Bewildering Information for Society

Increasing Divide Between the Knows and Know-not's

• SNP
• Gene Ontology
• Proteomics
• Interactome
• Systems Biology

Science Policy (earmark vs. peer reviews)

• Who is the best person to decide how to spend your tax dollars?
• Can one person's pork barrel be someone else's good science?

Genetically Engineered Organisms (GEO; not modified)

• What are the real benefits and potential hazards?
• Is it dangerous to eat engineered DNA?
• Can the GEO escape into the environment?
• Will we lose important indigenous genotypes with large-scale "pharming"

Medicine Diagnosis and Treatments

• Will genomics improve medical treatment or only make it more expensive?
• What is the most effective medical intervention - vaccination or personalized medicine?
• Should we spend more money on prevention or treatment?

Environmental Policy

• Is global warming real or just hype?
• Why should we worry about saving species we'll never see?
• Should we urge third world countries to preserve their natural resources when they want to be consumers like us?
• Should we care about an ozone hole that is over Antarctica if no one lives there?

Energy Policy

• How do you measure the true costs of producing energy?
• What personal choices do you make that have a global impact?
• Is there any "good" source of energy?
• Should there be a pollution tax?

© Copyright 2003 Department of Biology, Davidson College, Davidson, NC 28035
Send comments, questions, and suggestions to: macampbell@davidson.edu