Genetic engineering provides the backdrop for the sci-fi thriller “Errors of the Human Body” (opening May 3 at Reading Gaslamp Stadium Theaters for late night screenings only on Friday and Saturday). (KPBS)

Tales from the Organ Trade is a fascinating film which takes a chilling look at the characters in the international black market in organs. (BioEdge)

Premiering today at the Sundance Film Festival as part of the U.S. documentary competition, “After Tiller” is an intimate and heartfelt look at the four doctors performing third-trimester abortions in the United States, doing so even after the 2009 assassination of such a physician, Dr. George Tiller. (L.A. Times)

Doug Wolens’s recent documentary takes on the complex, abstract concept of the singularity, which predicts a moment when technology will give rise to intelligence beyond the scope of human imagination. It sounds like sci-fi but, Wolens and others argue, there’s no denying the sweeping impact of technology on human existence and the implications are worth thinking about. (The Atlantic)

A dystopian society supported by genetically modified clone workers stands out among the six stories that make up the sprawling film “Cloud Atlas.” The idea may seem far-fetched because of political opposition to human cloning and genetic modification in today’s world, but the science is closer than many people may think. (Live Science)

A 2009 right-to-die case that deeply split public opinion in Catholic Italy is at the center of a new film exploring the themes of euthanasia, suicide and religious faith that is vying for top prize at the Venice festival. (Reuters)

Silver Sling, an 11-minute film by director Tze Chun, is another cinematic gem from the Future States series that Biopolitical Times blogged on last week. The film presents a future scenario in which affluent couples hire young women, some of them immigrants, to undergo “accelerated pregnancies” lasting only three months. Surrogates can undergo three such pregnancies before becoming sterile. (CGS)

More recently, drugs like Adderall have enjoyed a half-shadowy vogue among writers. The dream of a pharmaceutical solution to literary paralysis provides a wisp of a real-world premise for “Limitless,” an energetic, enjoyably preposterous compound — it’s a paranoid thriller blended with pseudo-neuro-science fiction and catalyzed by a jolting dose of satire — directed by Neil Burger. (New York Times)

The New England Journal of Medicine (Volume 363, Issue 25, December 16, 2010) is now available on-line and by subscription only.

Articles include:

“Health Care Reform — What Went Wrong on the Way to the Courthouse” Mark A. Hall, J.D., available on-line.

Is it a plot spoiler to reveal that the new film “Never Let Me Go” is about cloning? Sorry. But the beautiful novel has become a reasonably good film, according to the critics. (BioEdge)

What does the future look like? We essentially rely on science fiction thrillers to give us a taste of what lies ahead for humanity: Avatar; Iron Man; I, Robot; Surrogates; Star Wars; and I am Legend. But these films only give us part of the picture both in terms of the science and the social implications. They also never explain how we’ll get from here to there, making the future tantalizing but also implausible.Big Think

Way back when, during the final decades of the last century, if a woman had a hard time conceiving, she saved her dollars by the tens of thousands and passed them over to a clinic specializing in assisted reproductive technology. (New York Times)

We all complain about our ambivalence with modern technology. I’ve think I’ve given myself acquired attention deficit disorder by staying connected all the time. But it’s hard to scale back without giving up many of my relationships (not to mention my job). “You can easily find yourself sucked into the vortex of spending hours a day starting at a computer screen,” says Jonathan Mostow, the director of the film Surrogates, which opens tomorrow. (Scientific American Blog)

IT is a rare treat when parting with money for a mainstream movie buys real food for thought. But Hollywood hoopla and high-profile castings hide the kernel of real, human issues in My Sister’s Keeper. The movie, which opened in cinemas across the nation this week, prompts a discussion that ethicists say society must have continually if it is to keep its laws related to embryo selection thoughtful and its moral barometer calibrated. (Courier-Mail)