsis opgave. hvis jeg har svaret nogle af spørgsmålene forkert, håber jeg at i vil gør mig opmærksom, tak..


Mathematics, biology and chemistry
Beginning/introduction (der skal står indledning, hvad skal jeg bruge Beginning/introduction)
“Genetic Engineering” by Larry Gonick is an adult comic strip that describes the complex of science, or more precisely gene manipulation. With the phrase “Genetic Engineering” we mean; manipulation, cloning and the research of genetics.
Problem wording/formulation: (der skal står problemformulering, hvad skal jeg så brug wording/formulation?)
The problem attitudes are: (problemstillingerne er)
• What relevance does the enclosed material have to above mentioned disciplines?
• What attitude does it express towards science?
• What are the consequences?
• What are the causes of population explosion?
• What causes decrease in population in some parts of the world?
• How many people are there in the world at the present time?
• What is plutonium and polonium 210?
• What is protein and proton?
• What are stem cells?
• What is genetic engineering?
Her skal stå delkonklusioner, hvordan siger man på engelsk?

What relevance does the enclosed material have to above mentioned disciplines, what attitude does it express towards science and what are the consequences?
Larry Gonick explains how genetic engineering has become big business and how scientists only think about money when they start a new research project. They are driven by money and personal ambitions. Larry Gonick uses irony and sarcasm to explain his opinion about genetic engineering.
The scientists are playing with life itself, for instance when they are modifying the structure of a germ, and maybe this germ is deadly to its environment. All the positive consequence of gene manipulation has certain reservations and he tries very successfully to see both sides of the aspect. Genetic engineering can revolutionize the medical sector in the near future. Nowadays the help of genetic engineering would be able to cure incurable diseases like Aids or cancer if we develop it further. Also viruses, allergies and hereditary diseases could be cured. Not only these dangerous diseases will disappear, but also common illnesses could be cured by genetic engineering. But we should still consider that in the worst case these germs can transform into “monsters”.
Another result of biotechnology is the practicable application in food production. In highly developed countries the genetic manipulation of some vegetables has already been tested, but the real need of genetically manipulated food exists in developing countries, where there is a big need of food. The problem is that many vegetables can’t grow in those areas, because of the climatic conditions. This problem could be settled by genetic engineering and as a result of this the famine in the world could nearly vanish.
A very current problem that also involves genetic engineering is biological weapons like anthrax. With very few funds you can develop a lethal weapon that is capable of paralysing all people with fear.

What are the causes of population explosion?
The ‘’population Explosion’’ explores the effects of increasing plant population density on growth, development and reproduction.
The Earth’s human population density grows, there is increasing competition for resources, including food, space and energy.
Once a country has industrialized and become wealthy, a combination of government regulation and technological innovation causes pollution to decline substantially, even as the population continues to grow.
Many Third World countries simply lack the economic or infrastructural base to provide a rising standard of living for most of their people, especially in Africa, the Arab world, and parts of Latin America.

What causes decrease in population in some parts of the world?
Population decline is a decrease in a region's population. It can be caused by sub-replacement fertility, heavy emigration, or more dramatically disease, famine, or war. In the past, population decline was mostly caused by disease. The Black Death in Europe and the arrival of Old World diseases to the Americas all caused massive population declines.
In biology, population decline of a species is usually described as a result of gradually worsening environmental factors, such as prolonged drought or loss of inhabitable areas for the studied species. These, or other factors, may lead to a small population, in which case genetic factors may become dominant in the survival, or extinction of a population.
Under-population is recognized when there are more resources in an area (for example, food, energy and minerals) than can be used by the people living there. Hence, the maximum human potential of that area is not realized as the resources are not fully exploited. Countries like Canada and Australia can export the surplus of food, energy, and mineral resources, have high incomes, good living conditions and level of technology and immigration.
However, when making comparisons on a global scale, there does not seem to be any direct correlation between population density and over- or under-population. For example, Brazil is 'over-populated' with two people per square kilometer, whereas portions of California may have further carrying capacity with over 500 people per square kilometer. Therefore, this is related to the amount of available resources. Similarly, population density is not necessarily related to the GDP per capita. The Netherlands and Germany, for example, both have a high GDP per capita and a high population density whereas Canada and Australia have a high GDP per capita and a low population density, while Bangladesh has low GDP per capita and a high population density, etc.¨

How many people are there in the world at the present time?
According to estimates published by the United States Census Bureau, the world population hit 6.5 billion (6,500,000,000).

