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Bioethics is a utilitarianish social-political movement whose primary advocates are usually philosophers, lawyers, and/or doctors. Mainstream bioethicists (unless they have a modifier in front of the identifier, such as “Catholic”) generally push against human exceptionalism — a concept many view as “speciesism” — and promote Tower of Babel–like experiments that push us toward an almost-anything-goes research ethic. Bioethical issues are generally debated beyond the public’s perception, in professional journals, before they are introduced in public policy. The Journal of Medical Ethics, published out of Oxford, is one of the movement’s most influential publications. A major new article therein discusses the ethical implications of scientists’ implanting human-brain “organoids” — functional brain tissue created with stem cells — into animals, which could enhance Read More ›

The medical/scientific intelligentsia and the political Left seemingly want every political controversy and cultural problem transformed into a public-health threat. Let us count them: Climate change, racism, gun control, a dearth of left-wing economics policies, even war. Now, a column by Michael Luo, an executive editor at the New Yorker, urges that political violence be categorized in the same way. From, “Should Political Violence be Addressed Like a Threat to Public Health?”: The principal aim of public health is prevention. It takes its scientific cues primarily from epidemiology, which studies the prevalence of diseases and their determinants to shape control strategies. In the mid-nineteen-sixties, public-health practitioners began to incorporate these methods into a nascent discipline known as injury science, taking on problems such as children falling from windows, residential fires, childhood Read More ›

Nature is supposedly the most respected science journal in the world. But its reputation is sinking because it has become so overtly political, as with its decision last summer to endorse Kamala Harris for president. Now, in the mushiest softball Q&A one can imagine, the journal is boosting an anti-Israel protester and promoting her views on Israel’s war with Hamas. What’s the science hook? Well, there isn’t one beyond the protester’s being a doctoral student at MIT. From “Why this PhD candidate joined campus protests against the Israel–Hamas war”: Jessica Metzger, a PhD student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, researches non-equilibrium statistical physics — the study of how matter, especially living matter, behaves. Metzger traces her love of scientific exploration to Read More ›

American institutions are less trusted than ever before, our society is deeply divided, and much of the world is in turmoil. The problem isn’t religion, atheism, or ideology, per se. Rather, the real culprit — and one that receives far too little attention in public discourse — is the widespread embrace by social activists of utopianism, a zealous belief in Read More ›

This is how the scientific method is supposed to work. For years, a neuroscientist and National Institutes of Health official named Eliezer Masliah led the field in researching dementia, Parkinson’s, and other neurological diseases. His work became primary bases for developing experimental treatments, offering hope for these scourges of human aging. But now, Science reports that much of this research was mistakenly compiled — or worse. From “Picture Imperfect:” Over the past 2 years questions have arisen about some of Masliah’s research. A Science investigation has now found that scores of his lab studies at UCSD and NIA are riddled with apparently falsified Western blots—images used to show the presence of proteins—and micrographs of brain tissue. Numerous images seem to have been inappropriately reused within Read More ›

We live in a hedonistic age in which pleasures — including of the most intense kind — are readily available. Yet, despite the supposed good times, we are increasingly anxious and depressed, to the point that addiction and suicide are considered symptoms of a profound mental health crisis. What to do? How about some regular doses of LSD? Three bioethicist/researchers write in Practical Ethics that not only are psychedelics a potential psychiatric medication — already being investigated scientifically — but should be considered “intrinsically valuable” as a means of living an “interesting life.” How? First, the experiences — what were once called “trips” — are profoundly aesthetic. From “Are Psychedelic Experiences Intrinsically Valuable?“: Individuals typically enjoy, savor, or are moved by, the perceptions of Read More ›

Alabama just executed its second murderer by nitrogen. It was reportedly not pleasant: Alan Eugene Miller, 59, was pronounced dead at a south Alabama prison. He shook and trembled on the gurney for about two minutes with his body at times pulling against the restraints. That was followed by about six minutes of gasping breathing. And yet, we are told that suicide by nitrogen in the suicide pod is peaceful and dignified. So, which is it? This is another example of what I call cruel and unusual death with dignity.

Whether to legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia is one of the most culturally contentious — and important — public policy debates of our time. Supporters of legalization call it a compassionate “last resort” means of preventing unnecessary suffering and promoting autonomy. Opponents see the intentional ending of the lives of the ill as a profound abandonment and a path to Read More ›