MachineMachine /stream - tagged with medicine http://machinemachine.net/stream/feed en-us http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Sweetcron therourke@gmail.com Bioconservatives vs. Bioprogressives http://reason.com/archives/2012/02/17/bioconservatives-vs-bioprogressives/singlepage/bioconservatives-vs-bioprogressives-reason-magazine Bioconservatives Vs Bioprogressives : http://t.co/DtFlk1Zq #bioethics ]]> Thu, 01 Mar 2012 02:36:22 -0700 http://reason.com/archives/2012/02/17/bioconservatives-vs-bioprogressives/singlepage/bioconservatives-vs-bioprogressives-reason-magazine In the very near future the act of remembering will become a choice. http://m.wired.com/magazine/2012/02/ff_forgettingpill/all/1/the-forgetting-pill-erases-painful-memories-forever-wired-magazine-wiredcom "In the very near future the act of remembering will become a choice." : http://t.co/L0ezh0nu #memory ]]> Sat, 18 Feb 2012 07:21:22 -0700 http://m.wired.com/magazine/2012/02/ff_forgettingpill/all/1/the-forgetting-pill-erases-painful-memories-forever-wired-magazine-wiredcom The meaning of monsters, magic and miracles http://www.the-tls.co.uk/tls/public/article869724.ece Monsters demonstrate, monsters alert us: whether or not the etymologies relating the word to both “monstro” (I show) and “moneo” (I warn), are correct, monsters act as a moral compass. The physical prodigy becomes a test of ethics and, in the move between literal and figurative, displays the crucial role fictions play in the establishment of value and the common sense. Or, one might say in the era when the Humanities are under such stress, thinking with monsters shows how an understanding of Nature, and of medicine, law and custom is impossible without cultural expression. ]]> Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:33:07 -0700 http://www.the-tls.co.uk/tls/public/article869724.ece Regulations proposed for animal–human chimaeras http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110721/full/475438a.html The increasingly sophisticated blending of different species to create chimaeras is pushing biology into a new ethical dimension. Last year, scientists used new stem-cell technologies to create a mouse with a functioning pancreas composed entirely of rat cells. So might it soon be possible to create a monkey with a brain composed entirely of human neurons? And would it think like a human?

Such an animal might be useful to researchers studying human cognition or human-specific pathogens. But it would be ethically unacceptable and should be banned, argues a government-commissioned report from the UK Academy of Medical… ]]> Fri, 22 Jul 2011 01:30:09 -0700 http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110721/full/475438a.html Perfection Is Not A Useful Concept http://theeuropean-magazine.com/282-bostrom-nick/283-perfection-is-not-a-useful-concept Interview with Nick Bostrom

Our long track record of survival–humans have been around for about 100,000 years–gives us some assurance that the natural risks have been rather small.

If they have not ended human history until now, they are unlikely to have that effect in the near future. So the risks we should really worry about come from new developments. They introduce new factors with a lot of statistical uncertainty, and we cannot be confident that their risks are manageable. The potential of human action to do good and evil is larger than it… ]]> Mon, 20 Jun 2011 09:21:17 -0700 http://theeuropean-magazine.com/282-bostrom-nick/283-perfection-is-not-a-useful-concept Jon Ronson On… Voices in the Head http://huffduffer.com/jshield/40206 Eleanor Longden started to hear voices in her head when she was at university and was diagnosed as a schizophrenic - a label she totally rejects. Now she is a high achieving academic. What started the voices and how did she get to a point where she not only lives happily with the voices that still exist but also works with others who have the same experience? With contributions from writer Graham Linehan and comedian Josie Long. ]]> Sun, 01 May 2011 11:43:38 -0700 http://huffduffer.com/jshield/40206 Bacteria 'R' Us http://www.miller-mccune.com/science-environment/bacteria-r-us-23628/ A few scientists noticed in the late 1960s that the marine bacteria Vibrio fischeri appeared to coordinate among themselves the production of chemicals that produced bioluminescence, waiting until a certain number of them were in the neighborhood before firing up their light-making machinery. This behavior was eventually dubbed “quorum sensing.” It was one of the first in what has turned out to be a long list of ways in which bacteria talk to each other and to other organisms.

Some populations of V. fischeri put this skill to a remarkable use: They live in the light-sensing organs… ]]> Thu, 21 Oct 2010 10:00:00 -0700 http://www.miller-mccune.com/science-environment/bacteria-r-us-23628/ On Seeing (an Imitation) http://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2010/01/on-seeing-an-imitation.html

by Daniel Rourke

“Mimesis here is not the representation of one thing by another, the relation of resemblance or of identification between two beings, the reproduction of a product of nature by a product of art. It is not the relation of two products but of two productions. And of two freedoms... 'True' mimesis is between two producing subjects and not between two produced things.”

Jacques Derrida, Economimesis

Enlarged pupil (an eye with iritis)
As the day drew closer to its end so I strained…
]]> Sun, 24 Jan 2010 22:04:00 -0700 http://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2010/01/on-seeing-an-imitation.html Overhyped Placebos of Doom? http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/overhyped_placebos_of_doom/ Let’s say a new drug appears to be effective in combating a condition like chronic anxiety and is the subject of popular news stories. When the drug enters clinical trials, patients who take the drug report significantly less anxiety. But so do patients who were given sugar pills. Because FDA regulations require that any proposed drug perform significantly better than a placebo, the drug isn’t approved, and the pharmaceutical company developing the drug must swallow millions in research expenses. The regulations make some sense: Why approve a new drug with potential side effects when a placebo works just as well?…
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