September 13, 2019
People
August 12, 2019
Can Learning About Ethics Actually Make Us More Ethical People?
July 22, 2019
Daniel Callahan, a Pioneer in Bioethics, Dies at 88
July 16, 2019
Head of Planned Parenthood Groups Departs, Cites Differences over Abortion
June 19, 2019
South Africa Euthanasia Activist Convicted of Murder
June 14, 2019
What Medicine Can Learn from Doctors and Researchers with Disabilities
March 22, 2019
IVF Ethics Pioneer Mary Warnock Dies
(BBC) – The philosopher and IVF ethics pioneer Baroness Mary Warnock has died at the age of 94. She chaired a number of inquiries to inform government policy. They included a report which led to the creation of the Human … Read More
March 13, 2019
Renowned Sudanese Geneticist Behind Bars for Opposing Regime
(Science) – A leading Sudanese geneticist has been imprisoned for speaking out against the country’s repressive regime. Muntaser Ibrahim, who heads the University of Khartoum’s Institute of Endemic Diseases, was arrested on 21 February in Khartoum and has been detained … Read More
March 5, 2019
FDA Chief Gottlieb Resigns
(Reuters) – U.S. Food and Drug Administration chief Scott Gottlieb said on Tuesday he plans to step down in a month, calling into question how the agency will handle critical issues such as e-cigarette use among teens and efforts to … Read More
February 27, 2019
Bill Jenkins, Who Helped End the Infamous Tuskegee Syphilis Study, Has Died at Age 73
(CNN) – Bill Jenkins had already started a promising career in public health in the mid-1960s when he learned about one of the darkest chapters in American medical history: the Tuskegee syphilis experiment. Jenkins, an epidemiologist, played a significant role … Read More
February 18, 2019
Once a ‘Refugee,’ a Gene Therapy Pioneer Finds a Renewed Calling as the Field Advances
(STAT News) – At the turn of the century, the once-promising idea of replacing a faulty gene with a corrective copy took a tragic turn. A 1999 clinical trial resulted in the death of an 18-year-old patient, dashing the ambitions … Read More
January 21, 2019
A New Edition of Christian Bioethics Is Now Available
Christian Bioethics (vol. 24, no. 3, 2018) is available online by subscription only. Articles include: “Christian Bioethics Loses Its Founding Editor” by Ana S Iltis and Mark J Cherry “Taking Our Meds Faithfully? Christian Engagements with Psychiatric Medication” by Warren … Read More
January 18, 2019
A Surgeon Reflects on Death, Life and the ‘Incredible Gift’ of Organ Transplant
(NPR) – Each organ responds to transplant in a different way. “The liver will start pouring bile. The lungs start essentially breathing,” Mezrich says. “Maybe the most dramatic organ, of course, is the heart, because you put it in and … Read More
December 14, 2018
Bypassing Paralysis
(Knowable Magazine) – Donoghue himself went on to further develop the system to allow people to open and close a robotic hand, and to reach, grasp and drink from a bottle by using a multijointed robotic arm. Last year, he … Read More
November 27, 2018
Crashing the Boards: Neuroscientist Maureen Condic Brings a Different Voice to NSF Oversight Body
(Science) – On Wednesday, the National Science Foundation (NSF) will welcome the first cohort of members appointed by President Donald Trump to its oversight body, the National Science Board. Most of the seven fit the mold of senior academic leaders, … Read More
November 9, 2018
Why Michelle Obama’s Revelation That She Had a Miscarriage and Did IVF Matters
(Vox) – President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama are famous for keeping the details of their personal life private. But the Obamas have just gone public with a very intimate and painful struggle: They had a miscarriage … Read More
October 17, 2018
Stephen Hawking Predicted That Genetically Engineered Superhumans Could Destroy Humanity
(Newsweek) – Before his death in March of this year, Stephen Hawking warned that genetic engineering could lead to the rise of a superhuman species, with disastrous consequences for the rest of humanity. The stark message is just one of … Read More
October 9, 2018
John Hopkins Names Building to Honor Henrietta Lacks and Her ‘Immortal’ Cells
(The Washington Post) – Johns Hopkins University announced it will name a new research building on campus in honor of Henrietta Lacks, whose “immortal cells” led to the development of the polio vaccine, studies of leukemia and AIDS, chemotherapy and … Read More
October 1, 2018
US, Japan Duo Win Nobel Medicine Prize for Cancer Therapy
(Yahoo! News) – Two immunologists, James Allison of the US and Tasuku Honjo of Japan, won the 2018 Nobel Medicine Prize for research into how the body’s natural defences can fight cancer, the jury said on Monday. Unlike more traditional … Read More
September 21, 2018
Tutu Urges Regulated Euthanasia after Campaigner’s Arrest
(ABC News) – Terminally ill people should have the right to a “dignified assisted death,” former South African archbishop Desmond Tutu said Friday, following a murder charge against a local campaigner for the legalization of euthanasia. Lawmakers “should engage, enable … Read More
September 5, 2018
Blood-Testing Startup Theranos Is Said to Be Shutting Down
(STAT News) – The once-heralded blood-testing startup Theranos is shutting down, according to a new report. Theranos was unable to sell itself and is now looking to pay unsecured creditors its remaining cash of about $5 million in the upcoming … Read More
August 29, 2018
Building Bioethics into the Future of Life Sciences Innovation
(Chemical & Engineering News) – In 2015, Jennifer Doudna, codeveloper of the CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing technology, convened a meeting in Napa, Calif., aimed at setting the parameters for ethical use of the groundbreaking genomic technique. Her template for the proceedings was … Read More
August 27, 2018
John McCain Has Died. For Brain Cancers Like His, ‘Research Is Our Only Hope’
(STAT News) – About 14,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with glioblastoma, the most common form of adult brain cancer, every year. It will kill all but 15 percent within five years. Barely half live 18 months. Of two dozen … Read More
August 24, 2018
John McCain Discontinuing Treatment for Brain Cancer, Family Says
(CNN) – Sen. John McCain has decided to stop treatment for the brain cancer he has been battling for over a year, his family said Friday in an announcement that precipitated a rare moment of bipartisan empathy in honor of … Read More
August 2, 2018
How to Edit a Human
(The Economist) – Jennifer Doudna, one of those scientists, was not the first to edit genes or genetically modify an organism. But the tool that her team discovered made a previously painstaking and expensive process simpler and usable by almost … Read More
