Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Good morning, all. I hope you're getting settled back into your routines now, both in this class and in all of your others.

1. What's due today? Your Week 10 Starting Assumptions are due, as usual, at 8:00 tonight, with responses due at 11:00 p.m.

2. What's coming up? Your Week 10 Reading Quiz is due tomorrow night at 11:00 p.m.

3. What's this all about? I just want to point out that the central idea of this week's lesson is as simple as this: A gene is a stretch of DNA that encodes a protein. Your book goes into some of the gory details of how cells use the information in DNA to make proteins, but if there's anything I want you to take from this portion of the course, that's it. When we talk about genetically modified organisms, we're talking about moving one or more genes from one species into another species so that the recipient starts making the protein that the gene's previous "owner" can make too. There are a zillion practical applications of this technology, and that's what this chapter is all about.

4. Anything new on the course home page? Yes! Over the break we added a new page on correctly citing references. You might want to have a look. Note that it's not so much the FORMAT of the reference that I'm interested in; rather, I just want to make sure that all of the important information is included when you cite a source on the web.

5. How do I get out of this course? Beginning March 31, you will have to petition the dean to be able to drop this (or any other) course. If you are considering dropping the course, it'd be a good idea to do so by Friday.

Let me know if you have questions or need help!

Heather