I asked a group of 5th graders the other day whether or not we can learn anything from studying other living things.  For example, if we mutate or change the DNA of another organism, like fruit flies (D. melanogaster), can we learn anything about what can happen when human DNA changes?  For this particular class, it seemed to be an absolutely absurd question.  This could have been because the thought of fruit flies made them ill right before lunch, or they were unsure about how much we have in common with fruit flies.

So we got into a discussion about model More >