January 23, 2025
(The Atlantic) – Now a preliminary study suggests that using another drug in place of mifepristone may be just as effective for terminating an early pregnancy. The drug, called ulipristal acetate and sold as a 30-milligram pill under the brand … Read More
January 23, 2025
(Wall Street Journal) – The Trump administration is preparing an executive order that would halt federal funding, at least temporarily, for a risky and controversial kind of research into viruses that makes the pathogens more dangerous or contagious. The goal … Read More
January 22, 2025
(KFF Health News) – Some doctors and researchers are also critical of the agency’s research initiative, called RECOVER, or Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery. Without clinical trials, physicians specializing in treating long covid must rely on hunches to guide their … Read More
January 22, 2025
(BBC) – A pioneering new treatment promises to tackle a wider range of cancers, with fewer side-effects than conventional radiotherapy. It also takes less than a second. In a series of vast underground caverns on the outskirts of Geneva, Switzerland, … Read More
January 22, 2025
(NBC News) – NBC News reported last year that the University of North Texas Health Science Center chopped up, studied and leased out hundreds of unclaimed bodies. The president of the University of North Texas Health Science Center is stepping … Read More
January 20, 2025
(Science) – Studies that use surveys to link dietary patterns to human health may be irredeemably biased, new paper suggests With the help of a technique that measures people’s energy expenditure, researchers came up with an equation to assess the … Read More
January 20, 2025
(BBC) – The first study to assess how weight-loss drugs affect the whole of human health has discovered an “eye-opening” impact on the body, researchers say. The analysis, involving about two million people, linked the drugs to better heart health, … Read More
January 20, 2025
Hastings Center Report (vol. 54, Issue S2, 2024) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
January 17, 2025
(MIT Technology Review) – When you think of AI’s contributions to science, you probably think of AlphaFold, the Google DeepMind protein-folding program that earned its creator a Nobel Prize last year. Now OpenAI says it’s getting into the science game … Read More
January 17, 2025
(Scientific American) – A new study shows that large language models make trade-offs to avoid pain, with possible implications for future AI welfare In the quest for a reliable way to detect any stirrings of a sentient “I” in artificial … Read More
January 17, 2025
Hastings Center Report (vol. 54, Issue 6, 2024) is available online by subscription only.
January 16, 2025
(MIT Technology Review) – Neuralink did not reply to emails seeking comment, but here is what our analysis of its public statements leads us to expect from the company in 2025. How many people will get these implants?Elon Musk keeps … Read More
January 15, 2025
(Nature) – Proteins designed using artificial intelligence (AI) can block the lethal effects of toxins delivered in the venom of cobras, adders and other deadly snakes. The AI-designed proteins could form the basis of a new generation of therapies for … Read More
January 13, 2025
(Popular Science) – If you’re confused, you’re not alone. Money is often a talking point for those on both sides of the moderate drinking debate. The alcohol industry and its lobbying arm have funded, advised, and promoted research endorsing health … Read More
January 13, 2025
(Bloomberg via Yahoo!) – Neuralink Corp.’s brain-computer device has been implanted in a third patient and the company has plans for about 20 to 30 more implants in 2025, founder Elon Musk said. “We’ve got now three humans with Neuralinks … Read More
January 13, 2025
Journal of Bioethical Inquiry (vol. 21, no. 3, 2024) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
January 9, 2025
(Science) – But so far, few investigators seem interested in having a contract lab repeat their experiments Other countries have launched their own programs—the main Dutch science agency has invited researchers to repeat landmark studies, with mixed success, and a … Read More
January 8, 2025
(Wired) – Meta’s AI characters users might seem useless, but fake social media users can sometimes offer valuable insights into real human behavior. Let’s pause from hating on Meta for a moment though. It’s worth noting that AI-generated social personas … Read More
January 8, 2025
(New York Times) – Variant Bio, a small biotech company based in Seattle, is using genetic information from Indigenous people to develop drugs for obesity and diabetes. When Stephane Castel first met with a group of M?ori people and other … Read More
January 6, 2025
Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics (vol. 33, no. 4, 2024) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
January 3, 2025
BMC Medical Ethics has new articles available online. Articles include:
December 31, 2024
(New York Times) – Early intervention tries to rein in psychotic disorders before they can ruin young lives. For Kevin Lopez, everything is on the line. An estimated 100,000 people experience a first episode of psychosis every year, roughly four … Read More
December 31, 2024
(Wired) – Do “anti-hangover” supplements really work? With the sterling help of a UK rugby team, we raised a glass or five to find out. So on a cold and frosty Saturday night in December—with a crate of beer in … Read More
December 26, 2024
(Wall Street Journal) – “The Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the National Intelligence Council’s work on Covid-19 origins complied with all of the Intelligence Community’s analytic standards, including objectivity,” the spokeswoman said. But an investigation by The … Read More
December 24, 2024
(Daily Mail) – A retired NHS scientist has sensationally revealed that IVF pioneer Patrick Steptoe, whose work led to the world’s first test tube baby, used sperm from ‘lots’ of medical staff without keeping records of the children they fathered. … Read More
