We Should Resist Making “Synthetic Embryos” Too Realistic

We Should Resist Making “Synthetic Embryos” Too Realistic

A rendering of emerging medical technology.

(© chombosan / Fotolia)


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Insoo Hyun
Insoo Hyun (PhD) is Associate Professor of Bioethics and Philosophy at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio. He chaired the Subcommittee on Human Biological Materials Procurement for the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR). He also served as Co-Chairperson of the ISSCR Task Force on International Guidelines for the Clinical Translation of Stem Cells. Most recently, Dr. Hyun served as a member of the ISSCR Working Group that revised the ISSCR’s 2016 guidelines for basic and translational stem cell research. Dr. Hyun has authored over 50 scholarly articles in journals such as Science, Nature, Cell Stem Cell, and The Hastings Center Report. His book Bioethics and the Future of Stem Cell Research was published by Cambridge University Press in 2013.
How sharing, hearing, and remembering positive stories can help shape our brains for the better

Across cultures and through millennia, human beings have always told stories. Whether it’s a group of boy scouts around a campfire sharing ghost stories or the paleolithic Cro-Magnons etching pictures of bison on cave walls, researchers believe that storytelling has been universal to human beings since the development of language.

But storytelling was more than just a way for our ancestors to pass the time. Researchers believe that storytelling served an important evolutionary purpose, helping humans learn empathy, share important information (such as where predators were or what berries were safe to eat), as well as strengthen social bonds. Quite literally, storytelling has made it possible for the human race to survive.

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Sarah Watts

Sarah Watts is a health and science writer based in Chicago.

A new type of cancer therapy is shrinking deadly brain tumors with just one treatment

MRI scans after a new kind of immunotherapy for brain cancer show remarkable progress in one patient just days after the first treatment.

Mass General Hospital

Few cancers are deadlier than glioblastomas—aggressive and lethal tumors that originate in the brain or spinal cord. Five years after diagnosis, less than five percent of glioblastoma patients are still alive—and more often, glioblastoma patients live just 14 months on average after receiving a diagnosis.

But an ongoing clinical trial at Mass General Cancer Center is giving new hope to glioblastoma patients and their families. The trial, called INCIPIENT, is meant to evaluate the effects of a special type of immune cell, called CAR-T cells, on patients with recurrent glioblastoma.

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Sarah Watts

Sarah Watts is a health and science writer based in Chicago.