Deception Point 

Dan Brown

Dan Brown

• Digital Fortress• Angels and Demons• The Da Vinci Code• The Lost Symbol

http://images.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi

Rachel Sexton

• Young woman who works in the White House• Father is Senator Sedgewick Sexton• Politically in an awkward position• Very Skeptical•  Very bright and quick on her feet

 

Delta Force Squad

• Highly trained and effective killers• Ruthless• Lack emotion• Best at what they do• Advanced in death-causing acts

Michael Tolland

• Oceanographer• T.V. star that all of America knows• Has an open mind• Humorous

Dr. Ming

• Glaciologist• Stern • Hard headed• Cocky• Jealous• Straight up annoying

Exposition

• In a restaurant during breakfast between Rachel and Senator Sexton near Washington D.C.

 

Rising Action

• Civilian Scientists are assembled• Rachel is asked to meet with the President aboard Air Force I• She is taken off the grid and sent to the Milne Ice Shelf• Evidence is presented to her about extraterrestrial life• Eventually she finds a single problem with the data• Investigation of this problem leads to more errors along with close

death encounters from the Delta Force 

Climax

• Aboard Mike's private boat where they disprove the final "fact" about the authenticity of the meteorite and fossils

 

Falling Action

• When Mike rescues Rachel from shark infested water and they are flown to the White House

Resolution

• The fake meteorite is returned to the Mariana Trench• Ends with Mike and Rachel . . . 'bonding'

Setting

• Time Period: Presento Convenient because of the technology needed to help the story

flow without being too farfetched 

Themes

• Cover ups• Science• Politics

Rating

10 out of 10. The only problem is how so much is going on and the story line is constantly changing, but some might like that because it builds suspense and makes you want to keep reading, but it just bugged me. Great story line and the story had a great flow to it with a wide range of characters.

Stem Cell Research

• Controversial due to ethical issueso Definition of life

• 3 Typeso Embryonic Stem Cells

Extracted from excess blastocytes (Stem Cell Basics)o Adult Stem Cells

 Found in human bone marrow (UMich)o  Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells a.k.a. IPS (Fox)

Made from skin cells

http://www.religioustolerance.org/res_stem1.htmhttp://stemcells.nih.gov/info/basics/basics3.asp

What are Stem Cells?

• Specialized cells able to renew themselves (Robinson)• Can be controlled to become any cell (Robinson)•  Can be used to cure many diseases (Bachelani)

o Alzheimers, Huntington's, Parkinsons, Type I Diabetes, Spinal cord injuries, different forms of cancer, etc.

•  

http://www.religioustolerance.org/res_stem1.htmhttp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18040485/.htm

Embryonic Stem Cells

• Found in blastocytes (Bachelani 3)•  Ethical situation• Cell cultures can be grown (Stem Cell Basics)•  Majority of embryos used are excess embryos (Robinson)

o Fertility clinic storages

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~shazifb/stem%20cell%20research.pdfhttp://stemcells.nih.gov/info/basics/basics3.asphttp://www.religioustolerance.org/res_stem1.htm

Ethics of Embryonic Stem Cells

• Definition of life

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~shazifb/stem%20cell%20research.pdf

Experimenting in Brazil

• Stem cell treatment for type 1 Diabetes performed in Brazil in 2007 on 15 young Brazilians (MSNBC)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18040485/.htm

Bibliography

http://images.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi Bachelani, Shazif. "Everything You Need to Know about Stem Cell Research." iastate.edu. Iowa State University, n.d. Web. 16 Mar 2010. <http://www.public.iastate.edu/~shazifb/stem%20cell%20research.pdf>.  Fox, Maggie. "Stem cell experiment reverses aging in rare disease." reuters.com. Reuters, 17 Feb 2010. Web. 01 Mar 2010. <http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61G4SC20100217>.  Ladock, Jason. "Pros and Cons of Stem Cell Therapy." healthguidance.org. HealthGuidance, n.d. Web. 27 Feb 2010. <http://www.healthguidance.org/entry/12366/1/Pros-and-Cons-of-Stem-Cell-Therapy.html>.  MSNBC, . "Stem cell experiment lets diabetics forgo insulin." msn.com. msn, 10 Apr 2007. Web. 27 Feb 2010. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18040485/.htm.  

          Robinson, B.A. "Human Stem Cells." religioustolerance.org. N.p., 05 Mar 2009. Web. 27 Feb 2010. http://www.religioustolerance.org/res_stem1.htm.

          Stem Cell Basics: What are embryonic stem cells? . In Stem Cell Information. Bethesda, MD: National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2009. 27 Feb 2010. http://stemcells.nih.gov/info/basics/basics3 UMICH, . "Stem Cell Research." umich.edu. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Feb 2010. <http://www.umich.edu/stemcell/faq/>.