18 de enero de 2021

José Antonio Acevedo Díaz y Antonio García Carmona

1. Old and contemporary biotechnology.

Old biotechnology. An association of biotechnology with food has been established throughout the history. Around 6000 B.C. Babylonians made the brewing. By the year 4000 B.C. Egyptians learned to use yeast to make bread. Production of wine from the fermentation of grapes is mentioned in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. Other craft methods are known from antiquity such as preparation of vinegar, yogurt and cheese. Many centuries later, in the 19th century, Pasteur contributed greatly to control these processes by means of scientific methods. Indeed, Pasteur’s theory of fermentation caused by the activity of microorganisms allowed to explain and to resolve difficulties of conservation and transport milk, beer, wine and vinegar over long distances. Also, it allowed to improve the production of some foods such as bread, yoghurt and beer.

Contemporary biotechnology. Biotechnology has undergone deep changes since the last quarter of the 20th century due to the extraordinary advances in molecular biology and genetics. Contemporary biotechnology has given rise to controversial issues such as genetic modification of unicellular organisms, genetic diagnosis, bioremediation, production of medicines by microorganisms, cloning cells or human tissues for therapeutic purposes, experiments with animals and their cloning to obtain therapeutic substances, genetic modification of plants and crops to increase resistance to plagues, production of genetically modified foods to improve their properties, etc.

2. Factors influencing on public perception of the biotechnology.

3. Factors that may influence the social controversy over GM foods.

4. Implications for science education.

5. References.

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Como citar

Acevedo-Díaz, José & García-Carmona, Antonio. (2014). Public perception of science: Biotechnology as an example - Presentation. 10.13140/2.1.4405.5045.

II Congreso Iberoamericano de Docentes. Docentes frente a la pandemia