Question 1: List three ways that personal biases or emotion can be counterproductive when assessing risk.
Question 2: Provide two reasons why a scientist might want to insert a human gene into a bacterial cell.
Question 3: Describe two different features or attributes of crop plants that have been targeted for improvements by modern biotechnology.
Question 4: Bt toxin is used to control Lepidoptera pests that can harm corn crops. What are two factors that the EPA took into consideration when it ruled that Monarch butterflies, members of the Lepidoptera order of insects, are at minimal risk from this toxin.
Question 5: Briefly describe how Induced Pluripotent Stem cells are similar to, and different from Embryonic Stem cells.
Question 6: You decide to take a high paying job as a rattlesnake-handler at the San Diego Zoo. Knowing that you may ultimately be bitten, you are offered a vaccination against the poisonous protein venom of a rattlesnake bite. Describe how the vaccination would act (what the vaccination is and what exactly happens in terms of your acquired immune system upon vaccination). Include in your response how the vaccination provides you protection from the venom in the future.