Question Details

SCI 115 Week 1 Discussion
 "Self-Replication and Cells" 
Note: Online students, please respond to one (1) of the following four (4) bulleted options:
•        Suppose that someone used nanotechnology to build little robots (called “nanobots”) that could make copies of themselves. Discuss whether or not you believe the nanobots would be alive. Explain why or why not?
•        Go to The Economist website to read the article titled "A Game of Cat and Mouse", dated June 3, 2010. Discuss what you believe are the main points of the article. Explain how it relates to this week- lessons. Give examples with your response.
•        A person is declared to be dead upon the irreversible cessation of spontaneous body functions: brain activity, or blood circulation and respiration. However, only about 1% of a person- cells have to die in order for all of these things to happen. Explain how a person can be dead when 99% of his or her cells are still alive, and provide examples with your explanation. 
•        In 2005, researcher Woo-suk Hwang reported that he had made immortal stem cells from human patients. His research was hailed as a breakthrough for people affected by degenerative diseases, because stem cells may be used to repair a person- own damaged tissues. Hwang published his results in a peer-reviewed journal. In 2006, the journal retracted his paper after other scientists discovered that Hwang- group had faked the data. Discuss the implications of the incident. In your brief discussion, determine if the incident shows that results of scientific studies cannot be trusted or if it confirms the usefulness of a scientific approach, because other scientists discovered and exposed the fraud.