December 11, 2006
The National Geographic Society’s multimillion-dollar research project to collect DNA from indigenous groups around the world in the hopes of reconstructing humanity’s ancient migrations has come to a standstill on its home turf in North America. (New York Times)
December 11, 2006
Our federal parliamentarians have let us down badly over human cloning. But where parliamentarians have let us down is in failing to make the logical next step required in any serious intellectual discussion: namely, to show why the painful death … Read More
December 11, 2006
How an ounce of Rx prevention can cause a pound of hurt. (Slate)
December 11, 2006
A state task force on Thursday endorsed an ambitious plan to provide medical coverage to 1.5 million uninsured residents–at a cost to government and employers of more than $5 billion a year. The groundbreaking proposal calls for a series of … Read More
December 10, 2006
Does it matter morally that a “being” is human? And what does it mean exactly, to be human? The jihad aside, these may be the most important questions facing us in the 21st Century. Which is why we spend so … Read More
December 8, 2006
A Hodgkin’s disease patient in France is the 12th person to be treated with umbilical cord blood donations from Hawaii, said Dr. Randal Wada, founder of the Hawaii Cord Blood Bank. (Star Bulletin)
December 8, 2006
When your child loses a baby tooth, you might not want to leave it for the tooth fairy. Some parents are sending their children’s teeth to a lab, in hopes the teeth could one day save their lives. (WGAL)
December 8, 2006
Within days of taking over Congress next month, Democrats plan to challenge President Bush on the only legislation he ever vetoed: Rep. Diana DeGette’s bill expanding stem-cell research. (Denver Post)
December 8, 2006
He’s best known for his eccentric illustrations in children’s books but now artist Quentin Blake has turned his hand to painting for the elderly. (BBC)
December 8, 2006
Would you choose a guaranteed $100 or a 20 percent chance of $1000? What if the odds went up to 40 percent? Whatever your answer, your mother would likely agree. New research shows parents and children have similar attitudes toward … Read More
December 8, 2006
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans have revealed key changes in the brain’s grey matter in a small group before they developed symptoms. (BBC)
December 8, 2006
For the French secular state, the attack by the country’s Catholic hierarchy comes close to a declaration of war. (International Herald Tribune)
December 7, 2006
The discussion about selecting embryos to have a disability reminded me of a column I have in my files written by the syndicated columnist Ellen Goodman in January 1980. It is a good reminder of how if we are willing … Read More
December 7, 2006
I have my pronounced differences with University of Pennsylvania bioethicist and media commentator, Art Caplan, particularly regarding the Schiavo case and ESCR/SCNT. But he is right about this: Over at the AJOB blog, Caplan calls the drive to legalize eugenic … Read More
December 7, 2006
A month after distribution began, the over-the-counter version of the morning-after pill is now available at pharmacies nationwide. Planned Parenthood celebrated Wednesday with a free giveaway of the emergency contraceptive, while critics insisted that Plan B’s accessibility will soon be … Read More
December 7, 2006
Experts investigating the drug trial which almost killed six young volunteers have made 22 recommendations on how to avoid such mistakes again. (BBC)
December 7, 2006
Blacks are more likely than whites to want life-sustaining care at the end of life for an incurable illness or a serious physical or mental disability, a new study shows. (Reuters)
December 7, 2006
Researchers from the Swiss Nanoscience Institute in Basel have developed a new method to detect genes relevant to diseases and their treatment. It is hoped that this technique will eventually lead to personalised medical diagnostics for patients and will give … Read More
December 7, 2006
The State Government should proactively draw up rules to regulate the setting up and monitor the functioning of fertility centres, speakers at a consultation on sex selection and assisted reproduction techniques said. (The Hindu)
December 7, 2006
The federal government’s decision to overturn the ban on therapeutic cloning is a “milestone in the democratic process”, a leading stem cell scientist says. (Herald Sun)
December 7, 2006
A look at how some countries around the world handle stem cell research. (AP)
December 7, 2006
After completing a Ph.D. in biochemistry at the University of Patras in Greece, her home country, Evangelia Papadimou decided to switch to embryonic stem cell research. She spent two post-doctoral years working on mouse embryonic stem cells in France with … Read More
December 6, 2006
I don’t get it. Rick Weiss of the Washington Post has written that people remain wary of eating genetically altered food. Many want nothing to do with meat or milk from cloned animals. Yet, majorities of people would willingly have … Read More
December 6, 2006
The woman in the UK who was ordered to receive a sleeping medication to see if she would awaken, didn’t. The UK courts have now allowed her family remove all life support, which I presume includes tube-supplied sustenance. Alas.
December 6, 2006
Ten years after genetically engineered crops were first planted commercially in the United States, Americans remain ill-informed about and uncomfortable with biotech food, according to the fifth annual survey on the topic, released yesterday. (WP)
