Can We Patent Life?
Michael Specter writes for the New Yorker and discusses the question: Can we patent life? Excerpt: The intellectual and commercial bounty from that research has already been enormous, and it…
controversy
A Genetic Code for Genius?
A 20-year-old Chinese geneticist who has been dubbed the nation’s “Bill Gates” is three months away from releasing the results of a groundbreaking but controversial study to identify the genetics…
Can Culture Protect Genetics From Misuse?
Robert W. Sussman, a professor of anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis, says that science has struggled to understand the mysteries of “less-than-human” beings since the late 1400s when…
Landmark Patent Ruling Over Breast Cancer Gene BRCA1
Cancer Voices Australia brought the case as it believed Myriad Genetics Inc, which owns the patent on the genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 linked to breast and ovarian cancer had an…
Dodging Death – is radical life extension too radical?
How old is too old? The 20th century added thirty years to life expectancy in the developed world, but are more candles on the birthday cake all we want? Some…
Why We Have a Right to Consumer Genetics
A reporter from the MIT Technology Review discusses her experience of consumer genetics company 23andme, and reviews the future relationship between consumer genetics and the health industry. An excerpt follows,…