With nearly two months elapsed since the world first learned of the existence of CRISPR-edited newborns living in China, it is worth pondering the response this momentous event generated. When considering what people have said about Chinese scientist He Jiankui’s exploits, a disconcerting feature emerges. The ethics of the scientist himself have been front and …
Food, Freedom, and Smiley Faces
The day before Independence Day in 2018 was the last day to comment on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s proposal for mandatory labeling of foods containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The requirement for a nationally recognizable standard was passed in 2016 during the Obama administration. The proposal offers guidance to food companies who will soon …
The Ethics of Hijacking a (Rhino) Uterus
Researchers at the San Diego zoo were celebrating last week after one of their beloved southern white rhinos was determined to be carrying a rhino fetus. This rhino became pregnant after male white rhino sperm was injected into her uterus at just the moment that all the stars in the rhino universe aligned. Artificial insemination …
The Part that’s Not Funny about Cloning Macaques
On January 25th 2018, CNN.com announced a striking scientific breakthrough in biotechnology with the painful headline “Monkey See, Monkey 2.” A technique known as somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) had been used successfully by Chinese researchers to create two genetically identical long-tailed macaque monkeys. This was the first time that SCNT, a technique that arrived …
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Oil Spills and the Unexpected in a Synthetic Age
When U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke announced plans in January to greatly expand offshore drilling to ninety percent of the U.S. coastline, the condemnation of the move was immediate, vocal, and bi-partisan. The governors of the majority of coastal states – including Republican governors in Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, and South Carolina – immediately objected to …
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Gene Drives and the Hijacking of Origins
Over the last thirty years, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have struggled to gain the confidence of consumers. In the European Union, many member states have maintained virtual moratoria on their use in agriculture. Even in the less precautionary U.S., where only the weakest of labeling laws have ever made it through Congress, surveys show that …
Albert Borgmann Reflecting on Facebook and the iPhone
On occasions this blog will have guest posts by authors who have expertise in areas related to our central themes. We are lucky to hear today from Albert Borgmann, a world renowned philosopher of technology and author of Technology and the Character of Contemporary Life. Here Borgmann reflects on Facebook and the iPhone and the hidden …
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To Rise From the Dead
“Extinction,” as they say, “is forever.” It is the threat that has launched a thousand environmental campaigns. Despite being the ultimate fate of all species, extinction remains universally appalling in its finality. The thought of extinction serves as a chilling reference point for almost all conservation thinking. Technologies being developed in the emerging Plastocene epoch …
Salmon, Forests, and Protein Factories
It only took a day and a half. That was all the rainfall required to turn the lethargic assembly of fish milling around at the mouth of the creek into a full-on salmon run. For nearly two weeks, I had watched a growing school of pink salmon slowly circulate where the dwindling fresh water from …
