The Journal of Law, Medicine, & Ethics (Volume 37, Issue 4, Winter 2009) is now available by subscription only.

Articles include:

• “Commentary: Emerging Technologies Oversight: Research, Regulation, and Commercialization” by Robbin Johnson, 587-593.
  
• “Evaluating Oversight of Human Drugs and Medical Devices: A Case Study of the FDA and Implications for Nanobiotechnology” by Jordan Paradise, Alison W. Tisdale, Ralph F. Hall, and Efrosini Kokkoli; 598-624.
• “Gene Therapy Oversight: Lessons for Nanobiotechnology” by Susan M. Wolf, Rishi Gupta, and Peter Kohlhepp; 659-684.
• “Science, Ethics, and the ‘Problems’ of Governing Nanotechnologies” by Linda F. Hogle, 749-758.
• “Introduction: Comparative Health Law and Policy: What, If Anything, Can We Learn from Other Countries?” by Diane Hoffmann, 790-791.
• “Realization of the International Human Right to Health in an Economically Integrated North America” by Eleanor D. Kinney, 807-818.
• “Tobacco Industry Use of Corporate Social Responsibility Tactics as a Sword and a Shield on Secondhand Smoke Issues” Lissy C. Friedman, 819-827.

Some progressives have progressed so far that they’ve become technophobic reactionaries. (Reason Magazine)

Legendary philosopher Peter Singer once imagined a scenario where a pill could double human lifespan, and argued that such a world would never be as happy as one without the medicine. Science fiction author and philosopher Russell Blackford disagrees. (io9)

In the shimmering fantasy realm of the hit movie “Avatar,” a paraplegic Marine leaves his wheelchair behind and finds his feet in a new virtual world thanks to “the link,” a sophisticated chamber that connects his brain to a surrogate alien, via computer. (CNN)

n 2005, he unveiled several working prototypes of a mechanical, mind-controlled “exoskeleton” that could allow the disabled to walk. The suit – recently refined and now available for rent in Japan – resembles white soccer shinguards attached to each segment of the arms and legs and a fanny pack-like battery hooked around the waist. (ABC News)

Part “Star Wars,” part human, each finger contains a motor smaller than a dime. Controlled by a small computer processor and powered by a tiny rechargeable battery, the prosthetics, called ProDigits, allow owners unheard of control over their hands. Electrodes placed against wearers’ arms sense when they contract certain muscles. Those small movements then drive the robotic fingers. (ABC News)

Peter Singer has argued that we should not proceed with a hypothetical life-extension drug, based on a scenario in which developing the drug would fail to achieve the greatest sum of happiness over time. However, this is the wrong test. (IEET)

As a thick, gray haze began to descend over the words in her schoolbooks, and eventually the faces of loved ones, Barbara Campbell barely grasped that she was going blind. (CNN)

An Italian-led team of scientists talk of a breakthrough in thought-controlled prostheses that connects an artificial limb through electrodes. (Los Angeles Times)

By mimicking the way that a living body acquires immunity to disease through vaccination, researchers have designed an artificial immune system to solve optimization problems more effectively than before. The results show that the biologically motivated approach is better at exploring a greater amount of space and quickly locating the desired local and global optima than previous methods. (PhysOrg)

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)

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)

A tissue is an aggregate of cells, growing and thriving in an environment where they adhere and interact with one another. Tissue Engineering is the use of bioengineering methods to create, improve, develop and grow tissues, which then may be used for grafting, cartilage repair or, ultimately, regenerative medical procedures. The study of tissues is aimed at determining the answers to fundamental questions such as how cells react and interact in a specific matrix, and may involve the use of proteomics to study gene expression and protein production in complex environments. This form of systems biology might look at cellular functions such as excretion of intercellular signaling substances, and epigenetic factors that determine physical features such as size and shape of organs. (About)

Policymakers have known for roughly a decade that synthetic biology could be misused to develop cheaper and more effective bioweapons. During that time, a great deal has been written and said and something like a policy community has emerged. Even better, there are now consensus viewpoints around many issues. Those of us who study this issue have, in short, reached the point where society can reasonably demand our advice on practical problems. (Bioethics Forum)

The SmartHand project is funded by the European Union and is a collaboration between researchers from across the continent. It has produced a prototype motorized prosthetic hand that researchers say gives unprecedented sensory feedback. (CNN)

Creating an original organism required no bolt of lightning for a team of University of Virginia students. But it did take buckets of ice, vials of bacteria and a FedEx delivery. (Washington Post)

A new artificial retina, an array of electrodes implanted on the back of the eye, has been found to restore partial vision to totally blind people. In a study focused on 15 blind participants who had the implant for at least three months, 10 of the patients subsequently tested were able to identify the direction of moving objects. (ScienceDaily)

We live in an age of technological medicine, benefiting greatly from its probings and treatments. Yet patients’ encounters with it can leave much to be desired (see “Prescription: Networking”). In addressing those deficiencies, there is no better place to begin than a text produced 2,500 years before the modern technological era. (Technology Review)

NanoEthics (Volume 3, Number 2, August 2009) is now available by subscription only.

Articles Include:

• “Beyond Implications and Applications: the Story of ‘Safety by Design’” by Christopher M. Kelly, 79-96.
• “Nanotechnology, Development and Buddhist Values” by Soraj Hongladarom, 97-107.
• “Green Dreams of Reason. Green Nanotechnology Between Visions of Excess and Control” by Astrid E. Schwarz, 109-118.
• “Justice in Nanotechnological Development (Symposium Introduction)” by Ulrick B. Nissen, 119.
• “Two Dimensions of the Ethical Problems Related to Nanotechnology” by Guillermo Foladori, Noela Invernizzi and Edgar Záyago, 121-127.
• “Can Nanotechnology Be Just? On Nanotechnology and the Emerging Movement for Global Justice” by Andrew Jamison, 129-136.
• “Southern Roles in Global Nanotechnology Innovation: Perspectives from Thailand and Australia” by Donad C. Maclurcan, 137-156.
• “Let’s Get Small: An Introduction to Transitional Issues in Nanotech and Intellectual Property” by David Koepsell, 157-166.
• “Why Do We Need to Know What the Public Thinks about Nanotechnology?” by Craig Cormick, 167-173.

With recent advances in biochemistry, researchers can control the circuitry in a developing cell, thereby influencing cells to develop into specific phenotypes. Taking a step forward in this area, researchers have recently demonstrated a new technique to control gene expression in two dimensions over time, which has not previously been demonstrated. And they have done so using a slightly modified $100 inkjet printer. (PhysOrg)

A n oxymoron is a phrase that combines two contradictory words, such as “jumbo shrimp” and “deafening silence.” Appropriately, the word oxymoron is itself an oxymoron, from the Greek oxymõros, which means “pointedly foolish,” but the roots of the word are oxys, “sharp,” and mõros, “dull.”

A relatively new oxymoron is synthetic biology, coined by the geneticist Waclaw Szybalski in 1974. Synthetic biology (also called synbio) uses engineering methods to produce something new by treating a living system not so much as a biological entity but as a kind of technology. Hence synthetic biology is also called biological engineering or just bioengineering. (IEEE Spectrum)