Promise and Perils of Guidelines in Quality Cancer Care

The promise and perils of synthetic biology.

Copyright 2006. All rights reserved. See www.TheNewAtlantis.com for more information. Over the past fifty years, several pivotal advances have transformed the life sciences, including the discovery of the structure of DNA, the deciphering of the genetic code, the development of recombinant DNA technology, and the mapping of the human genome. Synthetic biology is another transformative innovatio...

Gene therapy of restenosis: promise and perils.

The advent of technology for vascular gene transfer some 8 years ago led to an explosion of interest in the notion that local gene therapy could modify the natural history of arterial hyperplastic diseases. What better testing ground for this concept than restenosis following percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) or other arterial interventions? In this situation, the precise mo...

The Promise and Perils of Computerization

Mobile money in Africa: Promise and Perils

Over the last decade, Africa has become a global leader in mobile money—cashless electronic payment that use mobile telephones as the main payment mechanism, rather than using a smartphone only as a conduit to a user’s bank or credit card account. More than half the mobile money companies in the world operate in Africa. In 2014, the most recent year for which figures are available, the mobile m...

The promise and perils of digital currencies

Interest in digital currencies, especially Bitcoin, has exploded over the past year. The cryptocurrency Bitcoin was created in 2009 by an anonymous entity operating under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. Using cryptographic primitives to create a digital currency is not particularly new – David Chaum proposed electronic cash nearly thirty years ago. What is different about Bitcoin is its success...