In 3 papers out this week, scientists are reporting what they call the most accurate efforts yet to mimic the first moments of pregnancy in the lab. They’ve taken human embryos from IVF centers and let these merge with “organoids” made of endometrial cells. www.technologyreview.com/2025/12/23/1...

Bioethics in the Academic Lit - This Week - Race in Clinical Algorithms, Fair & Trustworthy AI, Mitigating Suicide Risk for Minors w/ AI Chatbots, Reading the Room, Equity in Public Health Ethics, Mass Immunization, Public Consent, + More mailchi.mp/jhu/bioethic...

Experiences of participants in ETEC controlled human infection model studies - Bettina Wunderlich, Kathryn Chang, Jessica Schue, Lawrence Moulton, Nancy Kass, Ruth Karron, Kawsar Talaat | PLOS One journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

BREAKING: WATCH the full 60 Minutes CECOT segment here. This was sent to me anonymously. It appears to be the segment CBS' Bari Weiss killed. www.muellershewrote.com/p/watch-the-...

Mitigating Suicide Risk for Minors Involving AI Chatbots—A First in the Nation Law - I Glenn Cohen, Julian De Freitas | Pediatrics | JAMA jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Public Opinion on Use of Race in Clinical Algorithms - James Diao, Rajiv Movva, Lingwei Cheng, Kowe Kadoma, Aashna Shah, Neil Powe, Kadija Ferryman, Arjun Manrai, Emma Pierson | JAMA Internal Medicine jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

The New York Times investigated 346 people who donated at least $250,000 to Trump and found that more than half of them (197) have received pardons, jobs, government contracts, special treatment, or favors.

I'm all for blue sky science. And I also lack trust in billionaires. Bell Labs 2.0? Silicon Valley bets on science with no strings attached. Billionaire-backed Episteme aims to free research from bureaucracy. History shows that’s a tall task -Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...

The US healthcare system hurts poor Americans. It’s about to get worse. As Congress cuts healthcare access to pay for tax cuts and poor Americans die earlier, billionaires invest in anti-ageing. By Eduardo Porter | The Guardian www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Fascists gonna fash: White House threatens Smithsonian funds in sweeping content review - “American people will have no patience” for any museum that is “uncomfortable conveying a positive view of American history,” read a letter from Trump aides. | WaPo www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...

In our current climate, I fear that people will take this as a xenophobic story. I don’t think it is (despite NYT framing). It shines a light on how profits & ethics misalign in healthcare systems. ie, what’s important is that RICH people, not foreign people, are invited to pay to cut the line.

Global #FoodEthics & Policy Program Weekly Roundup | Summer of Starvation, Man-Made Hunger Crisis, Antibiotics-in-Meat Problem, Verification, Resilience, Bird Flu Risk, 'Not Working', Is Food Medicine? + More mailchi.mp/jhu/we3frp22...

ICYMI - Watch Now! "When Faith and Facts Collide: Navigating Hope and Denial at the End of Life" - Freeman Family Ethics for Lunch: Case Presentation & Discussion www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HIc...

So, Trump is 'paying' a bonus to members of the military using funds meant for their housing... ie, essentially paying them with their own money. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

"For ethical reasons, researchers typically don’t conduct randomized, controlled trials to study the effects of medical interventions that are so clearly safe and beneficial, often relying instead on long-term monitoring studies." Note: Hep B vaccine at birth -> a 99% reduction in infections.

Lawmakers vow to improve care for pregnant women in jails: with comments from our Carolyn Sufrin, MD. | NBC News www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

AI Ethics & Governance Weekly Roundup | 2000 Year-Old Debate, Preempting State AI Laws, Can Machines Suffer? AI Doomers Undeterred, One Chatbot Per Child, AI-Generated Mugshots, Is Faster Better? + More mailchi.mp/5e0170478ebe...

Ethics and Life Sciences Weekly Roundup | Mini Brains - Big Questions, Teen Mind Mysteries, Bionic Hands, AI Peer Review, Will AI Kill Science? Supervision, Gene Therapy Death, Organ Preservation, Gene-Drive-Capable Mosquitoes, + More mailchi.mp/jhu/sciencee...

Call 911 or Risk Losing the Baby? Raids Force Some Immigrants To Avoid Care | KFF Health News kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

RFK Jr. announces new rules targeting care for transgender youth. If approved, the proposed federal regulations would dramatically impact an already challenging landscape. | The 19th 19thnews.org/2025/12/trum...

Why it’s so hard to tell if a piece of text was written by AI – even for AI theconversation.com/why-its-so-h...

The Department of Health and Human Services has terminated seven grants totaling millions of dollars to the American Academy of Pediatrics, including for initiatives on reducing sudden infant deaths, improving adolescent health, preventing fetal alcohol syndrome and identifying autism early.

What Republicans are doing while not addressing expiring ACA subsidies: Republicans advance sweeping anti-trans bills in Congress. One bill would jail doctors who prescribe gender-affirming care to trans youth. Another would block Medicaid dollars from funding that care. 19thnews.org/2025/12/cong...

Berman Institute #Bioethics Bulletin - This Week - Calls for Applications/Abstracts, The Language of Serious Illness, Look to the States, Reviewer Hack, AI Peer Review Use, No One Wants to Make It, Antidepressants in Pregnancy, + More mailchi.mp/jhu/bioethic...

Pam Bondi Drops Surgeon’s COVID-19 Fraud Charges, Emboldens Others With Similar Cases — ProPublica www.propublica.org/article/pam-...

