The study, published by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), a think tank, found that retirement results in a “drastic decline in health” in the medium and long term. (BBC)

A study finds a gap between learning ethical terms and using them in a clinical setting, which can lead to a lack of shared understanding. (American Medical News)

The villain in “Inferno,” Brown’s sixth novel, follows a movement called transhumanism. Brown, 48, who spent more than two years in Florence researching the book, has been interested in the controversial concept of transhumanism for years. (Today)

In a secular age it might seem that the time for moral authorities has passed. However, research in the life sciences and biomedicine has produced a range of moral concerns and prompted the emergence of bioethics; an area of study that specialises in the ethical analysis of these issues. The result has been the emergence of what we might call expert bioethicists, a cadre of professionals who, while logical and friendly, have, nevertheless, been ordained as secular priests. (The Guardian)

MY MOTHER fought cancer for almost a decade and died at 56. She held out long enough to meet the first of her grandchildren and to hold them in her arms. But my other children will never have the chance to know her and experience how loving and gracious she was. (New York Times, op-ed by Angelina Jolie)

People with advanced cancer tend to get more aggressive care at the end of life and spend more time in the intensive care unit if they receive spiritual support from their religious communities, according to a new study. (Reuters)

What is science revealing about the nature of the criminal mind? Adrian Raine, a professor at the university of Pennsylvania, is an expert in the expanding field of “neurocriminology.” He has written The Anatomy of Violence, a sweeping account of crime’s biological roots, including genetics, neuro-anatomy and environmental toxins like lead. He spoke with Mind Matters editor Gareth Cook. (The New Scientist)

Eminent Belgian scientist Christian de Duve, aged 95, a winner of the Nobel prize for medicine, died on Saturday after committing euthanasia, which is legal in Belgium, his family said. (Times of India)

Some bioethicists who feel at home in the utilitarian common room of the Journal of Medical Ethics described the imbroglio as an attack on academic freedom. (BioEdge)

The veteran 73-year-old arts critic, novelist and broadcaster was deeply affected by watching Alzheimer’s take its toll on his 95-year-old mother for five years until her death last year, and said assisted suicide was an issue for people his age. “It’s happening to my generation – they see what happens when people get close to death, and we’re saying, ‘We don’t want that.’” (The Guardian)

The Academy Award-nominated movie “Amour” is sparking much-needed conversations about aging, the illness of a longtime companion and dying with dignity. (The Sun Sentinel)

When hit songwriter and former American Idol judge Kara DioGuardi and husband Mike McCuddy welcomed son Greyson James Carroll via gestational surrogate in January, it was a dream come true for the couple following five years of heartbreaking fertility issues. But that’s only part of her story. Two years ago, the music publisher learned she was a carrier for the BRCA2 gene mutation, which is linked to hereditary breast and ovarian cancer. (People)

A major survey of religious opinion shows that large majorities of believers are in favour of legalising assisted dying. The poll, carried out by YouGov for the Westminster Faith Debates and involving nearly 4,500 people, reveals that only among Muslims and Baptists are there majorities against a change in the law that prohibits assisted suicide. Majorities of Anglicans, Catholics, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, Methodists and Pentecostalists are in favour of changing the law. (The Guardian)

Dr. François Jacob, a French war hero whose combat wounds forced him to change his career paths from surgeon to scientist, a pursuit that led to a Nobel Prize in 1965 for his role in discovering how genes are regulated, died on April 19 in Paris. He was 92. (New York Times)

Having children improves your quality of life, even if you are a step-parent or have adopted a child, a new study has concluded. (The Telegraph)

Dr. Vincent L. Gott was part of an innovative group of doctors who trained with Dr. C. Walton Lillehei, considered to be the father of open-heart surgery. (CNN)

Google has always been an artificial intelligence company, so it really shouldn’t have been a surprise that Ray Kurzweil, one of the leading scientists in the field, joined the search giant late last year. Nonetheless, the hiring raised some eyebrows, since Kurzweil is perhaps the most prominent proselytizer of “hard AI,” which argues that it is possible to create consciousness in an artificial being. (Wired)

Happy National DNA Day! April 25 marks the 60th anniversary of scientists’ discovery of the double helix. It’s also the 10th anniversary of the completion of the Human Genome Project, which set out to sequence the more than 3 billion letters in our genetic code. (CNN)

The man who pioneered in vitro fertilization also stirred deep unease about what he was doing. (The Wall Street Journal)

The Boston Marathon bombings caused injuries resulting in many traumatic limb amputations. Recent advances have made recovery less onerous for today’s amputees. (Los Angeles Times)

Clerics here greeted stem-cell researchers in an unusual conference at which the Catholic Church sought to show what the cardinal who organized the meeting called the “necessary union between science and faith.” Hundreds of scientists, including 2012 Nobel laureate John B. Gurdon, spoke at the three-day event, the fruit of a joint venture between the church and the U.S. nonprofit Stem for Life Foundation. (The Wall Street Journal)