Year 12 Analyse the biological validity of information presented to the public

AS91154

In this unit you will explore the idea of de-evolution. 

Your task is to examine different sources of information and: 

• recognise and describe biological features in the information. 

• identify these features as accurate, inaccurate or biased using biological knowledge.

• identify the purpose of the information (eg who produced it and the intended audience).

• explain how or why inaccuracies and/or bias may have consequences or impacts for the public.

• explain whether or not any vested interest is conveyed in the information.

• prioritise, with reasons, aspects of the information in relation to their significance in the context

• evaluate the overall impact of the sources on the public, based on bias and the balance of accurate and inaccurate features.

Biological features may relate to the concepts that we have explored within our ecology, cell biology, genetic variation and change, and/or gene expression topics this year. 

The accuracy of information should be evaluated by comparing stated ideas to well supported concepts, processes or scientific theories (ex. theory of evolution by natural selection). 

Bias should be evaluated by considering ethical, moral, economic, social or emotional aspects of the information where contrasting viewpoints may exist.

De-extinction - Bringing the dead back to life

Although it may sound a bit like science-fiction, the scientific possibility of returning once extinct species to planet Earth may be closer to reality than you may think. 

Consider all that we know about DNA... how mutations lead to new alleles, how enzymes replicate and repair DNA, the fact that bacteria exchange DNA and that viruses invade and take over healthy cells. 

Now imagine you could be in the driver's seat of using all these ideas to engineer changes to DNA to produce exact copies of genes long lost during the extinction of species. 

This video introduces some of the work being done at Harvard University to explore possibilities in medicine and the return of the woolly mammoth.

http://edition.cnn.com/videos/us/2015/10/30/orig-human-dna-genome-editing-crispr-cas9-wooly-mammoth-pioneers.cnn/video/playlists/pioneers-orig/

Harvard research into CRISPR
   

This next video introduces us to the idea of bringing back the extinct woolly mammoth 

following 3000 years of extinction.

Has science come far enough for us to do the impossible?

Just because we can, should we?

After watching this video, summarise the biological features that relate to the de-evolution of the woolly mammoth. Was there any consideration of bias in this TED talk?

Genetics/Cell Biology             Evolution           Ecology               Ethical/Emotional Considerations


Which aspects of the information support that we can/should bring back the mammoth?
Which aspects of the information support that we can't/should not bring back the mammoth?

What is your opinion?