Reading report nº 6

Name: Cristina Soledad Guzmán
Date: May, 6th
Title: Can we create life?
Source: www.guardian.co.uk Date of publication: Sunday April 27 2008


Vocabulary:
Pushy: adj unpleasantly competitive or forceful: excessively aggressive or forceful in competing or dealing with others (informal).
Sprinter: noun participant in short swift race: an athlete or cyclist who takes part in a short race run or cycled at a very high speed.
Assortment: noun collection: a collection of various kinds
Hurdle: noun 1difficulty or obstacle: a difficulty or obstacle that has to be overcome 2barrier for runner to jump over: one of a number of light barriers over which runners have to jump in some track-and-field events horseracing 3fence used in horse race: a fence of intertwined branches or wattle that horses jump over in a race, or a race over fences of this type
Germ: noun 1microbiology microorganism: a microorganism, especially one that can cause disease 2microbiology cell: the smallest element in an organism such as a spore or a fertilized egg that is capable of growing into a complete adult or part 3beginning: the first sign of something that will develop
Breeding: noun 1 upbringing: somebody's upbringing, education, and training in manners and other social skills, especially an upbringing that produces polished manners and self-assurance 2 ancestry: somebody's family or ancestry3 reproduction: the mating and producing of young (often used before a noun)4 genetics development of improved specimens: the development of new types of plants or animals with improved characteristics 5 energy reactor's fuel production exceeding consumption: production of fissionable material in a breeder reactor in quantities in excess of the fuel it consumes
Coil: verb1 wind something into loops: to wind something into a series of connected loops, or form a series of connected loops 2 curve or bend: to move in a curving, sinuous way
Daunting: adj disheartening: likely to discourage, intimidate, or frighten somebody
Scratch: v. 1. To make a shallow cut or mark with something sharp. 2. To use the nails or claws to dig or scrape at. 3. To rub (the skin) to relieve itching. 4. To strike out or cancel ( for example, a word) by or as if by drawing lines through. n. 5. A mark or wound produced by scratching. adj. 6. Done haphazardly or by chance. 7. Assembled hastily or at random. 8. From the very beginning. Informal. 9. Meeting the requirements.
Chunk: n. 1. A thick mass or piece. 2. Informal. A substantial amount.
Mycoplasma: noun minute organism like bacterium: a microorganism of a genus considered to be the smallest known living cells. Some species cause respiratory diseases in animals and human beings.
Regarded by some as primitive bacteria, they need sterols such as cholesterol for growth.
Oversight: n. 1. An unintentional omission or mistake. 2. Supervision.


Main Ideas

Designer babies are not possible now and it’s highly likely that they won’t be possible in the future either.
If some parents want a child with special habilities it would not depend only on the selected genes but also on many environmental factors that can or cannot work.
Another problem would be that the embryo will have an assorment of the genes that the parents have.
And another hurdle is that the embryo would then have to be implanted in the woman’s womb and there is only a 40% chance of success or even less.
Nowadays it is possible for parents who carry a genetic disease to reduce the chance that a child will be born with.
One way is choosing the type of sperm that is used to fertilise the egg.
Another way is screening embryos for a particular genetic disease or chromosome disorder so that only embryos free from it are replaced.
It is currently illegal to alter an embryo’s genes even though, the changed gene is transmitted to future generations.
Gene silencing is a technique used to create “knockout” mice to study the effects of genes. Artificial DNA is introduced into mouse embryonic stem cells to silence one particular gene.
But very few genes have single effects and altering one can have deadly consequences.
Building a new organism from scratch is possible.
The technique is called synthetic biology and it combines scienceand engineering to build new biological functions and systems.
Many people are extremely concerned by the possibilities of bio-error that artificial life creates.

Personal reaction

In spite of our persistent dream of genetic perfection our knowledge of, and ability to, alter DNA remains rudimentary. But could we in some nearer future create our children as we imagine them?
Designer babies are not possible now and it’s highly likely that they won’t be possible in the future either. Even if an embryo were to be selected which had some especificgene, this would not assure the ability expected. It will depend on many external factors also. And the embryo will also have an assortment of the genes that the parents have. So they might have to screen many embryos before they found one that have the expected gene; then it would have to be implanted in the woman’s womb, which only has a 40% change of success. Some techniques are nowadays used to manipulate genes but are not safer.
This article compares the current procedures and technologies available to scientific investigation, with large scale projects as the creation of human life or designer babies. But these projects are seen as almost impossible to be curried out.
In conclusion, the idea of designing our future children as we want them to be, is really far away from possibility in the near future.