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Keeping Viagra in the bedchamber and out of the arena?
Viagra may not just be a performance enhancer in the bedroom, but also on the sports arena. Researchers are studying whether it helps dilate athlete’s blood vessels and improve their oxygen-carrying capacity. If it is found to improve performance it will likely be put it on the list of banned substances for athletes. But should
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The reason why it’s time to be silent about the Englaro Case
While the right to die has been a prominent topic of discussion in the UK, it has also been exercising Italian courts and media. Eluana Englaro entered in an irreversible vegetative state seventeen years ago, after a car crash.
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The Future of Making Organs for Self-Transplantation
Scientists have been able to create a new windpipe using stem cells. They took a windpipe from a dead patient, removed all the cells, and placed stem cells from a patient onto the remaining scaffolding to create what was in effect a new windpipe, with the patient’s own cells. The patient had an irreparably damaged
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Status quo bias and presumed consent for organ donation
Yesterday the UK organ donation taskforce released its report on a presumed consent (opt-out) system for organ donation. To the consternation of the chief medical officer and the Prime Minister the taskforce advised against the introduction into the UK of such a system. In an editorial in today’s Guardian, it was observed that both the…
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Animal experimentation: morally acceptable, or just the way things always have been?
Following the announcement last week that Oxford University’s controversial Biomedical Sciences building is now complete and will be open for business in mid-2009, the ethical issues surrounding the use of animals for scientific experimentation have been revisited in the media—see, for example, here , here, and here. The number of animals used per year in
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Teenagers and the right to be wrong
A teenager who is a Jehovah’s witness declines a potentially life-saving blood transfusion. Another teenager, self-conscious and strongly believing that it will make her happier, requests a boob job. When minors make decisions that may be against their own best interests, should we respect their decisions?
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Much ado about nothing
“A newborn is not a person, because a person is someone who has self-consciousness and has a sense of morality and rationality. In some cases of severely deformed babies, it could be reasonable to accept euthanasia like in Holland.” This simple idea, not really impressive and not revolutionary at all (read Engelhardt and Singer, for
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Hacking the spammers
Why is there spam? The simple answer is that "there is a sucker born every minute" and email is cheap enough to reach millions of potential suckers who might want to buy Viagra, sure-fire investments and fake Rolexes. A new study has discovered that it is enough with one response to every 12.5 million emails
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The Great Botox Experiment in Mood Enhancement
Suppose that the people around repeatedly smile or shake their heads. Although you may not notice it, it is very likely that soon you too will begin to smile or shake your heard. And it is likely that this will affect how you feel and what you think. Or at least this is what social