The notion that “the mind is what the brain does” is catching fire in academia, especially in the trendy area of neuroscience. In other words, you — your personality, your most intimate self, your dreams, your convictions — are electrical circuits sparking in your gray matter. Recently, New York Times pundit David Brooks informed us that: (MercatorNet)

In 2003, the idea that one might have a freedom to change one’s body and brain as one liked was being discussed in relation to the Transhumanist FAQ. This idea receives much less attention in the current FAQ, where it is largely replaced by a lesser freedom to enhance. This is interesting, because morphological freedom has significant implications. (IEET)

The family of Terri Schiavo, the Florida woman who was artificially kept alive for 15 years, say they feel both heartbreak and vindication over the news this week that a Belgian man thought to be in a persistent vegetative state (PVS) was fully conscious for two decades. (ABC News)

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) would seem as unlikely a target for attack as Santa’s elves. For a quarter-century, this squeaky-clean, underappreciated group of doctors and nurses who are specialists in preventive medicine has toiled away in obscurity in the selfless service of public health. (Bioethics Forum)

Every medical study ever conducted has concluded that 100 percent of all Americans will eventually die. This comes as no great surprise, but the amount of money being spent at the very end of people’s lives probably will. Last year, Medicare paid $50 billion just for doctor and hospital bills during the last two months of patients’ lives - that’s more than the budget of the Department of Homeland Security or the Department of Education. (CBS News)

President Barack Obama today established a new presidential council to advise him on bioethical matters. It replaces the sometimes controversial council that advised President George W. Bush. (ScienceInsider)

On April 29-30, Children’s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics in Kansas City, MO will be hosting a symposium on Pediatric Pharmacogenomics and Personalized Medicine.  A full afternoon session will be dedicated to presentations and discussions revolving around the Ethical Issues related to developing infrastructure for a pediatric personalized medicine program.  Topics include Ethical and Legal Barriers to Pediatric Bio-banking Initiatives, Critical Issues of Consent, Assent, and Distributive Justice in Pediatrics, Ethical Implications of Pediatric Genomics from a Regulatory Perspective, Pediatric Implications for Direct-to-Consumer Personal Genomics, and Challenges Facing Implementation of Personalized Medicine from a Japanese perspective.  Speakers include Skip Nelson, John Lantos, and Kyle Brothers.  For more information, please contact Mrs. Melonie Clifton at 816-234-3059 or mclifton@cmh.edu.

The Johns Hopkins neurologist and his colleagues had autopsied the brains of people with autism who died in accidents and found evidence of neuroinflammation. This rare look inside the autistic brain had the potential to increase understanding of the mysterious disorder. (Chicago Tribune)

Earlier this month, Ohio prison officials announced they will abandon the three-drug cocktail for lethal injection in favor of a single injection of a massive dose of barbiturates. If the execution team is unable to find a suitable vein, the drug will be injected into an inmate’s large muscle. (Cleveland.com)

Genetic screening of human embryos may eventually eradicate inherited diseases ranging from breast cancer to cystic fibrosis. Using a technique known as pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), specialists can select a couple’s healthy embryo for implantation in the womb and discard ones that are damaged. (The Age)

Women can delay having their first Pap test for cervical cancer until they turn 21 and many can wait longer to go back for follow-up screenings, according to new guidelines released Friday by a major medical group. (Washington Post)

Beijing city government admits that the Chinese capital has a problem with illegal medical centres - known as black clinics. It closed down more than 3,300 of these unregulated and sometimes dangerous clinics last year alone. (BBC)

Embryonic stem cell therapy got a step closer to the clinic Thursday after US researchers said they filed a request for government approval of human trials. The trials would involve 12 patients losing their sight to a currently untreatable disease called Stargardt, which is one of the most common forms of juvenile blindness. (AFP)

In an unusual pushback against President Obama’s expansion of federal financing of human embryonic stem cell research, the University of Nebraska is considering restricting its stem cell experiments to cell lines approved by President George W. Bush. (New York Times)

Plastic surgeons shriek as Democrats consider an excise tax on elective cosmetic procedures to raise funds for health reform. (BusinessWeek)

IBM’s Blue Gene brain simulation has made gains in one of the most sophisticated tasks man has ever taken on—creating artificial intelligence (AI). With the true AI milestone comes the dawn of the singularity, when computers overtake humans. Contributing editor Glenn Reynolds looks into the future and wonders; what happens after the singularity? (Popular Mechanics)

Judy Illes has a dilemma. What happens when someone who has agreed to participate in a medical study undergoes a brain scan during which the researcher happens to discover an anomaly, a potential health risk? It’s a hypothetical quandary, but an example of the type of question Illes grapples with every day as the head of the National Core for Neuroethics at UBC. (Straight.com)

In 1997, a federal committee of medical experts recommended against routine mammograms for women in their 40s, sparking a political uproar that led to congressional hearings and a unanimous Senate vote challenging the findings.

Now, 12 years later, a similar drama is playing out around a different federal medical panel, which this week recommended against routine mammograms for women younger than 50, saying it is not worth subjecting some patients to unnecessary biopsies, radiation and stress. (Washington Post)

Some of the learning difficulties of Down’s syndrome have been reversed by a blood pressure drug in a breakthrough that offers hope to millions. Given in childhood, the drug could improve marks in school. In adulthood, it could prevent or slow the decline towards dementia that often accompanies the genetic condition. (Mail Online)

A Hackney pharmacy sold do-it-yourself paternity tests over the counter for the first time in the UK on Tuesday - raising concerns among campaigners and community leaders. The DNA collection kit went on sale at Clockwork Pharmacy on Mare Street, Hackney Central, for £30. (Hackney Gazette)