Biomedical Regulations & Ethics

Why Black Americans are among the largest group of COVID vaccine skeptics
[A]cross the U.S., only 32% of Black adults say they would definitely or probably take a COVID-19 vaccine, according to ...

$850,000 in Trump Administration PPP loans went to anti-vaccine activist groups
Five prominent anti-vaccine organizations that have been known to spread misleading information about the coronavirus received more than $850,000 in loans from ...

Will gene editing human embryos ever be safe?
Debates continue about whether the societal risks of heritable genome editing are too great to proceed, as do calls for ...

100+ countries have outlined legal restrictions on editing human embryos. Here’s a guide
Discussions and debates about the governance of human germline and heritable genome editing should be informed by a clear and ...

‘Year of the Plague’: The New Yorker explores America’s continuing tragedy
In October, 2019, the first Global Health Security Index appeared, a sober report of a world largely unprepared to deal ...

Global health groups urge countries to donate COVID vaccines to humanitarian stockpiles, protecting stateless people in asylum camps
Public health groups are lobbying countries to commit a portion of their Covid-19 vaccine supplies to a “humanitarian buffer” that ...

Viewpoint: Europe’s double standard—politicians celebrate genetically engineered COVID vaccines, but prohibit use of GM crops
“These are fantastic results,” UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson enthused, as politicians across Europe queued up to praise [COVID vaccine] ...

Here’s how to address the confusing data hampering the USA’s COVID response
The challenges of defining the spread of COVID-19 relates in part to existing deficiencies – “We don’t really have a ...

Should schools reopen for in-class study? Evidence suggests they are not major COVID spreaders
Emerging data on contact tracing — which illuminates the origins of infections — shows that the virus does not seem ...

Marketers are beginning to use data mined from consumer DNA tests. Should we be worried?
A woman lingers at a display of coffeemakers. Soon after, images of the very same contraptions festoon her Facebook feed, ...

‘At this stage, I’m not ready to get vaccinated’: Some Russian doctors refuse to take Sputnik V shot, citing efficacy concerns
Moscow opened the doors of Russia's first 70 vaccination centers [December 2], offering healthcare workers and other crucial groups a ...

How the Chinese government suppressed the real story of the country’s coronavirus catastrophe
The news was spreading quickly that Li Wenliang, a doctor who had warned about a strange new viral outbreak only to be ...

Vaccine diplomacy: China hopes its vaccine development and outreach to the developing world will refurbish its image
Brazil is among the countries worst hit by the pandemic, with over six million cases and nearly 170,000 deaths. China ...

Virtual reality sex might soon be a reality. What can we expect?
VR sex simulation is not the same as porn. The term “VR porn” is therefore somewhat misleading. When viewing photos ...

IVF 14-day rule: Scientists and ethicists reconsidering how many days an embryo can be studied outside the womb
As early as 1979, regulators responded to [in-vitro fertilization ethical] concerns by establishing the ‘14-day rule’. It soon became an internationally accepted ...

As wealthier countries prepare for mass COVID vaccine rollouts, 70 poorer countries must beg for shots
The [People’s Vaccine Alliance] says that nearly 70 poor countries will only be able to vaccinate one in 10 people ...

Viewpoint: Fears grow that Trump’s anti-science extremism could fuel rise in creationism
Loss and humiliation do not make bad ideas go away. Rather, they can take on wilder and more outrageous forms ...

’25 days in China that changed the world’: How the country’s COVID bungling helped accelerate a global disaster
[The January 23 Wuhan] lockdown was the first decisive step in saving China. But in a pandemic that has since ...

We might be able to send GMOs to other planets. But is it a good idea?
First: Could we populate another planet with genetically modified organisms? Second: Should we? … Dirk Schulze-Makuch, Professor of Planetary Habitability and Astrobiology ...

COVID-19 vaccine tracker: What’s the status of all vaccines in development?
Vaccines typically require years of research and testing before reaching the clinic, but in 2020, scientists embarked on a race ...

COVID-19 vaccine state-by-state availability tracker: When will you be able to get the shot?
The Post is tracking how many doses are expected to be delivered in the first set of Pfizer’s newly authorized ...

COVID tests often yield false results, underscoring the limits of testing to control pandemics
National coronavirus test shortages have emphasized testing’s critical role in containing and mitigating the pandemic, but these inconvenient truths remain: ...

China attempting to develop ‘biologically enhanced super soldiers’, US spy chief claims
China has conducted "human testing" on members of the People's Liberation Army in hope of developing soldiers with "biologically enhanced ...

Ellume: 91%+ accurate at-home COVID test given first emergency authorization in the US
The Food and Drug Administration on [December 15] issued an emergency authorization for the country’s first coronavirus test that can run from ...

Podcast: How do COVID vaccines work? CRISPR kills cancer; Danish study debunks mask mandates?
The leading COVID-19 vaccines are RNA-based immunizations and the first of their kind. How do they work, and are they ...

Facial recognition is growing with COVID – and sparking a burgeoning resistance movement
Facial-recognition technology (FRT) has long been in use at airport borders and on smartphones, and as a tool to help ...

How most of Europe has kept schools open safely during the current COVID surge
Most of Europe kept schools open even during a worst-on-the-planet second wave of infections this fall. And still, schools appear to ...

Halal effect: Global Muslim communities face unique COVID challenges, including a religion-grounded hesitation to vaccines
COVID-19 has spared no ethnic, racial or religious group. It treats everyone with equal disdain. But that doesn’t mean that ...