A new group in the high-tech industry is laying the groundwork for the ethical use of artificial intelligence (AI). An article in the New York Times notes, "While science fiction has focused on the existential threat of A.I. to humans, researchers at Google’s parent company, Alphabet, and those from Amazon, Facebook, IBM and Microsoft have been meeting to discuss more tangible issues, such as the impact of A.I.
A dispute between Dr. Charbel Moussa, a scientist at Georgetown University, and the Michael J.
Direct-to-consumer drug ads have been legal in the US since 1985, but according to the World Health Organization, they really "took off in 1997 when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) eased up on a rule obliging companies to offer a detailed list of side-effects in their infomercials." A new, short video on Vox.com provides a history of these ads and the regulatory and legal decisions that allow them.
Microbes are everywhere in our food system, inhabiting biomes from soil to human, for better or worse. This year's Healthy Foods Summit will be held on Oct. 27-28. On the first, on-campus day, food scientists, microbiologists, and policymakers will present recent research on how these tiny organisms can be better understood and controlled to ensure healthy, safe food for everyone. The second day at the Minnesota Arboretum will be more applied and practical, featuring talks by community farmers, grocery coops, small food business owners and restaurateurs.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, health care providers at Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans faced a grim choice: in the midst of a crisis, who among their patients should be evacuated to better conditions? For many in the general public, news coverage (and later a book) about what happened at Memorial was the first time they truly became aware of medical rationing.
In an interview in Minnesota Lawyer, the new dean of the University of Minnesota Law School, Garry Jenkins, acknowledges he needs to spend time listening and getting to know students, faculty, and administrators. Having only been in Minnesota for two weeks, a learning curve is inevitable.
A group of chefs and scholars that has been working for decades to restore Native American food traditions is experiencing new momentum. One of them is Sean Sherman, who draws from the indigenous cuisine of Midwestern tribes like the Lakota and Ojibwe, precolonial food cultures that were supported by sophisticated trade routes and intra-tribal cultural exchanges. Mr.
The gene-editing technique known as CRISPR has generated immense excitement for enabling scientists to alter genomes "with unprecedented precision, efficiency and flexibility," in hopes of accelerating cures for genetic diseases.
The confluence of the Zika outbreak in Latin America and the Rio Olympic games has led some athletes to make a tough decision: forgoing competition to avoid the disease. This week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) confirmed homegrown transmissions of the virus in the US. These developments lead to questions about how significant Zika is as a public health hazard, and whether the Olympics will increase its spread into countries that don't currently have it.
Garry W. Jenkins has begun his tenure as Dean of the University of Minnesota School of Law, becoming the 11th person to hold that position. Dean Jenkins previously served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and John C.