Biotechnology

High school (ages 12+)
Science & Technology

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/biotechnology

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the multidisciplinary nature?Integrates principles from biology, chemistry, engineering, computer science, and medicine
2. What is the key historical milestone?Development of recombinant DNA technology in the 1970s, enabling precise genetic manipulation
3. What is biotechnology and why is it useful?Biotechnology is science that uses living things like germs to make helpful products. It helps us make medicines, better food, cleaner energy, and clean up pollution.
4. How do scientists change the genes of plants or animals?They use tools like CRISPR-Cas9 and plasmids to edit DNA. This lets them give crops new traits like more food or resistance to pests.

Recombinant DNA Technology: Techniques for combining DNA from different sources, enabling genetic modification of organisms.
Synthetic Biology: The design and construction of new biological parts, devices, and systems, or the re-design of existing ones.
CRISPR-Cas9: A powerful gene-editing tool that allows scientists to make precise changes to DNA sequences.
Bioinformatics: The application of computer science and statistical techniques to analyze biological data.