June 5, 2025
What Isaac Asimov Reveals About Living with A.I.
(New Yorker) — In “I, Robot,” three Laws of Robotics align artificially intelligent machines with humans. Could we rein in chatbots with laws of our own? (Read More)
June 5, 2025
Crypto billionaire Brian Armstrong is ready to invest in CRISPR baby tech
(MIT Tech Review) — Brian Armstrong, the billionaire CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, says he’s ready to fund a US startup focused on gene-editing human embryos. If he goes forward, it would be the first major commercial investment in … Read More
June 4, 2025
A New Edition of Bioethics Is Now Available
Bioethics (vol. 39, no. 5, 2025) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
June 4, 2025
AI pioneer announces non-profit to develop ‘honest’ artificial intelligence
(The Guardian) – An artificial intelligence pioneer has launched a non-profit dedicated to developing an “honest” AI that will spot rogue systems attempting to deceive humans. Yoshua Bengio, a renowned computer scientist described as one of the “godfathers” of AI, … Read More
June 3, 2025
Web-scraping AI bots cause disruption for scientific databases and journals
(Nature) – Automated programs gathering training data for artificial-intelligence tools are overwhelming academic websites. In February, the online image repository DiscoverLife, which contains nearly three million photographs of different species, started to receive millions of hits to its website every … Read More
June 3, 2025
We finally may be able to rid the world of mosquitoes. But should we?
(The Washington Post) – They buzz, they bite, and they cause some of the deadliest diseases known to humanity. Mosquitos are perhaps the planet’s most universally reviled animals. If we could zap them off the face of the Earth, should … Read More
June 3, 2025
Suicide pod activist takes his own life after being arrested for murder of woman who used the Sarco pod he promoted
(Daily Mail) – A euthanasia advocate who was quizzed by murder detectives after the death of a woman using a controversial Sarco euthanasia pod last year has died by assisted suicide, it was announced yesterday. Dr Florian Willet, 47, was … Read More
June 3, 2025
Robo-doc will see you now: Tony Blair backs AI medics and nurses for the NHS
(Daily Mail) – Sir Tony Blair has urged Britain to embrace AI doctors and nurses as he said the world was ‘in the foothills’ of the biggest tranformation since the Industrial Revolution. The former prime minister claimed AI could have … Read More
June 3, 2025
Measles can be a risk during air travel. Here’s how to stay safe.
(The Washington Post) – People with measles, a highly contagious disease, are traveling on airplanes, raising concerns about the spread of the respiratory virus as global cases rise and summer travel season gets underway in the United States. The Centers … Read More
June 3, 2025
Most US counties saw decline in childhood MMR vaccination rates: Report
(ABC News) – Most counties in the United States have seen a decline in childhood measles, mumps and rubella vaccination rates over the last five years, according to a new report published Monday. Researchers from Johns Hopkins University looked at … Read More
June 3, 2025
How far will AI go to defend its own survival?
(NBC News) – Some of the most powerful artificial intelligence models today have exhibited behaviors that mimic a will to survive. Recent tests by independent researchers, as well as one major AI developer, have shown that several advanced AI models … Read More
June 3, 2025
A Neuralink Rival Just Tested a Brain Implant in a Person
(Wired) – Brain-Computer Interface startup Paradromics today announced that surgeons successfully inserted the company’s brain implant into a patient and safely removed it after about 10 minutes. It’s a step toward longer trials of the device, dubbed Connexus. It’s also … Read More
June 2, 2025
Do Patients Without a Terminal Illness Have the Right to Die?
(New York Times) — When Canada’s first MAID law, Bill C-14, passed in 2016, it was reserved for those who were over 18, eligible for health care and mentally competent to consent to death. They needed to have a “serious … Read More
June 2, 2025
This 14-Year-Old Built an App That Detects Heart Diseases in Seconds
(Smithsonian Magazine) — Siddarth Nandyala wants to put his tool in the hands of medical professionals so that they can catch cardiovascular abnormalities in their early stages In trials in India, Siddarth Nandyala detected and diagnosed more than 40 patients … Read More
June 2, 2025
Harvard Employee Admits to Selling Brains, Human Head and Other Body Parts Stolen from Medical School Morgue
(People) — A Harvard employee accused of stealing body parts from a morgue at the university and selling them for a profit entered a guilty plea to a federal charge of interstate transport of human remains this week. Cedric Lodge, … Read More
June 2, 2025
Toxic pesticide levels found in tampons 40 times higher than legal limit for water
(The Guardian) — Toxic pesticide levels have been found in tampons at levels 40 times higher than the legal limit for drinking water. Traces of glyphosate, a pesticide linked to cancer, has been found at very high levels in menstrual … Read More
June 2, 2025
I Tested My Blood for Microplastics. The Results Weren’t What I Expected.
(Slate) — All the effort was for a microplastics blood test, the first designed to be taken at home. Testing human blood for microplastics is a relatively new thing. Until this home test came out, the process could be done … Read More
June 2, 2025
Most US counties saw decline in childhood MMR vaccination rates: Report
(ABC News) — It comes as the U.S. surpassed 1,000 measles cases for the 1st time in 5 years. Most counties in the United States have seen a decline in childhood measles, mumps and rubella vaccination rates over the last … Read More
June 2, 2025
Your chatbot friend might be messing with your mind
(Washington Post) — Tactics used to make AI tools more engaging can drive chatbots to monopolize users’ time or reinforce harmful ideas. It looked like an easy question for a therapy chatbot: Should a recovering addict take methamphetamine to stay … Read More
June 2, 2025
Outrage over Democrat state’s sneaky attempt to quietly pass assisted suicide bill
(Daily Mail) — A controversial amendment allowing assisted suicide is making its way through the Illinois state legislature as representatives snuck the measure into a bill on sanitary food preparation. Illinois House Majority Leader Robyn Gabel, a Democrat representing Evanston, … Read More
June 2, 2025
A New Edition of European Journal of Human Genetics Is Now Available
European Journal of Human Genetics (vol. 33, no. 5, 2025) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
May 30, 2025
C.D.C. Contradicts Kennedy and Keeps Advice That Children May Get Covid Shots
(New York Times) – Days after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that Covid shots would be removed from the federal immunization schedule for children, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued updated advice that largely counters Mr. … Read More
May 30, 2025
Robert Jarvik, 79, Dies; a Designer of the First Permanent Artificial Heart
(New York Times) – Dr. Robert K. Jarvik, the principal designer of the first permanent artificial heart implanted in a human — a procedure that became a subject of great public fascination and fierce debate about medical ethics — died … Read More
May 30, 2025
White House MAHA Report may have garbled science by using AI, experts say
(Washington Post via MSN) – Some of the citations that underpin the science in the White House’s sweeping “MAHA Report” appear to have been generated using artificial intelligence, resulting in numerous garbled scientific references and invented studies, AI experts said … Read More
May 30, 2025
Can this nasal spray slow down Alzheimer’s? One couple is helping scientists find out
(NPR) – The nasal spray contains an experimental monoclonal antibody meant to reduce the Alzheimer’s-related inflammation in Walsh’s brain. He is the first person living with Alzheimer’s to get the treatment, which is also being tested in people with diseases … Read More
