June 3, 2007
Jan Grzebski has awakened after 19 years of unconsciousness. When he was in an accident, Poland was in the throes of a communist tyranny. Now it is free, and rocking and rolling (which I also saw on my recent visit … Read More
June 2, 2007
Swiss authorities are surprised, nay, SHOCKED, that Swiss suicide clinics help the depressed to kill themselves. Well, of course they do! After all, the Swiss Supreme Court has ruled that the mentally ill have a constitutional right to assisted suicide. … Read More
June 1, 2007
Well, I bit. It turns out that the Dutch television show in which a woman was going to decide who would receive her kidney was a hoax designed to pressure the government into changing the organ procurement laws. The reason … Read More
June 1, 2007
Detroit Free Press columnist Brian Dickerson opines that Kevorkian was just a man ahead of his time. Imagine the “reality show” television potential, he writes, if Kevorkian were working today: How differently things might have turned out if the nation’s … Read More
June 1, 2007
This Reuters sugar piece on Kevorkian leaves out some of the most pertinent parts of his story. Here are five other facts that would seem to be more relevant than Kevorkian teaching himself Japanese: 1. The majority of his assisted … Read More
June 1, 2007
Dutch scientists are trying to create meat in the lab. If they succeed, the hope is that people can eat pork–and presumably other meats–without the need to raise and butcher food animals, which is seen as more humane and environmentally … Read More
June 1, 2007
This is my last planned installment on the release of Jack Kevorkian from prison. The article could have been called “Kevorkian in His Own Words,” for I present his motives for engaging in his assisted suicide campaign, as he stated … Read More
June 1, 2007
Jack Kevorkian is set to be released from prison today. Don’t expect Dr. Death to keep a low profile. He is already scheduled to appear on 60 Minutes, where he will be interviewed by euthanasia proponent Mike Wallace. After that, … Read More
June 1, 2007
The US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has been slapped with criminal charges in Nigeria over a notorious clinical trial it conducted on children during a meningitis epidemic a decade ago. Patients became unwitting guinea pigs for a new, untested antibiotic and … Read More
June 1, 2007
The discovery of versatile stem cells in muscle tissue could help combat the progression of muscular dystrophy. (Scientific American)
June 1, 2007
With a genetic tweaking of muscle fibers, Harvard University cell biologist Bruce Spiegelman turned ordinary mice into rodent triathletes. The study raises the question of whether something similar could work—or be at work—in humans. (DISCOVER)
June 1, 2007
James Watson, codiscoverer of the structure of DNA, now has a copy of his very own genome. Will you be next? (Technology Review)
June 1, 2007
The Illinois House today approved legislation endorsing the research and setting up an institute to award grants to scientists. The bill passed 70 to 44. (AP)
June 1, 2007
Voters moved a step closer Thursday to being able to choose between requiring the state to spend money on embryonic stem cell research or preventing the state’s money from being used for such studies. (AP)
June 1, 2007
The first federal quarantine case in the United States in 44 years has galvanized debate over efforts to reform the nation’s century-old quarantine law, crafted before the civil rights movement, modern privacy and bio-terrorism concerns. (Wired)
June 1, 2007
Roxxi, a brunette nanobot with a blaster for a left arm, takes careful aim at a cancer cell and zaps it into oblivion. Roxxi is a character in Re-Mission, a video game that helps young cancer patients deal with their … Read More
June 1, 2007
China has announced a crackdown on the country’s growing fertility sector, vowing to rein in the illegal use of sperm donors and surrogate mothers. (Reuters)
June 1, 2007
The human body so far is the ultimate ‘wet computer’ – a highly efficient, biomolecule-based information processor that relies on chemical, optical and electrical signals to operate. (Nanowerk)
June 1, 2007
The Anglican Archbishop of NSW, Dr. Peter Jensen is preparing to put a motion at this weekend Provincial Synod requesting that it opposes the NSW Premier’s plan to lift the ban on stem cell research in a new bill. (Christian … Read More
June 1, 2007
Recent reports that UK insurers could soon seek approval to use genetic test results for inherited cancers to set premiums will have alarmed many individuals and families who could be affected. (BioNews)
