Swiss Researchers Struggle to Get Animal Experiments Approved
Scientists say that increasingly rigorous licensing procedures have complicated research efforts - and in some cases, stopped experiments completely.
Send us a link
The Million-dollar Drug
UBC scientists spent decades developing Glybera, the world's first approved gene therapy. But market forces needed just two years to make the potentially life-saving drug disappear.
John Oliver Studies CRISPR Technology on 'Last Week Tonight'
Oliver says gene editing is "going to cure all disease or kill every last one of us".
How Scientific Publishers Can End Bullying And Harassment In The Sciences
How Scientific Publishers Can End Bullying And Harassment In The Sciences
If the publishers of scientific journals everywhere enforced a universal code of ethics - if you violate the code, you cannot publish your scientific work - systematic bullies and harassers would be eliminated from their fields.
Some Hard Numbers on Science’s Leadership Problems
Scientists pride themselves on being keen observers, but many seem to have trouble spotting the problems right under their noses. Those who run labs have a much rosier picture of the dynamics in their research groups than do many staff members working in the trenches.
With €1.5 Billion for Artificial Intelligence Research, Europe Pins Hopes on Ethics
Cambridge Analytica Controversy Must Spur Researchers to Update Data Ethics
Cambridge Analytica Controversy Must Spur Researchers to Update Data Ethics
A scandal over an academic’s use of Facebook data highlights the need for research scrutiny.
Rethink Public Engagement for Gene Editing
The breadth of social and moral questions raised requires a new architecture for democratic debate, insists Simon Burall.
Artificial Intelligence Could Identify Gang Crimes—and Ignite an Ethical Firestorm
Artificial Intelligence Could Identify Gang Crimes—and Ignite an Ethical Firestorm
A new algorithm is trying to automate the process of identifying gang crimes. But some scientists warn that far from reducing gang violence, the program could do the opposite by eroding trust in communities, or it could brand innocent people as gang members.
Tech’s Ethical ‘Dark Side’: Harvard, Stanford and Others Want to Address It
Schools that helped produce some of Silicon Valley's most prominent leaders are hustling to bring a more medicine-like morality to computer science.
Universities Should Encourage Scientists to Speak Out about Public Issues
Universities Should Encourage Scientists to Speak Out about Public Issues
Opioids. Fracking. Zika. GMOs. Scientists should be speaking up about all sorts of science-based issues that affect our lives. Especially now, when Trump administration officials tell us that climate change is debatable.
Science Suffers from Harassment
The nearly 60,000-member American Geophysical Union took the bold step of revising its ethics policy to treat harassment, discrimination and bullying as scientific misconduct, with the same types of penalties for offenders. Other scientific organizations have not adopted that standard.
10 Human Rights Priorities for the Information and Communications Technology Sector
10 Human Rights Priorities for the Information and Communications Technology Sector
A primer on the most relevant, urgent, and probable human rights impacts for the ICT sector and opportunities for positive impact.
In the Trump Era, Biologists on the Cutting Edge Try to Keep a Low Profile
In the Trump Era, Biologists on the Cutting Edge Try to Keep a Low Profile
Scientists fear a crackdown on embryo research if President Trump pays attention to scientific advances.
The Rise and Fall and Rise again of 23andMe
How Anne Wojcicki led her company from the brink of failure to scientific pre-eminence.
Access, Ethics and Piracy
An article considering both the efficacy and ethics of piracy, placing ‘guerrilla open access’ within a longer history of piracy and access to knowledge.
Ethics of Internet Research Trigger Scrutiny
Concern over the use of public data spurs guideline update.
South Korean Researchers Lobby Government to Lift Human-Embryo Restrictions
Regulations are deterring research that could lead to disease treatments, say scientists.
Elon Musk and AI Leaders Call for a Ban on Killer Robots
Leaders in the fields of AI and robotics, including Elon Musk and Google DeepMind’s Mustafa Suleyman, have signed a letter calling on the United Nations to ban lethal autonomous weapons.
China’s Embrace of Embryo Selection Raises Thorny Questions
Fertility centres are making a massive push to increase preimplantation genetic diagnosis in a bid to eradicate certain diseases.
×