Currently viewing the tag: "Reproduction"
Julian Savulescu does a great interview with Dilemata:
I think this is just a basic principle of rational choice applied to reproduction. What surprises me is how much resistance there is, that people really think you should toss a coin when you have information about which embryo is better. Embryologists of course do this [...]
The NYT investigates the odd world of egg donation. The whole article is great, but one paragraph is my favorite, and pretty much exposes why the rest of the article was written:
Sean Tipton, a spokesman for the reproductive medicine society, said that the group had little authority over egg brokers and that concerns [...]
A few researchers who started aiming ultrasound waves at rat testicles may have figured it out:
The intensity of ultrasound required would be similar to that used to break down scar tissue after a sprained ankle, for instance. “Our long-term goal is to use ultrasound from therapeutic instruments that are commonly found in sports [...]
Bryan Caplan sure knows how to market a book. With one polemic paragraph, Caplan has managed to get a host of blogs to write about his upcoming book Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids. The offending clump of words:
I [...]
Tyler Cowen goads his readership with this paragraph from Caplan:
I confess that I take anti-cloning arguments personally. Not only do they insult the identical twin sons I already have; they insult a son I hope I live to meet. Yes, I wish to clone myself and raise the baby as my son. Seriously. [...]
Personhood is everywhere. Netflix recently added Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends to their “instant play” repertoire, which means I may or may not have spent several hours watching a cartoon from the early sixties as part of my Saturday routine. As usual, there was a little bit of transhumanist propaganda hidden [...]
Sex, on its own, in the wild, natural and unadorned, is still complicated. Don’t believe me? Look at a peacock or a bird of paradise. Salmon die after they procreate. Sea slugs penis joust. Now throw in evolved human biology, history, culture, technology, and science and you have a real disaster on your hands.
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Wayne Crews (via the ever hyper-ventilating Drudge) points to a new medicine-induced “at home” abortion technique available soon in Oregon:
Planned Parenthood of Southwestern Oregon plans to offer medication-induced abortions at its clinics in Ashland and Eugene beginning sometime in March.
Cynthia Pappas, Planned Parenthood’s executive director, said the organization’s board of directors [...]
Which makes sense, of course, given the enormous amount of influence our gestational environment can have on our genetic expression. 80 beats has the story:
Says lead researcher Carmen Sapienza said “By and large these children are just fine, it’s not like they have extra arms or extra heads, but they have a small [...]
Francesca Minerva (what a cool name) at Practical Ethics gets into the sticky morality of adopting embryos:
[I]f the main concern of couple who adopt embryos is to save as many embryos as possible because they consider them as morally valuable as already born children, why shouldn’t they adopt children who are already born? [...]
About
Pop Bioethics, written by Kyle Munkittrick, is an effort to study the ethics of the continuing evolution of the human species via the lens of pop culture and be somewhat entertaining in the process.
Kyle's writing can also be found at Discover's The Crux, Slate's Future Tense, and at the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. For questions or comments: comments [at] popbioethics [dot] com
All opinions, ideas, and words either explicit or implicit found within this website are my own and represent no other person, organization, or group.Categories
