Laurie Zoloth is a professor of medical ethics and humanities at Northwestern University, Chicago.
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Anti-ageing research is nothing to fear
Disquiet over the ethics of ageing research is misplaced.
My father, at 96, liked to dress himself for the day but he was very slow. “The body betrays, Laurie,” he said to me....
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Meet the biochemist who wants to save the world by making the perfect meat-free burger
The high-tech vegan Impossible Burger tastes just like beef but can be made with a fraction of th...
Impossible FoodsWhen I first met Stanford biochemist Pat Brown in 2000, he was already a star. The one-time pediatric...
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Putting machines in the driver’s seat
Self-driving cars: A machine behind the wheel is more ethical.
Credit: Jeffrey Phillips Last September, Uber, the app-based ride service, rolled out a small fleet of self-driving ...
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Wiping out female malarial mozzies
‘Gene drives’ could wipe out the females in a couple of years.
Malaria threatens half the world’s population. Last year it infected 200 million people and claimed 438,000 lives, mo...
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Are we ready for babies on spec?
NON-FICTION The End of Sex and the Future of Human Reproduction by Henry T. Greely Harvard University Press (2016) RR...
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Are we our cousins’ keepers?
Is primate research ethical?
Medical researcher Huda Zoghbi has a compelling movie clip she shows at meetings. In it, a child, her face obscured, ...
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How do we cope with the new robot angst?
We need to set boundaries and rules on artificial intelligence.
“Tomorrow can be a wonderful age. Our scientists today are opening the doors … to achievements that will benefit our ...
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Syrian farmers’ lost landscape
A pitiless drought has played part in tragedy unfolding in Syria.
Imagine you are a scientist charged with studying your country’s climate. As you tour the north, you find whole villa...
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How do we fix bad science?
Verifying research helps science regain credibility.
Ten years ago epidemiologist John Ioannidis blew the whistle on science. His paper: “Why Most Published Research Fin...
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Designer babies crawl closer
Are humans mature enough to engineer human embryos?
Super crops and healthy productive farm animals; mosquito populations controlled without pesticides; a cure for cance...
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Is a trip to Mars ethical?
How do you decide whether putting human life at risk is the right thing to do? By Laurie Zoloth.
Plans are in place to send humans to Mars. But is it right do so, considering the astronauts may not return? – DETLEV...
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The rich get older
Money can buy you a longer life. But at what cost?
Yiddish joke: “If the rich could get the poor to die for them, the poor would be very wealthy.” Craig Venter, whose ...
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Reaching the limits of genetic medicine
British MPs have voted to allow three-parent babies to be created.
Last week British MPs in the House of Commons voted to allow scientists to create so-called three parent babies. The ...
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Lessons from the forgotten Davy lamp
His life holds some lessons for ethics and science today.
Consider Humphry Davy, 19th century poet and poor boy made peer of the realm because of his extraordinary scientific ...
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