Understanding the biology of mental illness would be a paradigm shift in our thinking about mind. It would not only inform us about some of the most devastating diseases of humankind but, because these are diseases of thought and feeling, it would also tell us more about who we are and how we function. I naively thought we were on the verge of such a paradigm change in 1983, when James Gusella and Nancy Wexler were tracking down the gene that causes Huntington’s disease. I expected that within 10 years we would have found the major genes that contribute to schizophrenia, depression, and autism. Since then, there has been a lot of enthusiasm about genes and mental illness and some false starts, but surprisingly little progress. (Newsweek)

Leading medical experts want a new national standard on diagnosing death in order to boost successful organ donations. At present, there is no universal standard to clarify precisely when someone has died from heart failure. (The Age)

The brain maintains a physical map of the body, with different areas in charge of different body parts. Researchers have suggested that when we use tools, our brains incorporate them into this map. (New Scientist)

It is unethical to stop healthy people from taking methylphenidate (Ritalin) to enhance their mental performance, says John Harris, Professor of Bioethics at the University of Manchester, in an article published on bmj.com today. He adds that society “ought to want [enhancement]” and that “it is not rational to be against human enhancement.” (Medical News Today)

Philosophy Compass (Volume 4, Issue 1, January 2009) is now available by subscription only.

Articles Include:

• “Back to Basics in Bioethics: Reconciling Patient Autonomy with Physician Responsibility” by Antonio Casado da Rocha, 56-68.
• “Neuroethics: Ethics and the Sciences of the Mind” by Neil Levy, 60-81.

Intelligence is a big deal. Humanity owes its dominant position on Earth not to any special strength of our muscles, nor any unusual sharpness of our teeth, but to the unique ingenuity of our brains. It is our brains that are responsible for the complex social organization and the accumulation of technical, economic and scientific advances that, for better and worse, undergird modern civilization. (Forbes)

Archives of Neurology (Volume 66, Number 6, June 2009) is now available by subscription only.

Articles Include:

• “Deep Brain Stimulation, Neuroethics, and the Minimally Conscious State: Moving Beyond Proof of Principle” by Nicholas D. Schiff, Joseph T. Giacino, and Joseph J. Fins, 697-702.
• “Stability of the Clinical Dementia Rating, 1979-2007″ by Monique M. Williams, Catherine M. Roe, and John C. Morris, 773-777.

There is no such thing as artificial intelligence. There is only intelligence.

You could say there is biological intelligence or nonbiological intelligence. But even that distinction will become blurred in a couple of decades as computers shrink to the size of a red blood cell, increase in speed and computational power hundreds of thousands of times and merge with our biological bodies as futurist Ray Kurzweil predicts in my new film Transcendent Man. As a result of this merger, we will ultimately drop the descriptors like “biological” and “artificial” and understand intelligence for what it really is: the most powerful force in the universe. (Forbes)

Healthy people should be able to take the anti-hyperactivity drug Ritalin to boost brain power, a UK ethicist says. Bioethics expert Professor John Harris, of the University of Manchester, said if the drug was safe for children, adults should also be able to take it. (BBC)

Bioethics (Volume 23, Issue 6, July 2009) is now available by subscription only.

Articles Include:

• “Drilling Down in Neuroethics” by François Baylis and Jocelyn Downie, iii-iv.
• “Our Brains Are Not Us” by Walter Glannon, 321-329.
• “Intention, Autonomy, and Brain Events” by Grant Gillett, 330-359.
• “Epistemological Considerations on Neuroimaging - A Crucial Prerequisite for Neuroethics” by Christian G. Huber and Johannes Huber, 340-348.
• “Neuroimaging in Psychiatry: Evaluating the Ethical Consequences for Patient Care” by Alison C. Boyce, 349-359.
• “Autonomy and Authenticity of Enhanced Personality Traits” by Jan Christoph Bublitz and Reinhard Merkel, 360-374.
• “Personal Identity, Enhancement and Neurosurgery: A Qualitative Study in Applied Neuroethics” by Nir Lipsman and Rebecca Zener, and Mark Bernstein, 375-383.

