Past Events

The debate over antibiotic use in animal agriculture combines elements of science, ethics, politics, and law. Between fifty and eighty percent of all antibiotics sold in the United States are fed to farm animals raised for human consumption––both to promote animal growth and reduce disease in food-producing livestock living in high-density conditions. This agricultural antibiotic…

Personal enhancement isn’t new (think hard work and caffeine), but our ability to directly improve performance using drugs and devices is rapidly improving. In turn, this raises concerns about fairness, justice, safety and regulation. Some enterprising individuals are making DIY stimulation devices to boost their performance in video gaming. Companies like Foc.us and Thync are…

Increasingly, knowledge from biology and neuroscience allows us to identify biological states that are predictive but not determinative of human behavior in certain situations. These are called biomarkers of behavior. Looking at MAOA, a gene variant linked to increased criminal behavior in those who were maltreated as children, Professor Julian Savulescu asked whether and how…

Presentation Download the papers About the Presenter Julian Savulescu is Uehiro Chair in Practical Ethics, Director of The Oxford Centre for Neuroethics, Director of the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, and Director of The Institute for Science and Ethics, The Oxford Martin School. His areas of research include: the ethics of genetics, especially predictive…

Professional football has come under significant scrutiny in recent years, particularly because of concerns over player health and safety. While concussions are most often discussed, players also face a variety of other health risks, from joint and muscle problems to cardiac malfunction to issues with chronic pain. But health risks are just one part of…

Synthetic biology, “which aims to apply standardized engineering techniques to biology and thereby create organisms or biological systems with novel or specialized functions to address countless needs,”* offers the potential for tremendous benefit, alongside a range of possible risks. How should these benefits and risks be balanced, from a scientific, ethical, and policy perspective? This…

This discussion explored critical legal, ethical, scientific, and social issues raised by research involving non-human primates and the research centers that house them. Topics included what the current regulatory structure requires and permits, what gaps exist, what enforcement problems have arisen, and how they are being addressed at Harvard and elsewhere. Panelists also examined how…

Modern neuroimaging technology such as functional MRI can now sometimes detect conscious awareness in patients who otherwise appear unconscious. Such a finding may or may not have major implications for how we treat patients with disordered consciousness (e.g. coma, the vegetative state, the minimally conscious state). How reliable are these technologies? What are the implications…

At this event, faculty, colleagues, and students with shared interests in health law policy, biotechnology, and bioethics learned about what the Petrie-Flom Center does and how people can get involved. Faculty Director I. Glenn Cohen and Executive Director Holly Fernandez Lynch reviewed our sponsored research portfolio, introduced our staff and fellows, and described various opportunities…

The neuroscience of adolescent brain development has had increasing impact on American jurisprudence. The U.S. Supreme Court relied on this neuroscience in Roper v. Simmons (2005) in barring execution for capital crimes committed as a juvenile and in Miller v. Alabama (2012) in holding that mandatory life without possibility of parole for juveniles is also…