GED Science: Glow-in-the-dark cats… Good science?
Yeah. This is totally something I want to see on the GED test… Cats that glow in the dark. How can the GED make something so interesting into boring multiple choice questions? So, did scientists make these cats to sell them to millionaires for big bucks? To write funner GED practice questions? Or can glow-in-the-dark cats really help scientists cure diseases and save endangered species? I thought about it a lot, cuz it seemed weird to me. I think the answer’s in how they do the cloning, tho, and that’s GED science thinking. Here’s what the article says:
To clone the Turkish Angola cats, Kong’s team used skin cells of the mother cat. They modified its genes to make them fluorescent by using a virus, which was transplanted into the ova. The ova were then implanted into the womb of the donor cat.
Do you know how cloning works? It’s a kewl thing to find out to learn more GED science. Here’s an article you can study that tells a lot about it: http://exchanges.state.gov/forum/journal/cloning.htm I guess what the scientists do, they take a cell. Then they take an egg cell from a girl animal… TMI, right? Anyway, the center part of a cell is the nucleus, and that’s where all the information is, that tells an animal how to grow. So, they take the center part of one cell and put it in the egg cell. Then, they put it back in the mom, and it just grows from there… Total science fiction, right? Or is it real GED science?
If I was reading this for the GED test, I’d be trying to figure out what’s special about how these scientists cloned the cat. I guess these people that made these cats used skin cells… then they used a virus to change its genes. That’s the part that’s different. Putting it in the ova, that’s the egg cell, like I said before. So the big thing they did is use a virus to change the genes of a cell… Now THAT’S GED science fiction. A virus is like a little ball of genes… but I didn’t know you could use it to change the genes in a cell. What if you could get a virus, and then, it would change all your genes… and maybe you’d become a giant lizard guy! How does that work anyway?
Now it’s time to do some GED critical thinking… I guess figuring out ways to change genes can help with genetic diseases, huh? I guess that’s what they mean about how their work will help out with fighting diseases. Still, do you think they’re gonna start marketing them glow-in-the-dark cats? And could they have figured out how to use viruses to change genes in some other way? And is it a good idea to start changin’ genes around anyway? I mean, lizard men are kewl, but maybe I’d rather just see em in the movies…. or on the GED test….
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