Just Need Peer Reviews Peer Review 1 the goal of this assignment is to learn about a new molecular biology tool called CRISPR which scientist say is “A game-changing genetic engineering technique”. To support your contribution to the discussion board: 1. Read this recent article published in the New York Times: 2. In U.S. First, Scientists Edit Genes of Human Embryos 1. Do some research to understand what CRISPR is and how it works. Learn about the applications, the possibilities and the controversy of its potential uses. 2. Tell somebody you know (family, friend, colleague…) about CRISPR. Explain to them how it works and its uses. Find out what they think about CRISPR being a tool that could help babies avoid inherited diseases, or cure cancer patients, or treat HIV infections and ask them how they feel about the use of CRISPR to edit human embryos. 3. Contribute to the discussion board. Your post should include:  1. Short definition of CRISPR. (10 points) 2. A link to one of the resources you used to learn about CRISPR. (10 points) 3. A summary of your experience on sharing information about CRISPR with your listener. (15 points) John CRISPR stands for “clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats.” It is a way for scientist to alter or edit DNA and modify the genes. Using this process could cure and save many people by correcting genetic defects, treating and preventing the spread of diseases. CRISPR is derived from CRISPR-Cas9 are parts of the DNA that are capable of cutting strands of DNA. Having the ability to correct genetic defects could be a life saver for some. This could help cure cystic fibrosis, HIV, cancer and cataracts for example. It could also be used to produce more yield from crops and their ability to survive in various elements. On the other hand, you are giving humans the ability to change a person DNA. What happens when that person then reproduces and their changed DNA is inherited by their off spring. Can you mix CRISPR DNA with that of another? There couold be unintended consequences of the changes that are made. I talked to my daughter, who is studying biology, but has yet to learn about CRISPR. We discussed what the possibilities could be to help save human lives and make thing better. We think everyone would agree that any tool that could help save people from pain and suffering is a good tool. However, there are cons to what humans create. There is always an opposite and equal reaction to things in life. If good is trying to be achieved, evil will find a way to utilize it to their advantage. As well, how will future generations adapt to this new editing as offspring is produced. We will start to modify genetic make-ups of human kind. What will that mix bring? A superhuman? What about mother nature adapting to our creations. Will new diseases and virus come about? The cat is already out of the bag with CRISPR. We believe scientist must tread lightly with the ability to alter the future of human kin ...

1. Just Need Peer Reviews
Peer Review 1
the goal of this assignment is to learn about a new molecular
biology tool called CRISPR which scientist say is “A game-
changing genetic engineering technique”. To support your
contribution to the discussion board:
1. Read this recent article published in the New York Times:
2. In U.S. First, Scientists Edit Genes of Human Embryos
1. Do some research to understand what CRISPR is and how it
works. Learn about the applications, the possibilities and the
controversy of its potential uses.
2. Tell somebody you know (family, friend, colleague…) about
CRISPR. Explain to them how it works and its uses. Find out
what they think about CRISPR being a tool that could help
babies avoid inherited diseases, or cure cancer patients, or treat
HIV infections and ask them how they feel about the use of
CRISPR to edit human embryos.
3. Contribute to the discussion board. Your post should
include:
1. Short definition of CRISPR. (10 points)
2. A link to one of the resources you used to learn about
CRISPR. (10 points)
3. A summary of your experience on sharing information about
CRISPR with your listener. (15 points)
John
CRISPR stands for “clustered regularly interspaced short
palindromic repeats.” It is a way for scientist to alter or edit
DNA and modify the genes. Using this process could cure and
save many people by correcting genetic defects, treating and
preventing the spread of diseases. CRISPR is derived from
CRISPR-Cas9 are parts of the DNA that are capable of cutting
strands of DNA. Having the ability to correct genetic defects

2. could be a life saver for some. This could help cure cystic
fibrosis, HIV, cancer and cataracts for example. It could also be
used to produce more yield from crops and their ability to
survive in various elements. On the other hand, you are giving
humans the ability to change a person DNA. What happens
when that person then reproduces and their changed DNA is
inherited by their off spring. Can you mix CRISPR DNA with
that of another? There couold be unintended consequences of
the changes that are made.
I talked to my daughter, who is studying biology, but has yet to
learn about CRISPR. We discussed what the possibilities could
be to help save human lives and make thing better. We think
everyone would agree that any tool that could help save people
from pain and suffering is a good tool. However, there are cons
to what humans create. There is always an opposite and equal
reaction to things in life. If good is trying to be achieved, evil
will find a way to utilize it to their advantage. As well, how
will future generations adapt to this new editing as offspring is
produced. We will start to modify genetic make-ups of human
kind. What will that mix bring? A superhuman? What about
mother nature adapting to our creations. Will new diseases and
virus come about? The cat is already out of the bag with
CRISPR. We believe scientist must tread lightly with the ability
to alter the future of human kind.
Hartwell
One of the two who'd never heard didn't want to keep listening
to the conversation, because she was horrified. It's notable she
was previously a hospital clinician, and said "how do they know
they won't just cause cancer?" The other who'd just heard
seemed to have a tough time digesting it, and before I could
finish automatically went to the conclusion that it would be
used as a weapon via the military. I thought this was
interesting, because that's exactly how my mind worked, hence
me citing the above article on the military use of CRISPR.
The two who'd already heard of CRISPR - one didn't really
seem to take much of an ethical issue at all, pointing out that

