Bioethics News

September 20, 2024

Top Headlines

How to Catch a Criminal Using Their 'Skin Shedder' Profile

Aug. 22, 2024 — A pioneering new DNA forensics technique is looking for a reliable method to measure a suspect's individual level of natural shedding of skin and other cells to add to, and compare with, evidence collected at crime scenes. Using a novel technique of ...

People's Moral Values Change With the Seasons

Aug. 6, 2024 — A new psychology study has revealed regular seasonal shifts in people's moral values. The research analyzed survey responses from more than 230,000 people in the U.S. over 10 years and revealed that people's endorsement of moral values that promote ...

Development of 'Living Robots' Needs Regulation and Public Debate

July 22, 2024 — Researchers are calling for regulation to guide the responsible and ethical development of bio-hybrid robotics -- a ground-breaking science which fuses artificial components with living tissue and ...

Greater Focus Needed on How Existing International Law Can Prevent the Increasing Militarization of Outer Space

July 10, 2024 — There is a pressing need for countries and international organizations to understand better how existing international law can help them address serious concerns about the militarization of outer ...

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Transparency Is Often Lacking in Datasets Used to Train Large Language Models

Aug. 30, 2024 — The Data Provenance Explorer can help machine-learning practitioners make more informed choices about the data they train their models on, which ...

New Research Into Life-Threatening Birth Defect of the Diaphragm

Aug. 6, 2024 — Congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) is a dangerous malformation of the lungs and diaphragm that causes almost a third of affected babies to die from underdeveloped lungs. Medical researchers made ...

When Allocating Scarce Resources With AI, Randomization Can Improve Fairness

July 26, 2024 — Researchers argue that, in some situations where machine-learning models are used to allocate scarce resources or opportunities, randomizing ...

Researchers Find Common Immune System Mechanism Between Pregnancy, Cancer

July 8, 2024 — Researchers found a molecular mechanism, shared in cancer and pregnancy, that suppresses the immune system. Block this mechanism, called B7-H4, and the immune system revs up to slow cancer's growth. ...

Scientists Map How Deadly Bacteria Evolved to Become Epidemic

July 4, 2024 — Pseudomonas aeruginosa -- an environmental bacteria that can cause devastating multidrug-resistant infections, particularly in people with underlying lung conditions -- evolved rapidly and then ...

New, Holistic Way to Teach Synthetic Biology

June 27, 2024 — Synthetic biology combines principles from science, engineering and social science, creating emerging technologies such as alternative meats and mRNA vaccines; Deconstructing synthetic biology across ...

Embryo and Organoid Models Do Not Threaten the Definition of Personhood, Bioethicist Says

June 20, 2024 — Advances in organoids and embryonic models of human development have the potential to prompt social and existential questions --e.g., what defines ...

Mixed Public Opinion on Polygenic Embryo Screening for IVF

May 14, 2024 — Survey reveals nearly three-quarters of U.S. adults support using emerging technology to screen embryos during IVF for risk of developing certain health conditions or traits that arise from more than ...

Companies May Buy Consumer Genetic Information Despite Its Modest Predictive Power

May 2, 2024 — Genetics can be associated with one's behavior and health -- from the willingness to take risks, and how long one stays in school, to chances of ...

Are Lab-Grown Brain Tissues Ethical? There Is No No-Brainer Answer

Apr. 8, 2024 — Researchers offer insights into the ethical dilemmas and legal complexities surrounding brain organoids, especially those derived from human fetal tissue. Their findings advocate for thorough ...

H5 Influenza Vaccines: What Needs to Be Done to Reduce the Risk of a Pandemic

Sep. 4, 2024 — As the global threat of H5N1 influenza looms with outbreaks across species and continents including the U.S., three international vaccine and public health experts say it is time to fully resource ...

Explaining the Mechanism of Social Evolution Driven by Gift Giving

Sep. 3, 2024 — New findings provide quantitative criteria for classifying social organizations in human history, together with potential explanatory variables that can be empirically measured for anthropology, ...

COVID-19 Vaccination Mandates Boosted Uptake Among Health Care Workers, Study Finds

Sep. 3, 2024 — A new study has found that state-level COVID-19 vaccination mandates successfully increased vaccine rates among health care workers, a finding that, while perhaps unsurprising, provides evidence of ...

