Bioethics.net

October 10, 2018 9:00 am

Crop-protecting insects could be turned into bioweapons, critics warn (Science)

It sounds like science fiction: A research program funded by the U.S. government plans to create virus-carrying insects that, released in vast numbers, could help crops fight threats such as pests, drought, or pollution. “Insect Allies,” as the $45 million, 4-year program is called, was launched in 2016 with little fanfare. But in a policy forum in this week’s issue of Science, five European researchers paint a far bleaker scenario.

October 2, 2018 9:00 am

Biologists irate at NSF’s new one-proposal cap (Science)

Last month, NSF’s biology directorate announced that researchers could submit only one proposal a year in which they are listed as a principal investigator (PI) or co-PI. The cap applies only to the directorate’s three core tracks and excludes several other NSF programs from which many biologists receive support… But 70 scientists have signed onto a letter asking the agency to reconsider the new policy, which they also complain was adopted without any community input.

October 1, 2018 12:30 pm

Finland joins Europe’s bold open-access push (Nature)

Finland’s national research funder has signed up to Plan S — a push by a group of European organizations to make a radical change to the way that research results are published. The Academy of Finland, which announced its move on 24 September, is the first organization to sign up since Plan S was launched by 11 funders earlier this month. The now 12-strong coalition demands that, from 2020, papers resulting from the research they fund are immediately free to read on publication.

September 17, 2018 12:54 pm

NIH gets $2 billion boost in final 2019 spending bill (Science)

Congress has approved a $2 billion raise, to $39.1 billion, for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in a 2019 spending bill approved by House of Representatives and Senate negotiators last night. As expected, the 5% boost matches the Senate’s proposed spending level and surpasses a $1.25 billion increase in a draft bill passed by the House.

September 17, 2018 12:00 pm

Medicine’s Financial Contamination (The New York Times)

September 6, 2018 1:37 am

Blood-Testing Firm Theranos to Dissolve (The Wall Street Journal)

Theranos Inc., the blood-testing company accused of perpetrating Silicon Valley’s biggest fraud, will soon cease to exist.

August 17, 2018 1:26 am

The Next Phase of Human Gene-Therapy Oversight (The New England Journal of Medicine)

August 14, 2018 9:00 am

Too cute? Colleges, courts grapple with the role of companion animals (CNN)

July 25, 2018 12:34 pm

The DEA wanted new suppliers of marijuana for research. Two years later, nothing has changed (STAT)

Two years ago, federal drug authorities said they would consider licensing new suppliers of marijuana grown for scientific purposes, a move seen as an acknowledgment of the need for additional rigorous research into potential medical uses and risks of cannabis and its components. Hope you weren’t holding your breath. The Drug Enforcement Administration still has not granted additional licenses for a grow operation, despite receiving more than two dozen applications in the year after it announced it was open to approving one.

June 22, 2018 9:00 am

U.S. Announces Its Withdrawal From U.N. Human Rights Council (NPR)

After more than a year of complaints and warnings — some subtle and others a little less so — the Trump administration has announced that the United States is withdrawing from the United Nations Human Rights Council. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley announced the decision in a joint statement Tuesday.