Iremedio, Anisha Luise E.

BSCE - B1

Make a Metacognitive Reading Report based on Wolpert’s The Medawar Lecture 1998. Here are
some guide questions:
● What concepts you find difficult to understand?
- The concept of eugenics and its ethical and moral value was a little confusing for me
since it was the first time I have heard this. It was also difficult for me to understand
the line/definition given in eugenic: ‘the more suitable races or strains of blood a
better chance of prevailing speedily over the less suitable.’
- I was also confused about the in vitro fertilization (IVF).
- Lastly, it was also difficult for me to understand gene therapy.

● What new insights have you gained after reading the paper?
- With this research, I gained knowledge that science and technology are two different
things. Since I was younger, I thought that they were the same. Every time I hear the
word “technology” it was an instant thought for me to associate it with “science”.
- I further learned that there are distinct social obligations between scientists and
citizens. I noticed that some of their responsibilities contribute to the welfare of
society such as taking care of the rights of the citizens. There are also some of the
obligations of scientists that can help people to be more accessible and have an
easier source of knowledge within the world.
- I knew that stem cells can be helpful to humanity in different forms and fields such as
in medicine. For example, with the use of stem cells, researchers or scientists can
further have knowledge of different diseases.

● What questions do you want to ask about? Or vague areas you want further explanation?
- I was curious about cloning and would like to know more about how they used frog
embryos to clone their genes. Even though it was incidental, I was at loss on how
they were able to conduct the experiment.
- I want to have further information on why the government distrust scientists when in
fact the people and Earth need scientists to help us survive and research different
topics concerning Earth and humanity. Does money have a great influence on it?
- When are the times that science can be dangerous or not? To what extent do we
consider something (ex. research) as dangerous? We can’t deny that there will be
research that can be accidentally harmful to society. In this case, what should we or
the scientists do?