3. science has already been doing experiments on human embryos
for a long time, and that this wasn't really anything that
different. I will say that this person seemed not very well
informed though, so I question the validity of the feedback. The
other who'd heard about it, didn't really give a strong opinion
but did highlight that it's definitely highly controversial.
One thing to keep in mind - we're all persons in charge of
regulatory compliance, and are trained to always think of
patient safety. So, I'd consider this definitely a conservative
group. That said, 2/4 disapproved of CRISPR, 1/4 did not see
any issue, and 1/4 neither approved nor disapproved. Given
these results, I feel a bit more comfortable that my reservations
are shared. Or, to use a regulatory concept - I do not see that the
benefits of CRISPR outweigh the risks.
Peer Review 2
Alternative Energy: The sources for and uses of energy are
some of the most pressing and influential questions to be
answered by industry and science today. The search for
alternative fuels is a major part of this endeavor. Here is an
interesting interview with Bill Gates on this topic.
· Q&A with Bill Gates on the World's Energy Crisis
Instructions
Here are some questions to consider in your discussion of the
topic of Energy use in the 21st century:
· Is ethanol a good alternative to petroleum fuels? And is using
corn to produce ethanol the right method?
· Where do you think we will be in 50 years on this issue?
· Find a reference that discusses an alternative fuel. Tell us
what the article says about it and include your article as a
reference.
Steph
There has been increasing support for the utilization of ethanol
as a viable alternative to gasoline and other petroleum-based
products as it not only provides energy sustainability but also

4. leads to less environmental pollution. Ethanol is less harmful
than gasoline as it leads to less carbon monoxide production and
is also easy to source given that it comes from processed corn.
Bill Gates does not believe that ethanol can become a
measurably important to impact the US oil importation
(Anderson, 2011). although ethanol can be an important and
useful alternative to gasoline, the American ethanol industry is
presently far from being able to meet the increasing energy
needs. Part of this has to do with the fact that ethanol is
processed from corn. The use of corn to produce ethanol is
simply too expensive as compared to gasoline production. The
amount of energy from fossil fuels that is needed to produce
ethanol (running farm machinery, fertilizing, harvesting, and
transporting corn, and processing corn into alcohol) is as much
as the energy produced by ethanol making it a less viable
alternative at present.
It is really difficult to predict what will happen in the next 50
years or so given the highly dynamic nature of today’s energy
environment. Although it is an admirable goal to try and replace
petroleum-based fuel with ethanol fuel, it is highly unlikely that
such a goal will be attained within the next fifty years. There is
going to be a myriad of energy alternatives developed within
the next five decades and whether or not ethanol will be
accepted as a viable energy source will depend on the
development of more efficient techniques to produce ethanol.
Biodiesel is a renewable fuel which can be made from vegetable
oils, animal fats, or recycled restaurant grease. It is an
alternative to petroleum-based fuels and is presently mainly
manufactured from conventionally grown edible oils such as
soybean, palm, and sunflower (Demirbas, Bafail, Ahmad,
Sheikh, 2016). However, biodiesel is currently not economically
feasible as the cost for producing it is high while extensive
production from edible oils can lead to a food crisis (Demirbas,
Bafail, Ahmad, Sheikh, 2016). The most probable way to make

5. biodiesel economically feasible is by using low-cost feedstocks
such as waste cooking and non-edible oils.
Chavez
In the past decades we have been able to see how many
companies, political figures and some of the wealthy promote
the importance of developing new sources of energy. By far one
of the most promoted sources is solar power and has become a
trend that keeps growing fast int he United States and the world.
Is solar power the future of alternative energy? According to
Bill Gates... no. Surprisingly to me, Bill Gates seems to be
supporting more of the use of nuclear power compared to other
energy sources. He states that using ethanol in farming works
better for the rich but affects greatly the poor. For the rich it
means that they can increase the price of their products but for
the poor, who already struggle to be able to buy this products, it
means that their spending raises while still making the same
amount of money. In my opinion, this supports the theory of the
rich getting richer and poor getting poorer and using ethanol is
not the best method for the majority of the consumers.
Based on the increased use of solar power on businesses and
homes, electric vehicles and clean air gas for public
transportation, I believe this trend will continue growing and
most people will continue to transition to these means. It may
be somewhat expensive to put solar panels on the roof or to buy
an electric vehicle but companies have found a great way to
advertise the benefit of change. One of the main reasons of my
believe is that the use of these energy sources tend to be
somewhat more cost effective and helps the daily user save
money in the long term, serving as a incentive or motivator to
advertise in order to get others on board with the "switch".
In the interview Bill Gates said that "ethanol has nothing to
do with reducing CO2" but according to Larry West, writer of
an article in ThoughtCo site, ethanol has a lot of benefits.
Besides the fact that ethanol is a "relative low-cost alternative
fuel that boasts less pollution" we can find more of it than
unblended gasoline (2019). West goes on to say ethanol is "less

6. harmful than unblended gasoline" since engines create less
carbon monoxide when using it. Ethanol also helps farms and
manufacturing economies since it creates a revenue and creates
jobs. According to the article, another big benefit of using
ethanol is that it is produced domestically and it reduces us to
rely on other countries petroleum products and keeping the jobs
in the United States.