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Website update and event announcements

I’ve updated the “News and Events” page at LifeEthics.org to include pictures from testimony to Texas Legislators in September of last year. (There are grand daughter pictures!) I haven’t figured out how to get a decent calendar for the site, yet. The current version of the site is built using Microsoft Publisher, but I’m learning … Continue reading

Nanofiber Scaffolds for Neural Stem Cells (and some truth)

Johns Hopkins researchers report that they have developed “nanofibers” impregnated with special proteins which allow them to grow neural stem cells from embryonic stem cells without “requiring high concentrations of growth factors.” One of the researchers, Neuroscientist Hongjun Song, comments on the immediate results of the research, which will not include actual patient therapy: “Eventually, … Continue reading

Trading eggs for fertility treatment

Women who are desperatly trying to get pregnant, but who cannot afford to pay $5,000 – $6,000 for in vitro fertilization may be offered lower IVF fees in exchange for donation of some of their oocytes for research in the UK. The Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority approved the trades for one lab last July, … Continue reading

Support science and human rights for all

That’s the point that Yuval Levin makes in his New York Times op-ed piece (free registration required), “A Middle Ground for Stem Cells,” today. The essay is also available online at the International Herald Tribune. It is, to begin with, not about stem-cell research, any more than an argument about the lethal extraction of livers … Continue reading

Calling all scientists

The Aspen Ideas Festival is a meeting that I had never heard of until recently (I actually found it Googling for “Bioethics and Politics” and “Bioethics and Policy” which are names I’ve come up with for alternative blogs in case I decide to change my focus) There are audio recordings and transcripts online which contain … Continue reading

David Prentice's Science rebuttal

This week, Science Magazine, has published a Letter to the Editor (sorry, subscription only) by David Prentice, Ph.D., in response to the letter by Smith, Neaves and Teitelbaum from last July. (That was the letter which prompted Michael Fumento to dub the Journal “PseudoScience.”) In his letter, Dr. Prentice points out that the “Supporting Online … Continue reading

Bioethicists aren't needed

Well, they didn’t come right out and say it. Moreno and Berger are still stomping their feet at Ramesh Ponnuru for doing his job. After all, he’s an editor for a magazine covering “Republican/conservative news, commentary, and opinion.” Moreno has a Ph.D. in philosophy, and Berger is an Assistant to Moreno and two other Fellows … Continue reading

Progressives vs. Conservatives (rubber, glue)

What did I tell you? I forgot to tell you what the “Progressives” fuss was about and to link to the actual articles. Which meant that I didn’t review the actual critiques of the report by the President’s Domestic Policy Council (covered here, last week). Jonathan Moreno and Sam Berger of the Center for American … Continue reading

Biased bioethicist's slip is showing

Every time I note someone else’s editorial or grammatical mistakes, I (later, of course) find that I’ve made some glaring mistake of my own in that comment. I’ll try to avoid that here, but read closely, just in case. Nevertheless, . . . Bioethics.net, the blog of the editors (and pseudoeditors) of the American Journal … Continue reading

Selecting stem cells, filtering cancer cells

I’ve wondered how the stem cells were being harvested from blood, instead of from bone marrow, and here’s an explanation printed in Science Daily about the work of Professor Michael King. The author did a good job of explaining a complex process. Although I haven’t copied it here, the article also explains one way that … Continue reading

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