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Atlas – the new humanoid robot from Google
On Tuesday, a Boston Dynamics video unveiled the new humanoid robot version created by Google’s robotics division. Atlas, “designed to operate inside and outside buildings”, is the result of significant challenges facing the robotics division and which...
Gamete donation: the end to anonymity is nigh in the State of Victoria
On Wednesday, the Parliament of Victoria in Australia voted on an amendment to the law regarding assisted procreation. As from 1 March 2017, gamete recipients residing in the state will have access to information allowing them to identify the donor. At the...
UN: the Secretary General adds abortion to humanitarian objectives
The UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, wants “to add new objectives to include abortion and LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and trangender) rights in the United Nations development plan”. In his opinion, both measures would allow “humanitarian objectives to be reached as...
The hidden agenda of “ethical” surrogacy
Taking an official stand, Marie-Anne Frison-Roche forcibly denounced the fallacious arguments that promote so-called “ethical” surrogacy. She referred to the economical analysis of Yves Boivert[1], who explained that “‘ethical surrogacy’ is an ‘imaginary...
CRISPR-Cas9: What do those primarily affected have to say on the matter?
CRISPR-Cas9, the new genome-modifying tool, which allows intervention prior to birth on genes responsible for causing diseases, is generating lively debate. Now we can “cross an ethical boundary hitherto deemed untouchable”, and questions are being asked if and how...
“One of Us”: legal, health and political experts committed to defending human embryos
After having been sent away by the European commission in 2014, the greatest European Citizen Initiative (ECI), One of US, is currently inviting legal, health and political experts from all over Europe to sign a petition calling upon a key debate aiming at restricting...
An “incredibly realistic” bionic hand
Zhe Xu and Emanuel Todorov, two scientists at Washington University, have developed an “incredibly realistic” bionic hand. This prosthesis “reproduces almost perfectly all of the movements of a normal hand”, and can even grasp objects, “which no other robotic hand has...
A patient fitted with 3D glasses undergoes brain tumoursurgery
At the end of January, at the CHU Angers (University Hospital Centre), a team lead by neurosurgeon, Philippe Menei, performed malignant brain tumour surgery on a patient wearing a virtual reality headset. Although the surgery in question has been practiced...
The Canadian Council on the Status of Women makes a positive statement on surrogate mothers. Under certain conditions.
The Council on the Status of Women (CSW) presented the government with a report, which was published on Thursday, in which it relaxed the position it has long since defended vis-à-vis surrogate mothers. Highly opposed to surrogacy up to this point in time, the...
Zika: Pope Francis takes a stand against abortion
Interviewed yesterday as he flew back from Mexico on how to combat the Zika epidemic, Pope Francis declared that “abortion is not a minor evil, it is a crime”, whereas “avoiding pregnancy is not an absolute evil”. He added that “Don’t confuse the evil of avoiding...
3D organ printing: research is underway
Following the recent news announced by the Wake Forest Institute further to its success in the production by 3D printing of human ear cartilage, viable after transplant, Hervé Seitz[1] focuses on research advances in this field. As evidenced with the...
Can CRISPR treat Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy?
Thanks to the CRISPR-Cas9 method, the testing of stem cells and genome printing can be used to introduce promising gene therapy for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. This neuromuscular disease affects 1 boy out of 3,500 births, i.e. one birth every 3 days in...