Just in case you missed them, below are the most-read news stories of the week from bioethics.net.
Summer Johnson, PhD
New possibilities for stem cell research
10 Aug 2008 – As America struggles with such weighty issues as the war in Iraq, the foundering economy and the run-up to a historic presidential election, it may be difficult to recall that seven years ago this month the most wrenching issue facing the nation was human embryonic stem cell research.
As Swimming Records Fall, Technology Muddies the Water
12 Aug 2008 – He swam so improbably fast, making up so much ground in a foaming, desperate attempt to reach the wall first in the 4×100-meter relay, that Jason Lezak not only won a gold medal for the United States on Monday, but he also helped to shatter the world record by nearly four seconds.
Let the Games Be Doped
12 Aug 2008 – Once upon a time, the lords of the Olympic Games believed that the only true champion was an amateur, a gentleman hobbyist untainted by commerce. Today they enforce a different ideal.
Handle With Care
12 Aug 2008 – Last year, a private company proposed “fertilizing” parts of the ocean with iron, in hopes of encouraging carbon-absorbing blooms of plankton. Meanwhile, researchers elsewhere are talking about injecting chemicals into the atmosphere, launching sun-reflecting mirrors into stationary orbit above the earth or taking other steps to reset the thermostat of a warming planet.
The ethics of eating organically and sustainably
12 Aug 2008 – Science, developments in food technology and a free exchange of information mean that the simplest of human reflexes has become a complex moral and philosophical conundrum.