January 22, 2024
Research Ethics
January 19, 2024
A First-Ever Experiment Shows How Pigs Might One Day Help People Who Have Liver Failure
(Associated Press) – Surgeons externally attached a pig liver to a brain-dead human body and watched it successfully filter blood, a step toward eventually trying the technique in patients with liver failure. The University of Pennsylvania announced the novel experiment … Read More
January 17, 2024
Synthetic Memories: Piecing Together the Past with AI
(Quartz) – Welcome to the concept of synthetic memories. They aren’t photographs. They’re visual representations of what we can remember. And, using futuristic-sounding technology that’s actually available in the present, they can help us piece together elements of our past. … Read More
January 17, 2024
Chinese Lab Mapped the Deadly Coronavirus Two Weeks Before Beijing Told the World, Documents Show
(Wall Street Journal) – Chinese researchers isolated and mapped the virus that causes Covid-19 in late December 2019, at least two weeks before Beijing revealed details of the deadly virus to the world, congressional investigators said, raising questions anew about … Read More
January 16, 2024
Cloned Rhesus Monkey Created to Speed Medical Research
(BBC) – Chinese researchers have cloned the first rhesus monkey, a species which is widely used in medical research because its physiology is similar to humans. They say they could speed up drug testing, as genetically identical animals give like-for-like … Read More
January 12, 2024
Will a Full-Body MRI Scan Help You Or Hurt You?
(The New Yorker) – Crownholm is an unusual patient. He is wealthy enough to afford, and eager to use, a wide variety of optional care; he’s drawn to experimental technologies, whether or not doctors recommend them. He also had a … Read More
January 10, 2024
A New Edition of Journal of Medical Humanities Is Now Available
January 9, 2024
A New Edition of Journal of Medical Ethics Is Now Available
January 8, 2024
A New Edition of Developing World Bioethics Is Now Available
January 5, 2024
They Had PTSD. A Psychedelic Called Ibogaine Helped Them Get Better
(Wired) – Derived from the root bark of the African iboga shrub, ibogaine has been used for centuries by the Pygmy tribes in Central Africa in spiritual and healing ceremonies. It is illegal in the US and many other places. … Read More
January 5, 2024
A New Edition of The New England Journal of Medicine Is Now Available
January 3, 2024
Thermo Fisher Says It Has Halted Sales of DNA Technology in Tibet
(Wall Street Journal) – Instrumentation maker Thermo Fisher Scientific said it no longer sells certain DNA-based human-identification products in Tibet, building on a similar halt of sales to China’s Xinjiang region of technology that human-rights groups allege can be misused … Read More
January 3, 2024
Advances in Mind-Decoding Technologies Raise Hopes (and Worries)
(Undark) – Advances in the field have proved life-changing for individuals living with conditions like Parkinson’s, spinal cord injury, and stroke. People who cannot speak or type due to paralysis have regained the ability to communicate with loved ones, people … Read More
January 2, 2024
The Plan to Put Pig Genes in Soy Beans for Tastier Fake Meat
(Wired) – In June 2023, Moolec revealed that it had inserted genes from pigs into soy plants in order to make soybeans that expressed porcine proteins. The experiments were carried out at the company’s greenhouses in Wisconsin. In some of … Read More
December 29, 2023
The Air Force Said Its Nuclear Missile Capsules Were Safe. But Toxic Dangers Lurked, Documents Show
(Associated Press) – A large pool of dark liquid festering on the floor. No fresh air. Computer displays that would overheat and ooze out a fishy-smelling gel that nauseated the crew. Asbestos readings 50 times higher than the Environmental Protection … Read More
December 28, 2023
Renamed, Common Liver Diseases Might Get Fairer Shake at Treatment, Researchers Hope
(STAT News) – A slate of liver diseases got a rebrand this year. Experts hope the change can generate more conversation — and research interest — for conditions that still lack treatments. A group of over 200 physicians, public health … Read More
December 27, 2023
New Articles from BMC Medical Ethics Are Now Available
December 26, 2023
Sickle Cell Patient’s Journey Leads to Landmark Approval of Gene-Editing Treatment
(NPR) – Gray’s transformation is the result of the landmark medical experiment that she launched and which culminated in December with a milestone: The Food and Drug Administration’s approved the first treatment that uses gene-editing to alleviate a human illness. … Read More
December 26, 2023
A New Edition of European Journal of Human Genetics Is Now Available
December 22, 2023
Gene Editing Had a Banner Year in 2023
(MIT Technology Review) – Perhaps no technology has more power to transform medicine, and its vast potential is just beginning to be realized. Gene editing can be used to delete, insert, or alter portions of our genetic code. We’ve been … Read More
December 21, 2023
A New Edition of The New England Journal of Medicine Is Now Available
December 20, 2023
This GPT-Powered Robot Chemist Designs Reactions and Makes Drugs — On Its Own
(Nature) – Chemists have used ChatGPT to design and conduct complex chemical reactions using a robotic laboratory set-up. The system, called Coscientist, can design, code and carry out several reactions — making compounds including paracetamol and aspirin in the wet … Read More
December 20, 2023
The Brain-Implant Company Going for Neuralink’s Jugular
(IEEE Spectrum) – FUntil now, only about 50 humans have ever had BCIs implanted in their brains. And only a handful of those people have been able to leave the laboratory to use them in the real world, since most … Read More
December 19, 2023
The Most Secretive Longevity Lab Finally Opens Its Doors
(Bloomberg) – Retro Biosciences, a startup with $180 million from Sam Altman, has a simple and audacious goal: Add 10 good years to your life. And until now, we haven’t had a glimpse of its best ideas. (Read More)
December 15, 2023
In a World First, a Patient’s Antibody Cells Were Just Genetically Engineered
(Wired) – Our B cells help prevent us from getting sick. Their job is to make antibodies, immune system proteins that fight off viruses and other foreign invaders. And they make a lot of antibodies—thousands of them every second. What … Read More
