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Development of a treatment containing human embryo stem cells for mitochondrial disorders
A new study published in the Nature Journal last week highlighted a discovery using stem cells. “Having a better performance rate and more accurate” than gene therapy, the technique allows mitochondrial diseases to be treated. Mitochondria are small cell...
Artificial intelligence: a robot shows signs of self-awareness
Scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York have carried out awareness testing in programmable robots – a test which proved positive. “Each of these robots had the capacity to speak but, during the test, two of these robots were reprogrammed to remain...
A judgment by the united states court of appeal rekindles the debate on reimbursment for contraception
In the United States, several plaintiffs, including the Little Sisters of the Poor in Denver (Colorado) lost their health insurance case on 14 July. The complaining institutions demanded to be “exempt in the name of religious freedom from complying with the health...
New Cannibal Markets, Globalization and Commodification of the Human Body, a book to promote understanding
On the publication of the book, Les nouveaux marchés cannibales, mondialisation et marchandisation du corps humain, Jean-Daniel Rainhorn, Co-Editor and Professor of Health and Humanitarian Action at La Maison des sciences de l’homme (Human Sciences) in Paris and...
Canada: an advisory committee for assissted suicide
The Canadian Federal Government has created an external advisory committee to assess legislative options for consideration following the judgment delivered by the Supreme Court in February, which declared the total ban on assisted suicide as unconstitutional. On...
Frozen embryos at the centre of proceedings in the United States
Proceedings in the United States are fuelling the debate about surplus frozen embryos. This is “a battle to keep unborn children” between a divorced couple. This week, the court will hear a couple on the future of their embryos and will pass judgment in...
Chinese scientists produce tremendous quantity of artificial sperm
Professor Li Jinsong’s team in China has succeeded in producing large quantities of “good quality” artificial sperm from mice. In 2012, the same team published similar results but “the quality of the spermatozoa posed a problem”. They improved their...
A discovery for the “improved sorting” of embryos created in vitro
Yesterday, a team of scientists from Oregon and Stanford and Valence Universities published an article in the Nature journal announcing that they could “now predict chromosomal abnormalities in human embryos created by in-vitro fertilisation within the first 30 hours...
Switzerland: non-invasive prenatal screening for Down’s syndrome will be reimbursed
On Tuesday, the Federal Public Health Office (FPHO) announced that, with effect from 15 July 2015, mandatory treatment insurance schemes would refund non-invasive screening tests for Down syndrome, Edward syndrome or Patau’s syndrome or NIPS. To benefit from...
Neonatal infanticides: a damning report
The ECJL (European Centre for Law and Justice) has published a damning report on “late abortions and neonatal infanticides in Europe”. This report contains a series of testimonies from doctors, midwives and nurses who have witnessed lethal injections, suffocation and...
Elon Musk: 7 million dollars and 37 projects to “avoid the pitfalls” of artificial intelligence
Last week, American billionaire Elon Musk, Chief Executive Officer of Tesla and SpaceX, distributed the sum of 7 million dollars between 37 research teams to enable them to develop projects aimed at “avoiding” artificial intelligence “pitfalls”. Teams from prestigious...
Debat on assisted suicide in Germany
In Germany, four draft bills have been examined since 2 July. They concern “cases in which suicide may be assisted”. At present, “assisted suicide is tolerated, regardless of whether it is carried out by a relative or is organised and commercialised”. “A...