June 6, 2025
(The Conversation) – People often hear that health care in America is dysfunctional – too expensive, too complex and too inequitable. But dysfunction implies failure. What if the real problem is that the system is functioning exactly as it was … Read More
June 6, 2025
(Care) – Dr Philip Nitschke, inventor of the Sarco suicide pod, has unveiled plans for a controversial new device: an implantable ‘kill switch’ that would allow people diagnosed with dementia to end their lives at a later stage, regardless of … Read More
June 6, 2025
(The Spectator) – The hospice movement is one of the great achievements of post-war Britain. Inspired by the doctor Cicely Saunders, who in effect founded the field of palliative care, it has united cutting-edge research with a profound understanding of … Read More
June 6, 2025
The New England Journal of Medicine (vol. 392, no. 19, 2025) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
June 5, 2025
(Wall Street Journal) – Later this month, the Food and Drug Administration is widely expected to approve a groundbreaking twice-yearly injection to prevent HIV—a milestone in the decadeslong fight against a once-devastating disease. For Gilead Sciences GILD 1.21%increase; green up pointing triangle, the … Read More
June 5, 2025
(Economist) – Of all the medical challenges that scientists have faced, Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, has been one of the trickiest. Between 1995 and 2021 private money spent on Alzheimer’s research came to $42.5bn, but more than 140 … Read More
June 5, 2025
(Ms.) – In 28 states, if you’re pregnant, the government can ignore your end-of-life wishes—no matter what you’ve written. Reproductive freedom advocates filed a lawsuit, Vernon v. Kobach, on May 29 challenging the constitutionality of a Kansas law that automatically invalidates a person’s end-of-life treatment … Read More
June 5, 2025
(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
(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
Bioethics (vol. 39, no. 5, 2025) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
June 4, 2025
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
(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
