EVST 1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Synthetic Biology, Quinine, Malaria
30 Oct 2017
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Document Summary
Nature is material that we can see. Human reason is viewed as sufficient to decode nature. Science can tell us what the world is. Naturally occurring poisons (like arsenic) are manipulated, concentrated, and relocated by human. Synthetic compounds (like ddt) are combined to create somethings that the natural system did not create. Quinine is derived from a tropical asian tree. Many synthetic compounds stem from pesticides and pharmaceuticals. Leads to a trend of human related manipulated chemistry. We are at a point in biology where we don"t just study it, we invent it (through synthesis) By making synthetic compounds, scientists gained insight of how chemistry works in nature. There may be a day where man made materials can have these abilities. Old science explains and examines the world, then we mimic the world, now we include value. What should we do/what shouldn"t we do.
