a caricature of science that I do not recognize. Why do social scientists find science so difficult to fathom? In my experience, most working scientists have a much better appreciation of the power — and the limitations — of the scientific method than Collins is prepared to allow. Most have a robust understanding of Karl Popper's idea of falsification, of the impact of experimental error and th...

Ethical challenges in genotype-driven research recruitment Laura M. Beskow, Kristen N. Linney, Rodney A. Radtke, Erin L. Heinzen, and David B. Goldstein Center for Genome Ethics, Law and Policy, Duke Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy, Durham, North Carolina 27708, USA; Center for Human Genome Variation, Duke Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy, Durham, North Carolina 27708, USA; Dep...

In the late 1960s the United States and other countries began to do ―universal newborn screening,‖ primarily as a result of the work of Dr. Robert Guthrie, a microbiologist. The term ―universal‖ denotes that every newborn infant was screened by taking a small sample of blood. Infants were screened for rare metabolic disorders that if treated immediately avoided devastating health consequences (...

It is timely to consider the ethical and social questions raised by progress in pharmacogenomics, based on the current importance of pharmacogenomics for avoidance of predictable side effects of drugs, and for correct choice of medications in certain cancers. It has been proposed that the entire population be genotyped for drug-metabolizing enzyme polymorphisms, as a measure that would prevent ...

As robots transition into human social environments, a new range of technical, ethical, and legal challenges are arising. This paper discusses the unique ethical challenges facing HRI practitioners designing robots for these spaces, and proposes a code of ethics for the profession. We argue that the affordance of all rights and protections ordinarily assumed in human-human interactions apply to...

Introduction Bedside teaching has long been a time-honoured component of medical education, and this was emphasised by Sir William Osler, father of modern medicine who once said, “To study the phenomena of disease without books is to sail an uncharted sea, while to study without patients is not to go to sea at all.” While utilitarian arguments have been used to justify such training, deontologi...

do not have the appropriate depth of knowledge – for example data handlers, although very skilful in their own areas of expertise, may be accredited to lecture on subjects such as the scientific method or on ethics, which require a sound academic grounding. in addition, the marketing divisions of pharma may have interests in supporting those who spend more heavily on their products so that ther...

David J. Casarett, MD, MA, Ann Knebel, PhD, and Karin Helmers, PhD Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion (D.J.C.), Philadelphia Veterans Administration Medical Center, and Division of Geriatrics (D.J.C.), University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and National Institute of Nursing Research (A.K., K.H.), Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Healt...