Fabricating Humans essays

Fabricating Humans essays Cloning is unethical and is not needed in society. Many, if not all, religions agree with the ban of cloning human beings. It has also been argued that cloning would diminish individuality as well. Whether or not cloning is ethical, at this time cloning human beings should be, and is, banned. Humans have evolved since the beginning of time, getting smarter and adapting more to the environment in which they live. Humans have evolved so much that we now know how to make copies of our genes, the special codes that make up our physical strengths and weaknesses. It has been argued that cloning would help to rid disease and physical impurities which are unwanted. However, like humans diseases and viruses also evolve changing to the environment in order to stay alive longer. As rabbi Bernard King of Irvine, California asked, Can the cloning create a soul? (qtd in Rottenburg 225). Many religions believe that humans have an everlasting soul, which lives on after life. Scientists do not create a soul, God does. God gives life and he takes it away. Humans without souls would be used as nothing but slaves as stated by the Catholic priest Father Sanders (Rottenburg 225). Individuality would be abolished if the human genome was duplicated. The would be multitudes of identical or similar types of bodies, less distinct, less unique, and less sovereign (Rottenburg 230). The idea of a perfect human would be met, whether it is a blonde hair blue-eyed girl or a boy with a washboard stomach. People would become drones and would be produced in order to fill the needs that society sees fit. Clones would be told what they were, what they are, and what they will become. They will have no say in their life, they would be instructed what job they will do and would be made with the features needed to excel in it. Cloning would ruin some of the qualities of being alive. In addition, what woul ...

Pentaceratops - Facts and Figures

Pentaceratops - Facts and Figures Despite its impressive name (which means five-horned face), Pentaceratops really only had three genuine horns, two big ones over its eyes and a smaller one perched on the end of its snout. The two other protuberances were technically outgrowths of this dinosaurs cheekbones, rather than genuine horns, which probably didnt make much difference to any smaller dinosaurs that happened to get in Pentaceratops way. Name: Pentaceratops (Greek for five-horned face); pronounced PENT-ah-SER-ah-topsHabitat: Plains of western North AmericaHistorical Period: Late Cretaceous (75 million years ago)Size and Weight: About 20 feet long and 2-3 tonsDiet: Plants Distinguishing Characteristics: Enormous bony frill on its head; two large horns above eyes About Pentaceratops A classic ceratopsian (horned face) dinosaur, Pentaceratops was closely related to the more famous, and more accurately named, Triceratops, although its closest relative was the equally large Utahceratops. (Technically, all of these dinosaurs are chasmosaurine, rather than centrosaurine, ceratopsians, meaning they share more characteristics with Chasmosaurus than with Centrosaurus.) From the tip of its beak to the top of its bony frill, Pentaceratops possessed one of the largest heads of any dinosaur that ever lived- about 10 feet long, give or take a few inches (its impossible to say for sure, but this otherwise peaceful plant-eater may have been the inspiration for the huge-headed, human-munching queen in the 1986 movie Aliens.) Until the recent discovery of  the evocatively named Titanoceratops, which was diagnosed from an existing skull previously attributed to Pentaceratops, this five-horned dinosaur was the only ceratopsian known to have lived in the environs of New Mexico toward the end of the Cretaceous period, 75 million years ago. Other ceratopsians, such as Coahuilaceratops, have been discovered as far south as Mexico. Why did Pentaceratops have such a huge noggin? The most likely explanation is sexual selection: at some point in the evolution of this dinosaur, huge, ornate heads became attractive to females, giving big-headed males the edge during mating season. Pentaceratops males probably butted each other with their horns and frills for mating supremacy; particularly well-endowed males may also have been recognized as herd alphas. Its possible that the unique horns and frill of Pentaceratops aided with intra-herd recognition, so, for example, a Pentaceratops juvenile wouldnt accidentally wander off with a passing group of Chasmosaurus! Unlike some other horned, frilled dinosaurs, Pentaceratops has a fairly straightforward fossil history. The initial remains (a skull and a piece of hipbone) were discovered in 1921 by Charles H. Sternberg, who continued plying this same New Mexico location over the next couple of years until he had collected enough specimens for his fellow paleontologist Henry Fairfield Osborn to erect the genus Pentaceratops. For nearly a century after its discovery, there was only one named genus of Pentaceratops. P. sternbergii, until a second, northern-dwelling species, P. aquilonius, was named by Nicholas Longrich of Yale University.