Ethics and the Acquisition of Organs

The question of organ donation has sparked a number of news stories recently, not least the announcement by the Welsh Assembly Government to carry out a consultation on its proposals to introduce an opt–out system of organ donation in Wales. No one can ignore the fact there is a real shortage of organs. UK Minister of State for Health, Paul Burstow, recently reported in a debate in Westminster that some 10,000 individuals now require a transplant .

Conscience – A Very Short Introduction

Conscience is a very puzzling element of human consciousness, yet such an important one that etymologically, the two words – conscience and consciousness – were indivisible concepts in English up to the 17th Century. Yet only as recently as 2011, has OUP published its Very Short Introduction on the topic as the 273rd volume in this excellent and popular series.

The Better Angels of Our Nature: The Decline of Violence in History and Its Causes

Steven Pinker, Harvard psychology professor and prolific researcher on language and cognitive processes, plumbs statistical and historical depths in this treatise. His argument, that we are currently living in the most peaceable era on the human continuum, is predicated on his belief that we have evolved to this point by controlling the inner demons that have led us to violence throughout the course of human history.

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Intelligent Pills: A new ‘dawn’ in healthcare?

Have you ever been faced with the problem of trying to remember to take your medication on a regular basis? If yes, then your problems may well be over according to a new breakthrough announced this year. In January the pharmaceutical company, Proteus Biomedical, managed to capture the attention of many of the UK newspapers with the announcement that later this year it would be launching a digital health product in collaboration with Lloyd’s Pharmacy. Seeking to perhaps brand the launch as a ‘new dawn in healthcare’ this new product is called Helius – the name given to the personification of the sun in Greek mythology – and promises to revolutionise our relationship with taking medication.

Asking the Right Questions: The TECHNOLIFE

The great scientist Albert Einstein said, ““Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.” When it comes to the conversation surrounding new emerging technologies, imagination can easily be dismissed in favour of hard facts, expert opinion and pragmatism. The closest we come to any form of imagined socio–technical futures is largely framed by policy makers, scientists and engineers. Are we therefore missing something valuable from the conversation in terms of asking the public how they imagine the future?

ICT Implants, nanotechnology, and some reasons for caution

Artificial implants can serve important medical functions in humans and, at least historically, have tended to be passive medical devices. Artificial valves and joints are some of the more common examples. This area is expanding however, with the application of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), as well as nanotechnologies, in the development of more sophisticated, primarily active, medical implantable devices (Nsanze, 2005, pp. 119–120). There are a number of significant ethical and philosophical issues arising from the latter category in particular, many of which require immediate attention.

Call for Papers – The 21st Century Body

This interdisciplinary symposium is convened in order to build capacity as well as consolidate existing scholarship on perspectives on the human body and identity in the face of new advances in emerging technologies.

Relatives over–rule organ donor wishes of loved ones

One in ten families of dead patients on the organ donor register still refuse to allow them to become donors, research has found.

Google Uses AI to Find Where You Live

A recent Google research paper outlines how it might use AI to read digits in natural images – specifically Street View photos.