January 24, 2008
Right now, senators, inventors, and tech companies are squabbling about how to reform the patent system to encourage more innovation. Some version of the embattled patent-reform legislation is expected to pass next month, and stakeholders are preparing for a gory … Read More
January 24, 2008
ABOUT 1,000 Britons die each year waiting for organ transplants. To help boost organ donation rates, Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently proposed that organ donation become an opt-out, rather than an opt-in, system: Everyone would be presumed to be a … Read More
January 24, 2008
The number of sequenced human genomes will soon swell to more than 1,000 as part of a new international research consortium’s effort to trace the potential genetic origins of disease. But first the mother, father and adult child of a … Read More
January 24, 2008
There has been much talk and hand-wringing about health and environmental risks associated with nanotechnology, but fewer discussions focus on what is termed “strategic risk.” To begin to sort out strategic risks across sectors in which nanotechnology is being used, … Read More
January 24, 2008
The Spanish Commission for the Control of the Donation and Use of Human Stem Cells, a body which depends on the Ministry for Health and Consumer Affairs, has given the green light to the first project in Spain which will … Read More
January 24, 2008
U.S. biologists have created a baker’s yeast with a life span 10 times that of normal yeast, and with no apparent side effects. (UPI)
January 23, 2008
As a California resident, I am painfully aware that my state is sinking in a red sea of debt. Yet, the borrowing to support human cloning research continues. Last week, Investor’s Business Daily noticed and in “The Bullet Missed,” argues … Read More
January 23, 2008
NEW York’s new Empire State Stem-Cell Board has opted to ig nore the advice of its own ethics committee. Those of us on the committee are left wondering if the state requested our service merely to make it look as … Read More
January 23, 2008
Nanotechnology and stem cells are two of the most promising research areas. Stem cell nanotechnology refers to the application of nanotechnology in stem cell research. The marriage of nanotechnology and stem cells will dramatically advance our ability to understand and … Read More
January 23, 2008
British scientists have been given the go-ahead to begin potentially ground-breaking experiments using injections of stem cells to repair patients’ damaged hearts. The team hopes to repair the organs of people who have suffered the most severe heart attacks. (The … Read More
January 23, 2008
IF THE thought of accepting a donated organ from a golden retriever or a ginger tabby leaves you cold, you are in the minority. Researchers in Queensland have found that most people will happily accept cells and tissues from a … Read More
January 23, 2008
INEVITABLY, whenever the term “designer babies” is used in a report on genetic screening or embryo testing, the anti-IVF loonies come out of the asylum screaming about Nazi eugenics. (Daily Telegraph)
January 23, 2008
The controversy concerning embryonic stem cell research is this: Should federal taxpayer dollars be used to sacrifice the life of human embryos to provide raw fodder for scientific research? (TheHill.com)
January 22, 2008
This time in the UK, using a patient’s own bone marrow to attempt to treat heart attack damage. From the story: British scientists have been given the go-ahead to begin potentially ground-breaking experiments using injections of stem cells to repair … Read More
January 22, 2008
Scientists in Korea have designed a crablike robot that is smaller than the thickness of a fingernail and powered by contractions of cardiac tissue. (Discover)
January 22, 2008
Scientists have developed a way to produce a pure source of muscle cells, a technique that might one day prove useful for treating muscle-related diseases. (Technology Review)
January 22, 2008
Consultation services are widespread, but many doctors hesitate to ask for ethics help. Questions about ethicists’ training and performance persit. (AMNews)
January 22, 2008
Thirty-five years after the Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade decision, a pill that has largely faded from the rancorous public debate over abortion has slowly and quietly begun to transform the experience of ending a pregnancy in the United … Read More
January 22, 2008
One thousand people are to have their genomes mapped in a major effort to understand how genes influence disease. (BBC)
January 22, 2008
When a Duluth-based operator of hospitals and clinics purged the pens, notepads, coffee mugs and other promotional trinkets drug companies had given its doctors over the years, it took 20 shopping carts to haul the loot away. (AP)
January 22, 2008
The Government’s Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill will delay vital research by requiring all tissue used to create cloned embryonic stem cells to have the explicit consent of its donor, the experts say. The 29 biomedical researchers and administrators, including … Read More
January 21, 2008
Prototype includes light-emitting diodes, basic wiring and a tiny antenna Thumper has seen the future. Researchers at the University of Washington have created the prototype for a bionic contact lens — recently tested on rabbits — that includes light-emitting diodes, … Read More
January 21, 2008
We continually hear from the brave new world crowd that only religion would cause one to oppose ESCR and human cloning. That isn’t true, of course., One need not be religious to have serious reservations about using nascent human life … Read More
January 21, 2008
Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards have been sniping at each other for months over healthcare, but there’s one thing the top Democratic presidential candidates agree on: Americans of all ages should have the choice of buying a … Read More
January 19, 2008
I reported on this story previously from a different angle, e.g. the need for using animals in basic medical research. But this picture is so amazing, that I thought the breakthrough was worth revisiting to discuss the biotechnological implications. To … Read More
