New Jersey voters spurn stem cell research
Has their run of legislative luck ended, American supporters of embryonic stem cell research must be asking themselves. In 2004 California taxpayers approved a US$3...
UK to debate radical amendments to fertility act
You would expect that proposed radical changes to fertility laws would shrink under the glare of publicity. But in the UK, they seem to be...
Cruisin’ for a bruisin’ in Zurich
Kicked out of an apartment block, barred from its former premises, and banned from hotels, the Swiss suicide group Dignitas has taken to cruising around...
Primate embryos cloned for first time
Scientists in the US have successfully cloned a primate for the first time -- a rhesus macaque monkey. The news was immediately hailed as confirmation...
Lobsters can say Ouch!
Boiling live lobsters is an increasingly controversial practice, notwithstanding its epicurean outcome. The chef's argument is that crustaceans feel no pain; animal welfare activists insist...
Genetic knowledge could lead to new racism
Many observers worry that growing public trust in genetics could lead to fresh outbreaks of racism, says the New York Times. In the wake of...
Are humans hard-wired for optimism?
Meanwhile, on the neuroscience front, more qualities have been mapped out in the brain.OPTIMISM: scientists at New York University have found that our brains tend...
Pharmacists can refer Plan B, says Washington judge
The battleground of primacy of conscience has shifted to Washington state this week. A federal judge there has suspended the state's requirement that pharmacists sell...
Chinese spinal therapies
A leading US spinal injuries surgeon is setting up a research network in China, despite its abysmal ethical standards, to take advantage of the 60,000...
China shifts on prisoner organ harvesting
Uneasy with their reputation for using organs from executed prisoners, the Chinese Medical Association has formally repudiated the practice. According to the BMJ, at the...