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The Impact of Biology on Society

The Impact of Biology on Society. Preserving our Environment. More than 7 billion people live on Earth. All of these people need room for . Housing Water Food Work Waste. The large human population has created stress in the environment.

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The Impact of Biology on Society

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  1. The Impact of Biology on Society

  2. Preserving our Environment • More than 7 billion people live on Earth.

  3. All of these people need room for • Housing • Water • Food • Work • Waste

  4. The large human population has created stress in the environment • Tropical rainforests are home to ½ of the world’s species of plants and animals. • About 1 acre/second of rainforest is destroyed • The destruction of rainforests is leading to large extinctions.

  5. Conservation biologists try to find a balance between humans and preserving the environment • They find ways to reuse waste • The French fry example from your book • Research more efficient ways of using land • Better ways of designing housing developments • Better means of transportation

  6. Improving the Food Supply • 842 million people worldwide suffer from not having enough food to eat • Droughts and lack of food lead to a lot of civil unrest • The severe drought in the US is predicted to cause increased unrest in Africa and Asia

  7. Modern Agricultural Scientists use Genetic Engineering to Improve Food Supply • Biologists have learned to move genes from one organism to another • The change is permanent • The gene is now part of the crop’s DNA forever

  8. Some advantages from genetic engineering • Makes plants resist insect pests • Herbicide resistant • Fields with fewer weeds use less water • Improved nutrition • Better protein content

  9. New Ideas in Transgenic Plants • Golden Rice • Rice with added Vitamin A • Improves vision in millions of people • Adding vaccines to bananas • Adding genes to keep food from spoiling after it is picked

  10. Human Genome Project • Due to improvements in technology, the US government and private research companies decided to sequence the human genome in the 1990s • A genome is all of the genetic material in an individual • The human genome then contains all human genes.

  11. Human Genome Project • We now have a sequence for every human gene • We are beginning to attach functions to each gene • By comparing genomes between individuals, we can help predict what diseases they may be at risk for.

  12. Fighting Disease • AIDS is caused by HIV • HIV is a virus that attacks the human immune system • Because it is a virus, anti-biotic drugs don’t work • Because it attacks the immune system, your body can’t attack it either

  13. HIV mutates very rapidly • Vaccines target specific proteins • What proteins look like is determined by DNA sequence • The virus’s DNA changes a lot, so the proteins change a lot • New vaccines are targeting more than one protein at a time

  14. Cancer • About 600,000 people died of cancer in the US last year. • That is approximately 2% of the population • 1 in 4 deaths in the US each year are from cancer • Cancer incidence is growing rapidly

  15. What is cancer? • Cancer cells have mutation(s) that cause them to divide out of control • This out of control growth leads to tumors.

  16. Modern Research and Cancer • We know now how to avoid many cancers. • Anti-smoking ads have been effective in reducing numbers of smokers • We have identified the genes associated with many cancers • This helps people identify their risk • We can target drugs to the proteins made by these genes

  17. Emerging Disease • Climate change and increased human migration have made it easier for diseases to travel around the world • The US has seen diseases on its soil for the first time • West Nile • Mad Cow • Ebola

  18. The problem with new diseases • We don’t know which ones will take off • In the early 1980s, HIV was an emerging disease • It has since killed millions of people • Many of them are viruses • We don’t know how to fight them or, sometimes, even how they spread

  19. Gene Therapy • Some diseases are caused by a bad copy of a gene • The proteins the DNA makes are made wrong and can’t work • The idea of gene therapy is to put a functional copy of the gene in the person

  20. Diseases for Gene Therapy • Cystic Fibrosis • The body creates too much, very thick mucous • It kills organs like the lungs • Hemophilia • Patients can’t make blood clotting factor and could theoretically die from a bruise

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