Should there be any limits placed on scientific discoveries? Yes: 1.

Limits should be placed if there is an infringement on human and animal rights. - Animals: Animals that are used for animal testing are ill-treated, and their lives deemed inferior as their lives are simply ended after being used for testing -> used as a means to an end 1. Animals kept in small confined spaces. 2. 489,262 animals that were used in research in 2002 were used in research that was either painful, distressful, or both. Most were given something that either helped take the pain away or helped them get over the pain quickly. 3. 103,764 of the animals made to feel pain were not given anything to reduce their pain and suffering. Although some of this pain was slightlike getting an injection with a needlesome of it was extremely severe. 4. Sometimes the same animal will be used in more than one experiment. Most are euthanized shortly after being used in an experiment. - Humans: A human life is considered to be killed when an embryos cells are used for stem cell research. - There are embryonic stem cells attained from blastocysts. A blastocyst is basically an egg after it has been fertilized yet before an embryo begins forming in the egg. - The controversy over stem cells is from the destruction of fertilized human eggs when harvesting embryonic stem cells, therefore killing the human child that the egg could have developed into.

2. The implications of scientific discoveries can have harmful environmental effects. - scientific research can be undertaken to try and find solutions to problems such as the limitations of nature, however the implementation of the results of research can instead cause detrimental impacts to the environment - nuclear energy: - production of a sustainable form of energy that has reduced carbon emissions - however the usage of nuclear energy also produces harmful radioactive waste such as caesium and uranium that would damage the environment - biofuel: - discovery to use biomass as fuel that is based on carbon fixation: carbon neutral and may even reduce carbon emissions by 50-80% - however requires clearing the land and monocrop planting which is highly detrimental to the land

- limits and regulations should thus be placed on how these scientific discoveries are put to use to minimize the detrimental secondary effects produced in the process

No: 1.Limits on scientific discoveries should not be limited as it improves the quality of life of mankind. The quality of life discussed comprises of 2 domains known as quality healthcare and intellectual advancement. When new vaccines are developed to combat certain common influenzas or diseases, quality of life is elevated through a development in our healthcare technology, which translates to a higher average life expectancy. An example will be the Tamiflu vaccine that contains strains of the influenza virus from birds and pigs, which is used to combat new mutated influenza virus strains. The vaccine saw its effectiveness when mankind became increasingly less susceptible to new mutated strains, which is an indication that new biomedical discoveries could significantly reduce the threat posed by mutated virus or bacterial strains. Consequently, the intellectual advancement comes in the form of increasing crystallized knowledge about the world with each scientific advent, such as in the case of Pluto being downgraded from a planet to a dwarf planet when scientists realized that Pluto does not follow a fixed orbital as it orbits around the sun. This knowledge gained from scientific discoveries will inevitably increase our understanding of the world at large, which will aid in our decision making process to falsify or prove a certain scientific hypothesis or assumption. As such, scientific discoveries, if limited, may severely reduce the database of crystallised scientific knowledge that we have so painstakingly attempt to create, while simultaneously leaving man susceptible to unknown, virulent form of a new disease if healthcare technologies become obsolete and irrelevant. 2. Scientific discoveries help to overcome the limitations of nature - researchers have successfully eliminated most geographical limitations - through technological advancements, machines that aid humans in overcoming the limitations of nature have been invented and widely spread around the world - the unpredictable nature of the natural environment has caused many massive destruction throughout the world - through scientific discoveries, these limitations can be overcome and the massive destruction can be minimized - eg. indian ocean tsunami warning system constructed after the 2004 indian ocean tsunami, which killed approximately 300,000 people, measures ground vibrations and warns the people onshore of a potential tsunami for them to evacuate ASAP to decrease the number of lives at stake

3. Scientific discoveries confer greater knowledge of the world. -the process of science is a way of building knowledge about the universe, constructing new ideas that gives us a better idea of the world around us -with this knowledge, we are better able to solve practical problems and make informed decisions, both individually and collectively -slowing climate change and global warming: - scientifically proven to be primarily caused by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases produced by human activities such as deforestation. -With this knowledge, humans are empowered with the knowledge to reduce their carbon footprints -individually, people can choose to recycle, reduce, reuse -collectively, a nation can reduce carbon emissions by imposing some regulations and rules on power use -e.g. GERMANY: In spite of its cloudy weather, Germany has more than half of the worlds solar-power generating capacity and has invested over $14 billion in green technology last year. In fact, one of its towns - Vauban has gone almost entirely car free! -e.g. FINLAND: The forests in Finland are growing faster than they get destroyed. Plus the country has extremely high quality of air and low levels of water pollution. Finland is also among the world's largest exporters of wind-power technology. -if limits were to be placed on scientific discoveries, such scientific breakthroughs may not have been possible