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Glossary

 

 


activities
  things that cells do

"Certain lung cell activities bring oxygen to the blood."

anew
  to make brand new

"Students begin the school year anew in September"

artificial
  something that is not real, an imitation

"The man wore an artificial leg when he lost his leg in an accident."

average consumer
  a typical person who buys things

"The average consumer spends a lot of money on food.

breeding stock
  selective mating of animals

"The farmer used certain bulls for breeding stock because they were so healthy and strong."

cell's structure
  what the cell is made up of

"By looking at a cell's structure under the microscope, the students could identify what it was."

chromosomes
  Separate strands of genes, contained in the nucleus of a cell. Normally, chromosomes appear in corresponding pairs.

"A genome is made up of a complete set of paired chromosomes."

circumstances
  certain conditions

"Under the present circumstances the scientists decided to stop their research until they had more information."

clone
  an exact copy of a living thing often produced from a single cell

" The clone of Dolly started with a single cell."

cloning
  To make an exact copy of.

"Scientists tried cloning Dolly the sheep hundreds of times before they were successful."

coma
  a long period of deep unconsciousness causeed by disease, injury or poison.

"The boy was in a coma for days after he was hit by a car."

cultivated
  to grow, to keep something alive

"The scientists cultivated the cells in a laboratory dish."

desired features
  characteristics or things about an animal that you want

"The farmer tries to breed cows that have the desired features of giving a lot of milk and having back and white fur."

development
  growth, how things turn out

"Scientists studied the development of the cells in the petrie dish in the lab."

dictate
  to tell or direct

"Certain genes dictate whether we are tall or short."

differentiation
  the process by which cells become specialized

"Through differentiation, skin cells become different from muscle cells."

disorder
  something wrong

The boy's mental disorder made him act very nervous."

duplicate
  exact copy

"This homework is an exact duplicate of a homework I already received and completed."

embryos
  an animal or plant in its first stages of development, before birth, hatching or sprouting

"The chick within the egg is an embryo."

Ethicists
  people who spend time thinking about values related to right and wrong human behavior

"The ethicists talked about the value of cloning humans."

eugenics
  The belief that information about heredity can be used to improve the human race.

"Many people disagree about the value of eugenics because they think it may be used in the wrong way."

fertilizes
  union of two gametes to form a zygote, the sperm joins the egg

"The scientists were able to fertilize the egg in the testube, outside the mother's body to create an embryo."

flaw
  a mistake, an imperfection

Since the cloning experiment had many flaws, the scientists could not make a cloned animal that lived."

freedom of inquiry
  the right of the public to know

"The public has the freedom of inquiry about how good or bad human cloning will be for everyone over time."

fused together
  joined together

"The two cells were fused together and could not be separated afterwards."

genetic
 
genetic duplicate
  Someone with an exact copy of someone else's genes

"A clone of Junior would be a genetic duplicate of him."

genetically identical
  having the exact same set of genes

"A clone of Dolly the sheep will be genetically identical to her."

genetically related baby
  a baby that shares the same genes as its mother and father

The adopted child was not a genetically related baby to its adoptive parents."

genetically related offspring
  children with the same genes as their parents

"The brother and sister were genetically related offspring of their mother and father."

genetics
  The field of science that looks at how traits are passed down from one generation to another, through the genes.

"Through the study of genetics we can better understand how to identify and cure diseases."

government advisory board
  an official group of people who make suggestions to the government about a problem

"The advisory board suggested that the President stop the research on cloning until more information is known."

highly probable
  very likely to happen

"It is highly probable that Junior's clone will not be exactly like Junior in his personality."

infertile
  not able to conceive or have a baby

"The infertile woman wanted to have a clone made of her husband since she could not have her own baby."

inherit the disorder
  genetically get a disease or a problem from your mother or father

The parents were happy that their child did not inherit the disorder for diabetes from his mother."

Junior
  This is Mrs. Fister's son who was injured in the traffic accident and is in a coma.

"Mrs. Fister is considering cloning Junior".

Junior I
  Mrs. Fister's actual son who was injured in the accident

"Mrs. Fister tries to decide if she wants to make a clone of Junior I."

Junior II
  the clone of Junior I

"Junior II would never be exactly the same as Junior I."

laboratory dish
  a sterile glass dish used by researchers or scientists in a lab

"The scientist placed drops of the chemicals in the laboratory dish to create a new compound."

life support machines
  machines used in a hospital that keep a person alive, such as a respirator

"Mrs. Fister knew that if Junior was taken off the life support machines, there was a good chance that he would die."

mature cells
  cells that have reached their full growth potential

"In the Dolly experiment, researchers tried hundreds of times to clone a sheep from mature cells, but could only do it once."

mutation
  Changes that occur to the order of bases appearing in the DNA inside a cell.

"Genetic mutations are known to cause birth defects."

newsworthy
  a description of information that is important to share with the public

"The discovery of a cure for cancer is newsworthy because it is important information that will help the public."

nourishment
  feeding, giving proper nutrients

"Without proper nourshment, the child would become weak and die."

nuclear transfer
  a way to create a new animal by cloning

"Scientists were able to use nuclear transfer to clone the rhesus monkey."

nuclear transfer technology
  one way to make clones

"Dolly the sheep was cloned using nuclear transfer technology."

nucleus
  The central part of a cell where the chromosomes are contained.

Each cell contains one nucleus."

ovary
  a female organ of reproduction

"The woman's left ovary produced too few eggs to enable her get pregnant."

preferred traits
  choosing certain characteristics about an animal or person over others

"Girls often choose the preferred traits of being athletic and strong in the boys they date."

protein
  a complicated chain of amino acids necessary in how a cell is structured and functions

"Proteins are the most common organic compound in living cells., and found in all human beings."

proteins
  The basic chemicals that make up the structure of cells and direct their activities.

"The wall of the cell is made out of proteins."

recessive genes
  a gene that does not show up when it is paired with a dominant gene

"Fortunately, the child did not inherit Cycle Cell Anemia or diabetes from her mother because they were recessive genes."

resting state
  a time when cells are going to have their genetic instructions erased

"Specific genetic instructions in operation on the cells were erased when the cells were in the resting state."

restrictions
 
skin cells
  cells that specifically grow to form skin

"Specialized cells can become hair or skin cells."

specialize
  the adaption of a cell for a particular use

"Some cells specialize and become skin cells and some become bone cells."

specialized
  the way cells are directed to become specific parts of the body

"The cells specialized into hair cells."

splice
  to cut something

"The scientists were able to splice the cells in the laboratory dish."

supply and demand
  the number of products available versus the number of people wanting to buy those things

"Because the supply was less than the demand of the new Nike sneakers, the factories had to make a lot more sneakers."

surrogate
 

substitute or standin for someone else

"The surrogate sheep gave birth to Dolly"

The Pope
  Leader of the Catholic Church

"The Pope lead services in the church"

transgenic
  Containing genes from another species.

"Scientists are trying to create a transgenic cow that will have better milk to help humans."

transgenic animals
  animals that were created by cloning

"Dolly the sheep is a transgenic animal."

udder
  part of an animal that the milk comes out of

"The lamb sucked on the mother sheep's udder to get its milk.

uniqueness
  in its own special way

People noticed the girl for the uniqueness of her singing talent."


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Last updated: August 18
, 2000.


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