Author: jplucas

Madison, Wis. — The state Senate voted 21-12 on Wednesday, short of a veto-proof majority, to ban all forms of cloning in Wisconsin, though it is likely that Gov. Jim Doyle will veto the bill.

The bill was supported by all Republicans and two Democrats: Sen. Jeff Plale, D-South Milwaukee, and Sen. Roger Breske, D-Eland.

– The Hastings Center, Garrison, N.Y.,
– Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University
– The University of Pennsylvania Center for Bioethics, founded by former Hastings fellow Arthur Caplan
– The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity, which is affiliated with Trinity International University in Deerfield, Ill.
– Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine

Any given Sunday morning, a bioethicist somewhere in America suits up for a TV appearance on the hot issue of the day or stands by a hospital bed to consult on a wrenching dilemma. Should doctors prolong the life of a baby born without a brain? Should they be allowed to help the terminally ill kill themselves by prescribing a lethal drug dose? Should there be limits on embryonic stem cell research? But who are these people opining on what we should do?

Clones. Brain implants. Genetically engineered sports cheats. Members of the President’s Council on Bioethics have chewed on a steady diet of science fiction favorites in the panel’s first four years. In pondering technologies not expected to bear fruit for years, the council, led by American Enterprise Institute fellow Leon Kass, has defined its mission as being a search for a ââ?¬Å?richerââ?¬Â bioethics, concerned with preserving human dignity amid the advance of biotechnology.

Our three-year-old daughter often refuses to wear anything other than pink, and she mothers soft toys; and while our eight-month-old son has shown no noticeable preference for blue or for watching the soccer with me, it�s probably only a matter of time.

However, a scientific study just published in American Psychologist provides strong reasons to doubt that there are many inborn differences between genders. Janet Shibley Hyde, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has shown that in most cases psychological differences are small or non-existent.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Pomegranate juice, a deep red juice becoming popular as a health drink, works against prostate cancer cells in lab dishes and in mice, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday.

Prostate tumors shrank in mice infected with human prostate tumors who drank pomegranate juice, the researchers report in this week’s issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Veterinary health officials are worried that a new strain of influenza that infects dogs could pose serious health problems for dogs, but so far it appears unlikely to make humans sick.

Dr. Christopher Olsen, a professor of public health at the University of Wisconsin’s School of Veterinary Medicine, said the strain of influenza virus appears to be most closely related to a form of influenza that infects horse

A UW-Madison center for nanotechnology has snagged millions in federal dollars to pursue research toward stem-cell medical breakthroughs and computer displays that one day might be rolled up like a poster.
Juan de Pablo, director of UW-Madison’s Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, said he learned Monday that the National Science Foundation is awarding his center $14.8 million to continue its work over the next six years. The federal agency is funding a select few centers around the country that do research into materials and nanotechnology, the science of working at incredibly small scales.

A different kind of flu bug – the canine flu – has come early for some, and as a surprise to others.

Dog Owner Anne Khodadad says, “our vet hasn’t said anything about canine flu.”

Dr. Christopher Olsen explains, “it’s a new entity, we haven’t thought about dogs as being hosts for influenza infections in the past.”

The London terror attacks rekindled discussion about domestic homeland security. A year-old federal project at the University of Southern California and University of Wisconsin Madison is helping the United States prioritize possible terror targets and develop effective risk-reduction and resource-allocation strategies.