Three widely used antipsychotic medications appear safe and effective overall in treating children and teenagers with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, a U.S. advisory panel said on Wednesday. (Reuters)

A familiar concept in military training is that of leveling individual differences so that, at least in terms of some minimal set of skills and preparedness, each service member is capable of replacing another. But the National Research Council has released a report, Opportunities in Neuroscience for Future Army Applications, that suggests tailoring individual soldiers’ training to recent discoveries about the brain from modern neuroscience can provide valuable advances in military instruction. (Science Progress)

Does it matter if most of the experts who are creating definitions of mental disorders, and standards for the best way to treat them, receive money from pharmaceutical companies? (USA Today)

BioSocieties (Volume 4, Issue 1, March 2009) is now available by subscription only.

Articles Include:

• “Who’s Credible? Expressions of Consensus and Conflict in Focus Groups about DNA Patenting” by Morten Andreasen, 25-43.
• “Between Soma and Society: Neuroscience and the Ontology of Psychopathy” by Martyn Pickersgill, 45-60.
• “Critical Neuroscience: Linking Neuroscience and Society through Critical Practice” by Suparna Choudhury, Saskia Kathi Nagel and Jan Slaby, 61-77.
• “The Implications of Memory Research and ‘Memory Erasers’: A Conversation with Yadin Dudai” by Joelle M. Abi-Rached and Yadin Dudai, 79-90.

Books Forum:

• “Books Forum: Confronting the AIDS Epidemic” by Javier Lezaun, 91-92.
• “Explaining AIDS in South Africa: A Role for History A review of When bodies remember: Experiences and politics of AIDS in South Africa by Didier Fassin. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007″ by Manjari Mahajan, 93-95.
• “The Risks of Representation A review of João Biehl, Will to live: AIDS therapies and the politics of survival. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2007″ by Christine Cynn, 95-98.
• “AIDS on the Scale of the Social A review of Robert Thornton, Unimagined community: Sex, networks, and AIDS in Uganda and South Africa. University of California Press, 2008″ by Ann Kelly, 99-103.
• “Explaining the Epidemic A review of Helen Epstein, The invisible cure: Africa, the West, and the fight against AIDS. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 2007″ by Johanna Crane, 103-107.

Archives of Neurology (Volume 66, Number 5, May 2009) is now available by subscription only.

Book Reviews Include:

• “Ethical Issues in Neurology, 3rd ed” by Scott Y. H. Kim, 673-674.

Taking stimulants like Ritalin, Adderall to improve concentration and job performance raises ethical questions. (Taiwan News Online)

Forget the battlefield radios, the combat PDAs or even infantry hand signals. When the soldiers of the future want to communicate, they’ll read each other’s minds. (Wired)

WE ARE on the brink of technological breakthroughs that could augment our mental powers beyond recognition. It will soon be possible to boost human brainpower with electronic “plug-ins” or even by genetic enhancement. What will this mean for the future of humanity? (New Scientist)

Dr. Susan Schneider, IEET fellow and assistant professor of philosophy and an affiliated faculty member with Penns Center for Cognitive Neuroscience and the Institute for Research in Cognitive Science, speaks at a UPenn Media Seminar on Neuroscience and Society on philosophical controversies surrounding cognitive enhancement. (IEET)

Researchers used a simple brain-computer interface to post a message on the social networking Web site Twitter, an achievement that shows the potential for developing new communications systems for people whose bodies don’t work but who have normal brain function. (Forbes)

Using lasers, researchers at the MIT Media Lab were able to activate a specific set of neurons in a monkey’s brain. Though the technique has been used to control and explore neural circuits in fish, flies and rodents, this is the first time the much-hyped technology has ever been used in primates. (Wired Science)