May 21, 2011

Do You Wanna Live Forever?

In the immortal words of Starship Troopers (originally of a military commander in the 20th century, I believe): “Do you wanna live forever?” A while ago at our monthly philosophy meetings, my talk was life extension: how for the first time in human history, technology was advancing at a sufficient […]
May 21, 2011

The Pox

There is a curious debate on the final elimination of smallpox stocks, reported in The Scientist: Destroying smallpox stocks This week, health ministers from the World Health Organization’s member countries will gather to decide the fate of the last two known remaining stocks of smallpox virus. Scientists and health officials […]
May 6, 2011

Stem Cell Ban Lifted – For Now

  Good recent news is the sensible decision by a US Appeals Court overturning an injunction that barred the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from funding research using human embryonic stem cells. Good as far as it goes, but it doesn’t put a stop to court action, which is based on a […]
May 5, 2011

Through a Glass, Half Empty

An interesting report from The Scientist: Chronic diseases world’s no. 1 killer Chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and heart disease are now the biggest killers around the world, a new report by the World Health Organization found. Accounting for more than 60 percent of the deaths worldwide in 2008, […]