Neuroethics

Neuroethics in the News

In light of our recent discussions in class, here are some recent articles and shows that might interest you:

• Charlie Rose hosted a series of roundtable discussions last year called the Brain Series.  He recently kicked off a new series for this year.  See here for the videos.
• Paul Wolpe--a leading neuroethicist who teaches at Emory--recently wrote an editorial for CNN about mind-reading and government regulation.
• Here are two recent pieces/posts about using imaging to explore the mental states of patients who are in a vegetative state (see here and here).

As always, if you have any interesting articles to share, please post them in the comment thread!

Here is an interesting piece on neuroenhancement and the enhanced performance of surgeons. An excerpt from the introduction:

Surgeons given so-called "smart drugs" perform better, safer operations, a study by researchers at the Imperial College London and University of Cambridge has claimed.

Researchers gave sleep-deprived surgeons the brain stimulant modafinil, known to boost memory and brain power, and then tested how good they were at thinking clearly, solving problems and carrying out simulated operations.

The results were so convincing that scientists believe the medical profession could even be weaned off its current drug of choice -- caffeine.

Here's the abstract of the underlying study published in Annals of Surgery:

Scanning the Movies in our Minds

Here is a piece about some amazing research being done by U.C. Berkeley's Jack Gallant and his team which uses fMRI and machine learning algorithems  to decode and reconstruct dynamic visual experiences in humans.  It's spooky stuff!

Neuroethics Around the Web

Here are some articles I stumbled upon recently that highlight issues we've discussed in class.  If you find any more, please share the links in the comment thread.

1. The Guardian has a piece on cyborg monkeys!
2. The NYT has a piece on neuroscience of addiction.
3. New Scientist has a piece on agrression and the brain.
4. Finally, USA Today ran two recent pieces on memory dampening:  here and here.

Let me know what you think!