Can you know too much about yourself?
Researchers concerned about trips down the genetic pathway.
Modern technology gives us ready access to our genetic blueprint, and that’s appealing to a great many people if the ...
Ethics
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Lack of proof no bar to patent applications
Concerns about the influence of so-called ‘prophetic patents’.
Fake news extends to patent applications, it seems, although that in itself is not technically news. It’s legal and ...
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Research organisation slammed
‘Independent’ non-profit funded by food and beverage giants.
An apparently independent non-profit research organisation is in fact funded by major food and beverage multinational...
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Biggest danger of an asteroid strike? Lawyers
Blasting away at incoming space rock raises risks of nuclear war.
Governments and space agencies seeking to protect the Earth by changing the courses of potentially hazardous asteroid...
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Conversation
Is having a pet a bad thing?
Keeping a companion animal is a fundamentally unjust act.
According to the UK veterinary charity The People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA), half of Britons own a pet. Ma...
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Exploring the dangers of gene-edited babies
Two papers unite in the condemnation of poor science.
In November 2018 Chinese biophysicist He Jiankui announced to the world the advent of the first genetically edited hu...
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Health apps send data without disclosure
Many health apps operate under dodgy privacy regimes.
Health-care professionals should reasonably assume that data from behaviour-changing apps will be “shared with commer...
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Conversation
What we risk if we allow gene-edited babies
Concerns extend beyond health and medical grounds.
A second woman is said to be pregnant with a gene-edited baby in China, according to reports this year. It follows re...
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Police and DNA may threaten privacy
Proof-of-concept study set to prompt debate around privacy.
Police in the US opened a can of worms – as well as making headlines – when they used data from a genealogy website t...
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Mice with two mums raise many questions
Bi-maternal reproduction may cross ethical boundaries.
Chinese researchers have bred healthy mice with two mums and no dads. They’ve had less success with dads alone, howev...
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US project may mask bioweapon development
Experiments may breach Biological Weapons Convention.
Insects could be used to spread infectious viruses that have been engineered to genetically modify food crops directl...
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Time to take race out of medical studies
Study into race in medicine finds little has changed in 200 years.
Nothing symbolises a fall from grace like having your statue toppled. Such was the case for Dr J. Marion Sims in Apri...