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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. resistant
    able to tolerate environmental conditions or stress
    They hope to kill off malaria-carrying mosquitoes, make wheat resistant to mildew and produce eggs suitable for people allergic to them.
  2. controversial
    marked by or capable of causing disagreement
    Controversially, some labs are using Crispr to experiment with human germ-line cells.
  3. embryo
    an animal organism in the early stages of growth
    In 2015, a group of Chinese researchers published results of a Crispr experiment on human embryos, or fertilized eggs.
  4. enzyme
    a complex protein produced by cells that acts as a catalyst
    This allows the Cas9 enzyme to slice through the invaders’ DNA.
  5. breakthrough
    the act of making an important discovery
    Then, in 2012, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, published a breakthrough paper.
  6. skim
    move or pass swiftly and lightly over the surface of
    They discovered how to make “guides” that allow Crispr to skim along DNA, targeting exactly the right spot to make a slice.
  7. straightforward
    free from ambiguity
    Decisions about whether to use Crispr to treat people who are already sick could be made through a straightforward consideration of risks and benefits, once these are better understood.
  8. consideration
    the process of giving careful thought to something
    Decisions about whether to use Crispr to treat people who are already sick could be made through a straightforward consideration of risks and benefits, once these are better understood.
  9. philosophical
    relating to the investigation of existence and knowledge
    The issues arising from germ-line editing, however, are philosophical as well as medical.
  10. potential
    the inherent capacity for coming into being
    The potential to do good is enormous: eliminating a genetic disease from a family forever.
  11. enhancement
    an improvement that makes something more agreeable
    Some scientists worry that germ-line editing would invite enhancements of babies for nonmedical reasons.
  12. cognitive
    relating to or involving the mental process of knowing
    They say that cognitively enhanced individuals could produce ideas and inventions that improve life for everyone.
Created on Tue Jun 18 11:47:05 EDT 2019 (updated Tue Jun 18 11:53:43 EDT 2019)

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