-
Imaging the Political Brain
In an interesting study published in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience in 2006 but widely circulated earlier, Drew Westen and his colleagues at Emory University used fMRI to image the brains of committed Democrats and Republicans before the 2004 Presidential election. Although the subject matter was topical, the aim of the study was not to…
-
Wilmut Gives Up Cloning
Despite the therapeutic potential of human embryonic stem (HES) cells, many people believe that HES cell research should be banned, because the present method of extracting HES cells involves the destruction of the embryo, which for many is the beginning of a person. Elsewhere, I have argued for a compromise solution, what I call the…
-
Lie-detection using functional MRI
Scientific American last week reported that psychiatrist Sean Spence and collaborators at the University of Sheffield are developing a lie-detection test based on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology. Using fMRI, Spence and colleagues are able to monitor blood flow to certain areas of the brain’s prefrontal cortex that are implicated in the regulation of…
-
Good drug, bad drug?
News The Lancet has published two articles on the efficacy and safety of the anti-obesity drug Acomplia. This has been widely reported in the news as showing that patients using the drug have well over double the risk of depression and anxiety. This comes on top of US studies linking Acomplia to suicidal thoughts. Commentary…
-
Reproductive Cloning Reconsidered
News The first successful cloning of primates makes the headlines in the scientific press today.(See also yesterday’s contribution by Dominic Wilkinson to this blog.) The researchers were successful in cloning a primate embryo by inserting a skin cell of a grown-up rhesus macaque into an egg of the same species which had the DNA removed.…
-
Clone human embryos not monkey embryos
Research published today in the scientific journal Nature reports the first successful cloning of primates, and derivation of embryonic stem cells. This announcement brings us a significant step closer to therapeutic cloning in humans. The team at Oregon Health and State University used somatic cell nuclear transfer in Rhesus monkeys, the same technique that was…
-
Home medical diagnosis
The earlier we can diagnose serious illnesses, the more we can do to cure them. Many advances have been made in diagnosis over the last century, but a serious bottleneck has remained. The patients need to come to a medical practitioner in order to be diagnosed and this means that they need to wait for…
-
Fat Taxes and the Nanny State
Two reports published today make recommendations about the way in which obesity should be treated in the UK. These two reports, Public Health: Ethical Issues produced by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics and British Fertility Society’s guidelines on the effect of obesity on female reproductive health both contain important analysis of the role of the…
-
Supermouse and Superman: The Dawn of Biological Liberation
News Scientists at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, have created a genetically engineered mouse nicknamed Supermouse which can run for up to six hours at a speed of 20 metres per minute before needing a rest. According to Professor Richard Hanson the special ‘athletic’ abilities of the mice are due to the way…