02-22-10 | Ribosomes Rising

Advances in basic science and in engineering education are propelling the field forward at breakneck speeds. The progressive response is more, not less, science.

09-29-09 | Tell Me a Story About Synthetic Biology

More Americans know about synthetic biology, according to a survey from the Wilson Center Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies. Some 22 percent of adults indicate they have heard a lot or some about synthetic biology—that’s up from only 9 percent last year. But nearly half, 48 percent, have heard nothing at all about the technology. So if [...]

09-24-09 | The Coolest Platform Raises the Hardest Questions

So who is speaking here, an ethicist, a scientist, or a policymaker? It’s very hard for me to have a conversation about these issues, because people adopt incredibly defensive postures…The scientists on one side and civil-society organizations on the other. And, to be fair to those groups, science has often proceeded by skipping the dialogue. But [...]

07-29-09 | All Together Now

How many bioethics subfields do we really need to grapple with the issues at the cutting edge of contemporary science? Maybe just one.