Amy Maxmen employs a variety of rhetorical strategies throughout her Wired article, “The Genesis Engine,” to make her writing more effective. These include the simplification of complex scientific ideas, personal interviews with researchers, and an informal tone, among many others. Ultimately, her methods of writing and research culminate in a strong informational source.
This article is centered around the research being conducted on an organic molecule called CRISPR-Cas9, a relatively recent discovery in microbiology that allows scientists to edit the DNA inside of living cells. The author’s thesis is that CRISPR-Cas9 technology has both positive and negative implications, and that several influential establishments are investing in its future.
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She does this by writing, “Use Crispr to treat, say, Huntington's disease—a debilitating neurological disorder” and “To focus on disease—where the long-term financial gain of Crispr-Cas9 will undoubtedly lie.” These quotations make it clear that the author’s target audience are a wide array of people who may be affected by CRISPR development. This includes people affected by genetic illness and investors who may see monetary benefit from this technology. The most effective element of her rhetoric in this case is that she forces the article’s subject to be relevant to anyone, allowing all readers to understand a potentially foreign topic and still feel personally involved in …show more content…
She chooses instead to strictly inform her readers about the technology’s history and growth by engaging them with an inside view of the world of scientific research. This allows the reader to focus on the topic without becoming bogged down in a political or legal battle between two sides. In the article, the author quotes a researcher who says, “‘That is why I try to ensure that scientists are taking precautions and showing themselves to be worthy of the public's trust—maybe we're not, but I want to do my damnedest to try.’” Quotes and other statements like these solidify her purpose of letting her readers peer into the world of science through an unbiased lens.
This practice is an integral element of Maxmen’s writing overall as she shares personal experiences of a number of scientists who are involved with CRISPR research throughout the article. Their stories are presented through quotes from exchanges the author had with them during interviews. This practice strengthens the article’s ethos by shifting the presentation of scientific facts into the hands of professionals on the subject. This also has the effect of helping readers to identify with those scientists because stories of their personal lives are
CRISPR is a new gene-modifying tool that has the potential to treat numerous medical conditions by editing genes that are responsible for certain diseases. This technology is based on the ability of bacteria to destroy the DNA of invading viruses. Studies have suggested that this new technology can be applied to human cells, although the idea of chopping up regions of the human genome can be unethical and could even be harmful. In order for the treatment to be administered to a patient, a small piece of RNA and an enzyme that makes a cut in the DNA are delivered to the cells. A biotechnology company, known as Editas Medicine, located in Cambridge, MA, is already designing treatments for conditions of the blood and the eye using CRISPR. For
With modern technology comes the breakthrough of the decade by altering the human genes. This altering gene invention is called CRISPR/Cas9. However, this invention in the beginning stages of altering genes, began with rats until perfection. The process began early with the embryo stages to edit the genes. With the introduction of CRISPR surrounds a lot of controversy. Some people believe editing genes is playing with the hands of God and refuse to believe in CRISPR. With the article, “Let’s Hit Pause Before Altering Humankind”, by David Baltimore believes CRISPR is a tool with no good intentions. With this information the article should not be published with being against CRISPR.
CRISPR has been garnishing a lot of media attention recently and it is not just popular among the scientific community but also the general public. Several online news outlets and scientific journals have been talking about the significance CRISPR-Cas could have for the field of genetics and science as a whole. I even came across a Youtube video from The Verge, a tech channel that normally does reviews on new smartphones and laptops talking about CRISPR [15]. So why is CRISPR gaining so much attention both from the scientific community and the general public? The answer lies in the potential this technology possesses.
CRISPR stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat, referring to the repeating DNA sequences found in the genomes of microorganisms. CRISPR technology allows scientists to make precise changes in genes by splicing and replacing these DNA sequences with new ones. Through these changes, the biology of the cell is altered and possibly affects the health of an organism. The possibilities are endless as this offers opportunities in curing deadly diseases, modifying genes, and changing humanity as we know it. Although bioengineering has been around since the 1960s, CRISPR is significant because of the comparative low costs and the ease of the procedure to
Reviewing the ethical dilemmas on this topic listed earlier, those with some type of religious background will most likely have a harder time accepting this new area of scientific development. Whereas, those who do not involve religious beliefs in their view point may see CRISPR as a revolutionary scientific discovery that will significantly benefit the greater good. Allowing CRISPR to be further research, and hopefully one day used, can greatly impact billions of people in such an amazing way. Living with an incurable disease or having the potential to develop one later on in life can be detrimental to not only the individual, but the individual’s family. Eliminating terminal genetic diseases will not only relieve people of pain and
Granted there have been other gene editing techniques used before, but by far CRISPR has been reported to have the most potential to revolutionize different areas where the method is applicable. The fields that researchers believe these modification resources will be the most beneficial, include but are not limited to medicine for curing and preventing diseases, creating socially ideal children, and perhaps aiding in the decrease of world hunger. While these goals do seem quite optimistical, scientists have high hopes for what CRISPR will be able to accomplish with time. Currently the system is just now being tested out on living organisms, with the ambition of figuring ways to genetically terminate diseases (2).
