Silver’s Remaking Eden and the Silver Screen
In Remaking Eden, Lee M. Silver asks three central questions: Who controls life? What
counts as life? And what will human life look like in the future? The question Silver does not ask is
whether or not human life as we now know and define it will change. Silver sees the advance of
genetic engineering as inevitable, due to consumer demand for it as a technology and the unrelenting
curiosity of scientists. Power resides in science, according to Silver, and that power is “enormous.”
In the closing chapter to Remaking Eden, entitled “Tomorrow’s Children,” he recounts how “a single
eccentric scientist named Kary Mullis” obliterated all “preconceived notions of scientific
limitations” with his invention of the Polymerase Chain Reaction or “PCR” (240). As Silver describes
it:
More than any other technique invented during the twentieth century, PCR has changed
the course of the biological and medical sciences. In addition to the enormous power
that it added to gene discovery and analysis . . . PCR has made it possible to obtain rapid
genetic profiles not only on humans but other animals and plants as well, with an
enormous impact on both agriculture and environmental science. PCR has also had an
enormous impact on forensics with its power to provide genetic profiles on even single
hairs left behind at the scene of a crime. And PCR has provided us with the ability to
look back into the past, to demonstrate that skeletons found buried in an isolated
Siberian town really did belong to the last Russian Czar and his family, and much further
back to derive genetic profiles on insects and plants that have been extinct for millions
of years [emphases added]. (241)
For all his sc...
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Lemonick, Michael D. “Cloning Classics.” Time 8 Nov. 1993: 70. Expanded Academic ASAP. InfoTrac.
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Silver, Lee M. Remaking Eden: How Genetic Engineering and Cloning Will Transform the American
Family. 1997. New York: Perennial-Harper, 2002.
Vergano, Dan, and Susan Wloszczyna. “Genetics Take Starring Role on Silver Screen.” USA Today
17 June 2002. 12 August 2005
genetics-movies.htm>.
Ron Rash’s One Foot in Eden is a story of desperation, longing, murder, and a disappearing way of life. It takes place in South Carolina in the 1950s. The story is told from five character’s points of view. It begins with Sheriff Alexander trying to solve a murder, while at the same time coming to grips with his own feelings about the mountain community and people he has left behind. He also has to contend with the exploitation of the community by Carolina Power Company, who is eager to flood the area. He is joined by Amy, the wife of a local farmer; her husband Billy; their son Isaac; and the deputy, Bobby in revealing the tale of the Jocassee community and its people. The story encompasses twenty years in the Jocassee neighborhood and along with the narrators; other characters important to the story are introduced to the reader. Widow Glendower is one of those characters.
obtained by plucking individual hairs from students' heads and using the PCR device to replicate
The characteristics of people are formed by multiple factors. In many situations, children are raised under similar conditions, however, their later characteristics and life choices are very different. In the book, East of Eden, author John Steinbeck explores the development of humans, from childhood, to adulthood, and eventually, to death. East of Eden, by John Steinbeck, is a genealogical novel about the lives of the Trasks, particularly the main character in the book, Adam Trask. Along the way, the Hamiltons, Ames, and many other characters are introduced. Steinbeck makes a point of showing the continually changing nature of some characters, while describing the ceaseless staticness of others. In East of Eden, John Steinbeck presents his views on the construction of human behavior and the components that are incorporated in it.
In Steinbeck’s East of Eden he is constantly using single characters to illustrate many differen...
East of Eden by John Steinbeck, is a fictional novel that details the lives of five main characters, Cal Trask, Aron Trask, Adam Trask, Cathy Ames, and Samuel Hamilton. John Steinbeck pivots the five characters against each other with biblical references from the story of Cain and Abel. The novel’s protagonist Adam Trask has a half brother Charles and is portrayed generally as a good man throughout the novel. The antagonist Charles Trask is jealous and similar to Cain in the biblical story of Cain and Abel. The novel can be split into two parts with the first part focussing on the first generation Trask family and the second part focussing on the second generation Trask family with both following the same story line of rejection and favoritism.
Some of the most aspiring and influential authors show to be American novelists. American novelists brought about a new style of writing, which became very popular. John Steinbeck shows this style of writing in his novel, East of Eden. This makes Steinbeck one of the most significant American novelists in the twentieth century. East of Eden contains many parts, which add detail and interest to the novel. Many of Steinbeck’s novels and other works remain and continue to be nationally acclaimed. Many elements exist in East of Eden that bring about the meaning and concept of the novel. The study of John Steinbeck and his book, East of Eden, will help the reader better understand the element of fiction and interpret the meaning of the work.