What is plutonium and polonium 210?
Plutonium is a radioactive, metallic chemical element. It has the symbol Pu and the atomic number 94. It is the element used in most modern nuclear weapons. The most significant isotope of plutonium is 239Pu, with a half-life of 24,100 years. It can be made from natural uranium and is fissile. The most stable isotope is 244Pu, with a half-life of about 80 million years, long enough to be found in extremely small quantities in nature. In fact, 244Pu is the nucleon-richest atom that naturally occurs in the Earth's crust, albeit in small traces.
Polonium is a chemical element that has the symbol Po and atomic number 84. A rare and highly radioactive metalloid, polonium is chemically similar to tellurium and bismuth, and it occurs in uranium ores. Polonium has been studied for possible use in heating spacecraft. It is unstable; all isotopes of polonium are radioactive.

What is protein and proton?
Proteins are made of strings of amino acids that form chains known as peptides. Our bodies need dietary protein to accomplish many basic functions, such as building bones, moving muscles, and repairing tissue. Dietary protein, an essential nutrient, comes from meat, dairy, and certain grains and beans.
Foods from plants, like corn, have incomplete protein, which means they do not contain all the necessary amino acids. Only food from animals, such as cheese and fish, provide complete protein, and don't need to be combined with other protein sources. Examples of complete protein foods are milk, cheese, yogurt, butter, poultry, pork, or any meat. Incomplete proteins include oats, wheat, pasta, lentils, nuts, rice, soy, pears, and seeds. Eating a combination of complementary protein sources, such as grains mixed with legumes, results in a diet of essential protein. This is how vegetarians and vegans maintain health without eating meat or dairy.
A proton is a subatomic particle found in the nucleus of all conventional atoms. The only place you can find matter without protons is in a neutron star or the core of powerful particle accelerators. The proton has a positive charge, which balances out the negative charge in atoms, electrons. If an atom has an imbalance of protons or neutrons, it is no longer neutral and becomes a charged particle, also known as an ion.
The proton was discovered by Ernest Rutherford in 1918. He fired alpha particles, which are essentially helium nuclei without electrons, into a nitrogen gas. His detectors found the characteristic signature of hydrogen nuclei being produced. After thinking about it for a while, he realized that these hydrogen nuclei could have only come from the nitrogen gas. This led to the theory that the nucleus of a hydrogen atom was an elementary particle, the proton, and that protons could be found in the nuclei of all atoms.
The properties of atoms are defined by the number of electrons, neutrons and protons they have. But the number of protons is the most significant variable. So significant, in fact, that the number of protons in the nucleus of an atom is referred to as the atomic number, and atoms are named based on the number of protons they have. The atomic number is the most physically relevant characteristic of an atom.

What are stem cells?
Stem cells are primal cells found in all multi-cellular organisms. They retain the ability to renew themselves through mitotic cell division and can differentiate into a diverse range of specialized cell types. Research in the human stem cell field grew out of findings by Canadian scientists Ernest A. McCulloch and James E. Till in the 1960s.
The two broad categories of mammalian stem cells are: embryonic stem cells, derived from blastocysts and adult stem cells, which are found in adult tissues. In a developing embryo, stem cells can differentiate into all of the specialized embryonic tissues. In adult organisms, stem cells and progenitor cells act as a repair system for the body, replenishing specialized cells.
As stem cells can be grown and transformed into specialized cells with characteristics consistent with cells of various tissues such as muscles or nerves through cell culture, their use in medical therapies has been proposed. In particular, embryonic cell lines, autologous embryonic stem cells generated through therapeutic cloning, and highly plastic adult stem cells from the umbilical cord blood or bone marrow are touted as promising

What is genetic engineering?
Genetic engineering is a laboratory technique used by scientists to change the DNA of living organisms.