Visions Chapters 11 and 12

 

1.)      Approximately 250,000 species of flowering plants exist, but only 150 plant species are cultivated for agriculture.  Of these a mere nine (wheat, rice, corn, barley, sorghum/millet, potato, sweet potato/yam, sugarcane and soybeans) constitute what amount of our food energy?

A.) one-tenth

B.) one-fourth

C.) one-half

D.) three-quarters

 

2.)   What is NOT a use for bio-engineered plants mentioned in the chapter?

   A.) Plants producing their own pesticides.

   B.) Producing proteins that protect the plant from diseases.

   C.) Producing photo-luminescent chemicals to light a room.

   D.) Acting as factories that produce drugs for human consumption.

  

3.)   A man and his team disproved a law of nature often quoted in textbooks.  His team’s work may have enormous medical benefits, such as spinal cords, brain tissue and heart tissue being able to regenerate which might allow us to heal broken backs, stroke and heart attack damage.  What is the man’s name?

   A.) James Potter.

   B.) Ian Wilmut.

   C.) Paul Schaeffer

   D.) Jim Mathieson.

  

4.)   What are polygenic traits?

   A.) Genes that many organisms share.

   B.) Traits involving interaction with many genes.

   C.) A gene that affects many traits.

   D.) Traits that many organisms share.

  

5.)      What happened to the gene that coded humans to have hairy skin?

   A.) It transformed into a gene for suntan.

   B.) It got turned off at some time in our evolution.

   C.) It decreased in size.

   D.) It never existed.

  

6.)  What behavior does the gene “fru” almost entirely control in the fruit fly?

   A.) feeding

   B.) egg laying

   C.) courtship

   D.) escaping danger

  

7.)   What did psychologists at the University of Minnesota announce may be genetically based?

      A.) decisiveness

B.) eloquence

C.) charisma

D.) happiness

 

8.)   It is believed that the nervous system involves how much of the human genome?

   A.) almost one-quarter

   B.) almost half

   C.) almost three-quarters

   D.) almost one-third

 

9.)      In 1995 Walter Gehring and his colleagues at the University of Basel in Switzerland discovered that there is a “master gene” that controls whether or not an eye develops in a fruit fly.  By placing this master gene on different parts of the fly, Gehring’s team was able to create a complete set of eyes on the wings, legs and even the antenna.  What is the name of this master gene?

   A.) eyeless

   B.) eye master

   C.) master eye

   D.) optica

 

10.) …the overriding question this very discussion raises is: is it ethical to manipulate the human genome?  If so, under what guidelines?  The bio molecular revolution promises not only to give us health and prosperity, but also to challenge our moral principles and perhaps force us to redefine what?

   A.) biology.

   B.) who we are.

   C.) what is right or good.

   D.) what international laws we should create to control other countries.

 

 

Visions Chapter 12

 

11.)   Few will dispute the tremendous accomplishments and potential of the bio-molecular revolution.  However, even the creators of the revolution have expressed reservation about the moral and ethical direction of this revolution if its excesses are not checked.  In a democracy only ___________________ can make the mature decisions about a technology so powerful that we can dream of controlling life itself.

   A.) a committee of the most technically proficient people

   B.) an informed debate by an educated citizenry

   C.) those who can afford it

   D.) the free market

 

12.)   With only a modest $10,000 investment, one can conduct biotech experiments in one’s living room and begin to manipulate the genome of plants and animals.  With just a few million one can create a fledgling biotech industry.  The low initial investment, high return, and potential for feeding its people are some of the reasons why a poor nation such as Cuba has decided to jump into biotechnology.  But this also means that biotechnology is impossible to contain.  One cannot restrict the flow of DNA; it’s everywhere.  Because the technology cannot be banned, it is important to discuss and decide ________________________________.

    A.) which countries can be allowed to develop biotechnology.

    B.) what regulating organizations are needed.

    C.) which of the various technologies should be allowed to flourish

            and which ones should be restricted.

    D.) what locations biotechnology should be restricted to.

 

13.)   …should the government be allowed to force people to be tested against their will?  Arthur Caplan of the Center for Bioethics believes that thirty years from now, health care costs will be so exorbitant that some in the government may be tempted to call for mandatory testing for genetic disease and simply ___________________________________________.

A.) jail those who won’t be tested.

B.) prevent those who won’t be tested from having children.

C.) throw up their hands in disgust and give up.

D.) refuse to pay the health costs for genetically detectable diseases.

 

14.)   We need the improved treatments that will eventually be developed using genetic information.  So I think the answer is certainly not to slow down the advancing science, but to ______________________________.

    A.) stop it entirely.

    B.) make the social system more accommodating to the new knowledge.

    C.) seek alternative means of treatment.

    D.) elevate biotechnology to the level of a religion.

   

15.)   The question is: what should be the role of doctors?  Are they servants who are expected to simply carry out the wishes of the consumer?  Or do we want them to be ministers and guardians of morality, deciding what forms of treatment are unethical?  Caplan predicts it’s going to be a “whopping moral debate.”  Yet, banning such therapy could create what?

   A.) a tremendous unnecessary amount of suffering and number of lives lost.

   B.) rioting in the streets by people angry that they are forced to lose their lives and their loved ones.

   C.) a thriving black market, especially in 3rd world countries.

   D.) a big problem in the medical insurance industry.

 

16.)   Theologians have debated about whether a human clone has a “soul”.  If humans can be cloned without limit, then what determines their _____________________?

    A.) irreducible personal substance.

    B.) perspective.

    C.) point of view.

    D.) individuality and essence.

 

17.)   One long-term danger for the far future is that those who are the wealthiest will be able to afford to improve their germ line, while others will not, leaving the rest of society behind, eventually creating a new biological caste system.  This could create  _______________________.

    A.) a class war.

    B.) a genetocracy.

    C.) lower taxes.

    D.) a very unhappy electorate.

 

18.)   What is perhaps the greatest fear?

    A.) having body odor on a first date.

    B.) higher taxes.

    C.) aging.

    D.) accidental release of an incurable virus from a biological warfare center may threaten the existence of the very human race.

 

19.)   What does Francis Collins suggest is the strongest mandates of humankind?

    A.) the pursuit of ways to alleviate human suffering.

    B.) the quest for power.

    C.) the desire for security.

     D.) pursuit of happiness.

 

20.)               What is decisive in a democracy?

A.)   congress

B.)   statute law

C.)   constitutional law

D.)   informed debate by an enlightened electorate