The criminal justice system has changed a lot since the good old days of the Wild West when pretty much anything was legal. Criminals were dealt with in any fashion the law enforcement saw fit. The science of catching criminals has evolved since these days. We are better at catching criminals than ever and we owe this advancement to forensic science. The development of forensic science has given us the important techniques of fingerprinting and DNA analysis. We can use these techniques to catch criminals, prove people's innocence, and keep track of inmates after they have been paroled. There are many different ways of solving crimes using forensic evidence. One of these ways is using blood spatter analysis; this is where the distribution and pattern of bloodstains is studied to find the nature of the event that caused the blood spatter. Many things go into the determination of the cause including: the effects of various types of physical forces on blood, the interaction between blood and the surfaces on which it falls, the location of the person shedding the blood, the location and actions of the assailant, and the movement of them both during the incident. Another common type of forensic evidence is trace evidence. This is commonly recovered from any number of items at a crime scene. These items can include carpet fibers, clothing fibers, or hair found in or around the crime scene. Hairs recovered from crime scenes can be used as an important source of DNA. Examination of material recovered from a victim's or suspect's clothing can allow association to be made between the victim and other people, places, or things involved in the investigation. DNA analysis is the most important part of forensic science. DNA evidence can come in many forms at the crime scene. Some of these forms include hair; bodily fluids recovered at the crime scene or on the victim's body, skin under the victim's fingernails, blood, and many others. This DNA can be the basis of someone's guilt or innocence; it has decided many cases in the twentieth century. As the times continue to change and the criminals get smarter we will always need to find new ways to catch them. Forensic science is the most advanced method yet, but is only the beginning. As the field of science grows so will the abilities of the
Tsou, J. A., Hagen, J. A., Carpenter, C. L., & Laird-Offringa, I. A. (2002, August 05). DNA
Once a crime has been committed the most important item to recover is any type of evidence left at the scene. If the suspect left any Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) at the crime scene, he could then be linked to the crime and eventually charged. A suspect’s DNA can be recovered if the suspect leaves a sample of his or her DNA at the crime scene. However, this method was not always used to track down a suspect. Not too long ago, detectives used to use bite marks, blood stain detection, blood grouping as the primary tool to identify a suspect. DNA can be left or collected from the hair, saliva, blood, mucus, semen, urine, fecal matter, and even the bones. DNA analysis has been the most recent technique employed by the forensic science community to identify a suspect or victim since the use of fingerprinting. Moreover, since the introduction of this new technique it has been a la...
Genetic engineering has been around for many years and is widely used all over the planet. Many people don’t realize that genetic engineering is part of their daily lives and diet. Today, almost 70 percent of processed foods from a grocery store were genetically engineered. Genetic engineering can be in plants, foods, animals, and even humans. Although debates about genetic engineering still exist, many people have accepted due to the health benefits of gene therapy. The lack of knowledge has always tricked people because they only focused on the negative perspective of genetic engineering and not the positive perspective. In this paper, I will be talking about how Genetic engineering is connected to Brave New World, how the history of genetic engineering impacts the world, how genetic engineering works, how people opinions are influenced, how the side effects can be devastating, how the genetic engineering can be beneficial for the society and also how the ethical issues affect people’s perspective.
"Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) Fact Sheet." National Human Genome Research Institute. 10 Dec. 2007. National Institutes of Health. .
Like all strong allegories, East of Eden draws one into a world of fictious characters that seem to take on a life of familiarity. The bible, which Steinbeck has chosen to build his novel on, is a book that interests itself not in causes, but in actions and their consequences. By creating biblical allegories, Steinbeck gives a new meaning to an old chapter.
Science and technology are rapidly advancing everyday; in some ways for the better, and in some, for worse. One extremely controversial advance is genetic engineering. As this technology has high potential to do great things, I believe the power genetic engineering is growing out of control. Although society wants to see this concept used to fight disease and illness, enhance people 's lives, and make agriculture more sustainable, there needs to be a point where a line is drawn.
Technology has a significant influence across the world, as it has become a fast growing field. Modern biotechnology has been in the major forefront of this influence. From the discovery of DNA to the cloning of various animals, the study of genetic engineering has changed the way society views life. However, does genetic engineering have the capacity to influence the world to its best abilities? Products, which are genetically engineered, may cause severe negative effects on our society. This industry, carrying the potential of leading us toward the unnatural selection of humans to possibly environmental disasters will put humankind in peril. Society, along with humankind, will be in jeopardy since to genetic engineering has the potential of being disastrous.
for the use of animals in research. This has attempted to slow or halt the work