The Very Real Technology of Cloning

The Very Real Technology of Cloning

By: Austin Witthun

Author’s Note: This is a 5-paragraph essay about the process of cloning and facts about clones.

Have you ever wondered about cloning? Or what it would be like to have a clone of yourself that could do all of the work that you don’t want to do? Well cloning may seem like science-fiction, but with today’s technology, it is very real. The definition of a clone is: “Cloning is the creation of an organism that is an exact genetic copy of another” (What is Cloning ). This basically says that a clone is the product of cloning which is a copy of a living thing which could be a variety of things from a stem cell to an animal.

Because in our science unit we have been studying cells, I will talk about the cloning of cells first. When you clone cells, the process of cloning is called SCNT which stands for somatic cell nuclear transfer is also called therapeutic cloning. To do this you would take any kind of cell except for the two reproductive cells (somatic cell), and remove the nucleus from that somatic cell, transfer it to an egg cell which it then is like a fertilized egg and, it is then transferred to a surrogate mother. This is how they cloned Dolly the sheep.

Many people argue about the advantages and disadvantages of cloning. First I will talk about the pros. There are an incredible amount of uses for cloning! One of them is that if tissues are damaged, a clone of that tissue could be able to replace it. If a stem cell is diseased a clone of that cell could replace it too. We could clone cells and study them to see how diseases affect that cell.

On the other hand there is a bad side to cloning. One of the cons is that after a cell is multiplied about 60 times, it begins to mutate and cause cancer. Also, when animals have been cloned in the past, they have been born with deformities and problems. They have been born prematurely and have an extremely short lifespan. Some organs including the heart, brain and, liver have had problems or are not the right size (Cloning ). The limbs of the animals have been either deformed or the animals cannot control them right.

Like I said in the previous paragraphs, there are many up sides and down sides to cloning. It is a very controversial topic. However it seems that the controversy is over the cloning of humans and animals. Some religious groups say that it violates personal freedom. One of the main points of others who say that it is a waste of time say this because the beginning process is very inefficient because not all experiments survive and then like I said before they have a short lifespan.

To sum this all up I will include my opinion. I believe that cloning (as far as current technologies go) is something that we maybe should try to improve but not perform on humans. This is mainly because of how not many experiments survive but also because of the probability that it will have major defects in its body. Also because cows, mice and, sheep have been cloned, we have no idea about how cloning could affect the mental state of a person which is more important than that in a mouse or something. But as far as cloning cells for research and transplants and things like that, I see no harm but I suppose that if the same cell was not cloned anywhere close to what I am now calling the envelope (60 cycles) and they don’t mutate then I think that that is an excellent idea. These are facts about cloning that I hope have given you a better understanding about cloning

Bibliography

"Cloning ." 1 july 2011. genome.gov . 18 april 2012 .

"What is Cloning ." 2012. learn.genetics . 18 april 2012 .

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Conflict Resolution Story

Conflict resolution story Austin Witthun

Author’s notes: this is a short story that is for conflict resolution that is taking place at the end of the Giver.

When Jonas rose from the accumulated snow that was piled around him, he was startled for two reasons. The first because, the sled that he had rode down the hill on had cracked in more than two pieces, and the second was that he had his arms wrapped tightly around Gabriel, who besides being cold, was sleeping and unharmed. He didn’t have to walk far before he found a house on the edge of a small village. He was a little frightened because the house, and the rest of the village for that matter, didn’t look anything like his community but, at this point he was more concerned about Gabriel getting hypothermia. He knocked on the door and waited for an answer. It wasn’t long until a man opened the door. Then something happened. The man said something but, in a different language. Jonas stood there wondering what the man had said when the man stepped back in an effort to communicate that they wanted him to come inside, so Jonas did. He set Gabriel down on the floor against the wall as the man continued to speak this strange language. After a while of just standing there, he noticed that Gabriel seemed like he was not warming up so he gave him yet another memory of sunshine which seemed to help. When Jonas did that the man stopped talking and stared in awe slowly realizing what had just happened. This gave Jonas an idea. Remembering what the Giver had once said: ”You do understand, don’t you, that this is my life? The memories?” and he walked up to the man and transferred a memory of the Giver to the man. The man stood there and slowly turned to Jonas. He put his hands on Jonas’ shoulders and transferred a memory that surprised Jonas. It was of the Giver himself. Jonas and the man looked at each other and nodded. Then Jonas proceeded to give the man memories of the trip away from the community. Using this form of communication, he had the man get help from the rest of the community for assistance with Gabriel and with housing for Jonas and Gabriel. Jonas was assigned several jobs in this community. Then all he had to do was wait for the Giver.

How Free were Free Blacks In the North

How free were the Free Blacks in the North?

By Austin Witthun

How free were free blacks in the north? Many people believe that they were always treated equally to the white people. That they were give equal opportunities for jobs and freedoms similar to jobs. According to the information in the DBQ pages, this may not have been the case. In this essay I will answer to the best of my ability the question; how free were free blacks in the north?

One thing that was not equal between the whites and blacks is voting and jury duty. Only 5 states (Doc A.) let Blacks vote in their courts and the rest did not although some states had certain restrictions, only 5 were a definite yes. Only one state let the blacks on jury duty and, that wasn’t even until 1860 in Massachusetts (Doc A.).

As it is stated in the previous paragraph, some states had free blacks and some didn’t. The chart on document A shows that the amount of states that have less freedoms than blacks are more than double. It’s even more that that if you are looking at the male jury duty section.

Most blacks were not allowed in most courts, as said previously, and they were also not allowed in almost all of the same places like work places and stores as white people. Segregation is the word for this and this point is made clear in document B when it says “… but we shall not associate with him.” meaning that they (the white people) didn’t want anything to do with the black people. It also begins to list numerous things that the blacks were not allowed to do. For example, dining, going to the theater, representing in legislature, going to church and marrying their daughters was always to be segregated. As it says in document C, the author says things like: “No one will employ me; white boys won’t work with me…” saying that the segregation makes it hard for them to get a job.

With all of these points in mind, I conclude that the so called free blacks in the northern states weren’t as free as everyone (including myself before I researched the things that I did) thought they were. The main points of this argument being the Free states vs. non Free states, the voting/jury duty abilities of blacks in the northern states and, my biggest point being segregation, prove my conclusion that they weren’t that free.

Sites:

DBQ resources:

Leon litwack, north of slavery, university of Chicago, 1961

Charles MacKay, life and liberty of America: or sketches of a tour in the United States and Canada, London, 1859

Found in Charles Andrews, the History of the New York free-schools, mahlon day, new York, 1830

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_the_United_States