Director, University of Pensylvania's Center for Bioethics
Professor of Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania and Director of its Center for Bioethics; author or editor of twenty-nine books and over 500 papers, including Smart Mice, Not So Smart People: An Interesting and Amusing Guide to Bioethics and the Penn Guide to Bioethics
Right to Die Debate 29-year-old Brittany Maynard, who suffers from terminal cancer, announced on YouTube earlier this month that she moved from California to Oregon to live in a right-to-die state. Her story has flooded the media and reignited the debate around euthanasia.
Human Genetics: Medicine, Money and Law Billions of dollars have been raised for medical research because human genes can be patented so, when breakthroughs occur, investors make money. But early this week New York Federal Judge Robert W. Sweet rocked the bio-tech industry when he ruled that human genes cannot be patented because they are products of nature, not creative invention. The decision is both applauded for liberating the promising new field of personalized genomic medicine and criticized for limiting financial incentives. We hear a variety of answers to some very challenging questions.
Securing Public Spaces, Super Wealthy Asians Vehicles are increasingly being used as weapons, as seen in the London Bridge attack over the weekend and in New York’s Times Square last month. The Compton-based company Calpipe is designing security bollards to help make public spaces safer. And novelist Kevin Kwan satirizes the “crazy rich” Asian jet set and their luxurious tastes in his latest book, “Rich People Problems.”
Why did Jared Kushner want a back channel with Russians? News broke Friday that President Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor, Jared Kushner, tried setting up a back channel between the Trump transition team and the Russian government. What are the consequences for Kushner, President Trump, and the investigation into Russian meddling?
George Saunders: Lincoln in the Bardo (Part I) Lincoln in the Bardo dramatizes a grieving President Lincoln as he visits the grave of his beloved son Willie, who died at age eleven. In the novel, the buried dead believe they're not dead -- "they're sick and refer to their coffins as "sick boxes."
How do Trump supporters feel about the Paris Accord? Globally and around the U.S., there are strong opinions whether or not the Paris Climate Accord is a good idea. The American exit is either a horrifying abdication of American leadership or a forceful and long overdue statement about U.S. sovereignty.