The authors incorporated a surplus of information and research that has been previously used with this technique. What seemed to be very interesting was the complexity of how this technique could not only combat specific cancer genes, but also other mutated genes that caused genetic illnesses and even eye diseases. The article contained some information on how CRISPR assisted with editing the defected gene in the eye cells that causes blindness. I thought this was incredible, because prior to reading this article, I was only aware of the implications that CRISPR had on cancer cells. It would be interesting to see if the CRISPR technique could work in tandem with other common techniques (chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery) to combat all forms of cancer. This is a far stretch; however, researchers have made it thus far to combat the genetically influenced forms of cancer, such as breast, and thyroid cancer, so they could eventually develop techniques to cure all forms in the far future. What is also something of importance is the cost of having these techniques done on individuals. Because CRISPR is a new technique that is breaking through, it has not yet spread to the general population as treatment options. When it does begin to gain its popularity, the cost of it would probably far more expensive than
Even though it was discovered in 1987 by a research team at Osaka University, the true power of CRISPR, which functions as an adaptive bacteria immune defense, was not realized until the completion of the Human Genome Project in the early 2000’s (Carroll and Zhou 63-64). There are only two components of CRISPR, a guide RNA sequence (gRNA) and a Cas9 endonuclease protein. When the gRNA binds to its matching template DNA sequence, the Cas9 protein cuts the template DNA sequence resulting in the inactivation of that specific gene (Hille and Charpentier 3). In addition, a mutant gene can be replaced by adding another piece of DNA with the desired sequence, which will bind to the cut DNA template strand and become incorporated into the host
The US and Korean team created 58 human embryos while using the CRISPR-Cas9 they were able to repair faulty genes up to 70%. (…)
The ability to engineer biological systems and organisms has an enormous potential for applications across basic science, medicine and biotechnology. Genome editing is a group of technologies that allow scientists the ability to change an organism’s DNA, which can provide better outcomes for health and disease control compared to natural immunity and mutations. Genome editing (gene editing) allows genetic material to be added, removed or altered at particular locations in the genome. A number of gene editing technologies have emerged in recent years with one of the most versatile and precise methods of genetic manipulation being Crispr-Cas9 (Steve scott,2016). The term Crispr-cas9, (clustered regular interspaced short palindromic repeats)
Biotechnology prompts a fear that humanity is gaining too much control over the choice of human evolution and destiny (McLean 1). CRISPR, “…the new fast, flexible, cheap way to manipulate the genetic code of life…” (Achenbach 1) exploits from the natural process used by ordinary bacteria to fend off against intrusive viruses while Cas (CRISPR-associated proteins), a set of enzymes, precisely snips DNA. CRISPR makes it simple to alter specific genes, resulting in many scientists beginning to use this new form of biotech for many of their experiments. Consequently, the editing of the
This article is about CRISPR its function and the concerns. Ledford talks about the benefits and also improvements that the first CRISPR needs. She shows how this technology not only could benefits humans but animals and plants as well. This article is useful in that it informs the public about the progress of CRISPR.
CRISPR is a new gene editing technology that has recently become popular in the scientific community in addition to the media due to its vast range of applications as well as the controversy that accompanies the topic. Because this is such a touchy subject, it is difficult for the technology to gain traction in the community. It follows that gaining the support of the public is a crucial step if scientists wish to continue the advancement of the technology. One way this can be done is by facilitating communication between communities, specifically, by publishing articles about new information and advancements that emerge, so the public can be educated on the topic of CRSIPR and the field can gain their support.
CRISPR-Cas9, a genome editing instrument, moves to change the field of biology forever. CRISPR was first observed as an innate defense mechanism used by bacteria. After years of development, scientists have been able to construct their own RNA that guides the CRISPR-Cas9. This allows them to control the behavior of the CRISPR-Cas9. What this could mean for the future is overwhelming.
The power to genetically modify the human genome is being held captive even though it holds the opportunity to cure genetic diseases. The CRISPR method offers “unparalleled potential for modifying the human