Study Explains Why Laws Are Written in an Incomprehensible Style

Aug. 19, 2024 — A new study on 'legalese' suggests this convoluted language acts to convey a sense of authority in legal documents. The researchers also found that even non-lawyers use legalese when asked ...

Morals Are Key to Consumer Views on Lab-Grown Meat, Study Finds

July 19, 2024 — People's moral values could limit their uptake of lab-grown meat, a study suggests. People who say living a natural life is morally important to them are more likely to reject lab-grown meat -- ...

Charting an Equitable Future for DNA and Ancient DNA Research in Africa

July 11, 2024 — The American Journal of Human Genetics recently published a perspective piece on the need for an equitable and inclusive future for DNA and ancient DNA (aDNA) research in Africa. The paper highlights ...

Treatment from Female Doctors Leads to Lower Mortality and Hospital Readmission Rates, Study Suggests

Apr. 23, 2024 — Patients have lower rates of mortality and hospital readmissions when treated by female physicians, with female patients benefitting more than their male counterparts, new research ...

Less Obesity in 3 And 4-Year-Olds After the Pandemic, Swedish Study Finds

Mar. 25, 2024 — The prevalence of overweight and obesity in the group of 3- and 4-year-olds in Sweden has decreased after the pandemic. The increase during the pandemic thus appears to have been temporary, according ...

AI Ethics Are Ignoring Children, Say Researchers

Mar. 21, 2024 — Researchers have called for a more considered approach when embedding ethical principles in the development and governance of AI for ...

Low Social Status Increases Risk of Health Problems from Alcohol Problems

Mar. 20, 2024 — Men and women with lower income or education levels are more likely to develop medical conditions related to alcohol abuse compared to similar individuals with a higher socioeconomic status, ...

Laws That Punish Drug Use During Pregnancy Likely Lead to Worse Health Outcomes for Families, Study Finds

Mar. 18, 2024 — Contrary to some claims, laws that criminalize or otherwise punish drug use during pregnancy are more likely to worsen rather than improve health outcomes. The study is the first to systematically ...

New Simpler and Cost-Effective Forensics Test Helps Identify Touch DNA

Mar. 14, 2024 — Research has found a less expensive and easier to use test to learn more about forensic touch DNA. This research has important implications for forensic investigations and being able to identify DNA ...

New Study Reveals Unintended Ethical Faultline in Team-Based Reward Systems

Mar. 14, 2024 — Employers who have introduced team-based rewards systems to foster creativity, collaboration, productivity and sales may want to look again at a system that new research shows can create an ...

A New, Comprehensive Roadmap for the Future of Biomedical Engineering

Feb. 26, 2024 — Experts published a detailed position paper on the field of biomedical engineering which lays the foundation for a concerted worldwide effort to achieve technological and medical ...

Researchers Overestimate Their Own Honesty

Feb. 26, 2024 — The average researcher thinks they are better than their colleagues at following good research practice. They also think that their own research field is better than other research fields at ...

Under Pressure -- Space Exploration in Our Time

Feb. 16, 2024 — A new paradigm is taking shape in the space industry as the countries and entities accessing space continue to grow and diversify. This dynamic landscape creates both competition and potential for ...

Why Politics Bring out the Worst in Us

Feb. 8, 2024 — In a survey involving a total of 2,472 respondents, researchers asked participants about nonpolitical and political moral behavior and nonpolitical and political moral tolerance. They found people ...

Asthma Rates Climb for High School Students as Cannabis Use Increases

Jan. 30, 2024 — Asthma is more common among high school students who use cannabis, relative to those who do not and the prevalence of asthma increases with the frequency of its use among the students, according to a ...

Planetary Commons: Fostering Global Cooperation to Safeguard Critical Earth System Functions

Jan. 22, 2024 — Tipping elements of the Earth system should be considered global commons, researchers argue. Global commons cannot -- as they currently do -- only include the parts of the planet outside of national ...

War on Superbugs Can't Be Won, Researchers Declare

Jan. 9, 2024 — From a wartime spread of antimicrobial resistant disease in Ukraine, to superbugs in China causing 'white lung' pneumonia in children, 2023 brought no shortage of new evidence that ...