The US already faces a health care workforce shortage – immigration policy could make it worse theconversation.com/the-us-alrea...

ICE Threw Thousands of Kids in Detention, Many For Longer Than Court-Prescribed Limit. Former immigration staffers argue ICE is choosing to detain families for prolonged periods to speed deportations and compel them to leave. | The Marshall Project www.themarshallproject.org/2025/12/17/c...

"Virginia will now be properly represented by an actual patriot, who embodied the principle of liberty and justice for all and not a traitor, who took up arms against the United States to preserve the brutal institution of chattel slavery." -- @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social apnews.com/video/us-cap...

ICYMI, Watch Now! Justin Clapp, PhD, "Values and Preferences: Examining the Language of Serious Illness and End of Life" | Berman Institute #Bioethics Seminar Series www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyQc...

Save the Date, March 9, 2026, 3pm ET: A Symposium to Honor the Life, Scholarship, and Impact of Carlton Haywood, Jr., PhD - w Keynote Speaker: Vence L. Bonham, Jr., PhD. Open to all, Link for more info: mailchi.mp/jhu/registra...

In Florida’s Panhandle, a Hearing on School Vaccine Mandates Gets Heated. The hearing was the first concrete step toward repealing some of the state’s vaccine requirements. Rolling back others would require legislative action. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/u...

#Bioethics in the Academic Lit - This Week - Evidence-Based Treatment, Genetic Counselors' Perspectives and Experiences, Bioethics for a Burning Planet, Diversity, Polarization, Reason, Coping with Rejection, AI & Doctor-Patient Relationship, + More mailchi.mp/jhu/bioethic...

Johns Hopkins Data Science & AI Institute welcomes postdoctoral fellowship applications, seeking disciplinarily diverse scholars to advance foundational methods. Areas include science, health, medicine, humanities, engineering, policy, governance, democracy, ethics. Info: apply.interfolio.com/179059

TODAY, Noon EST: Ethics for Lunch: Case Presentation & Discussion, "When Faith and Facts Collide: Navigating Hope and Denial at the End of Life" Join us in person. Open to all, lunch provided. @hopkinsnursing.bsky.social Room N431. Link for more info: mailchi.mp/jhu/z6pu34uy...

More than half of researchers now use AI for peer review — often against guidance. Policies should reflect the ‘new reality’ of researchers’ increasing reliance on tools that can summarize manuscripts and draft reports. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Getting a COVID Vaccine while Pregnant Slashes Risk of Premature Birth. Pregnant people who receive a COVID vaccine are 60% less likely to experience severe disease and around 30% less likely to give birth prematurely, according to new research www.scientificamerican.com/article/gett...

Obamacare expiration will have ‘death spiral’ effect on US healthcare – experts. End of subsidies after failed legislation will have serious and damaging impact on entire sector, policy experts say | The Guardian www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Fewer characters on TV had abortions in 2025 — and more stories reinforced shame | NPR www.npr.org/2025/12/13/n...

Genetic counselors' perspectives and experiences with workplace genetic testing: Results of a national survey - Insight @ Work Consortium includes Debra Mathews | Genetics in Medicine Open www.gimopen.org/article/S294...

Call for Abstracts! The 4th fourth Charm City Colloquium on Law and Bioethics (CCCLB) - “Rebuilding Public Trust in Health and Medicine: From Erasure and Uncertainty to Recovery and Resilience”. Abstracts due Jan 5, 2026. Meeting: April 23-24, 2026 at JHU. Details: bioethics.jhu.edu/wp-content/u...

Global #FoodEthics & Policy Program Weekly Roundup | Soaring Beef Prices, Soda Bans for Food Stamps, End of an Industry, Transformation, Delayed DIetary Guidelines, Legal Threat, Food Handlers' Insights, + More mailchi.mp/jhu/we3frp22...

According to a new court filing, the Trump administration has a six-page list of banned words that Head Start locations are forbidden from using when describing their programs. Among the censored words: "disability," "race," "women," "trauma," "Gulf of Mexico." Short thread with the full list. 🧵

The dystopian Pottersville in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ is starting to feel less like fiction... What horrifies George the most about Pottersville is how desensitized the people living in it seem to be to its harshness and cruelty... By Nora Gilbert theconversation.com/the-dystopia...

GLASHEEN: Antifa is our primary concern right now. That's the most immediate violent threat we're facing BENNIE THOMPSON: Where is antifa headquartered? GLASHEEN: ... ... ... we are building out the infrastructure right now THOMPSON: What does that mean?

MAGAZINER: How many veterans have you deported? NOEM: We haven't deported veterans MAGAZINER: We are now joined on Zoom by a combat veteran you deported to Korea

Ahead of the mission, Pete Hegseth had given an order to kill the passengers, sink the boat and destroy the drugs, 3 people familiar with the operation said. It appeared to Adm. Bradley that none of those objectives had been achieved, the admiral would later recount for lawmakers. wapo.st/4a6lypq

House Democrat Files Articles of Impeachment Against RFK Jr. — Kennedy "has imperiled the health and safety of the American people," congresswoman says www.medpagetoday.com/washington-w...

AI Ethics & Governance Weekly Roundup | AI Political Persuasion, Chatbot-Delusion Crisis, US State AI Regulations, Robo-Ethicist, A Distinctive-and Grating-Voice, Sharing Risks, Ambient AI Scribes + More mailchi.mp/71dbb3afc61f...

A new preprint server welcomes papers written and reviewed by AI. With human peer review struggling to keep pace with machine-generated science, aiXiv enlists bots to help. | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...