Rise of the Planet of the Apes, now available on DVD, was one of the blockbuster releases in the summer of 2011. A prequel to the classic series of films (5 cinema releases between 1968 and 1973, TV spin-off and Tim Burton’s 2001 remake of the main Planet of the Apes), the new movie tries to offer a plausible mechanisms for the evolution of apes into a dominant global force.
(Warning: contains spoilers!) The new film is a veritable gold-mine for discussion of ethical topics, it would make as excellent vehicle for an engaging “film night”. In terms of bioethical issues, the film touches on all of the following:
Research ethics – there are lots of examples where aspects of the conduct of research are raised (some of which are picked out specifically in the list below). The motivations for doing research are touched upon at several points in the film – these include financial gain, fame and a desire to do good, both for mankind in general and specifically for the benefit of a relative in need. GenSys boss Steven Jacobs (David Oyelowo) is the embodiment of profit as a driver for research whereas Will Rodman (James Franco) represents more noble aspirations. A discussion of the ethics of research funding could follow naturally. Read the rest of this entry »
The Nuffield Council on Bioethics has recently added a guide for teaching about the ethical issues associated with the use of biofuels. In keeping with other recent resources produced by the education team, the new teaching materials draw their inspiration and focus from one of the authoritative reports written by the main Council Members and seconded experts. In this instance a two-lesson outline for students at Key Stage 3 (age 11-14) and above has been developed from the 2011 report Biofuels: ethical issues.
The structures activities on biofuels are the fifth resources developed specifically for teachers and lecturers
The first lesson uses a series of case studies to introduce a variety of potential biofuels and the advantages and disadvantages that each presents.
The second lesson involves the students in role play, to consider the question into the question “Should the UK increase the amount of biofuels it imports and if so what should be the rules for biofuels production?”
The SCHB has developed a database of films with bioethical themes
At BioethicsBytes we are sometimes asked if we know a good movie or documentary on a particular ethical topic. On many occasions we do, but our strategy here has generally been only to list items when we are specifically recommending a clip or a certain use of a film, rather than producing an overall list.
I am delighted therefore that the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics has just released a resource where they have a longer list of potential films and TV programmes organised by theme. The list can be accessed via this link. Remember to check back here afterwards to see if we’ve discussed the film on more detail.
We have recently published the latest of our videos on bioethics. The subject this time is the use of model organisms in biomedical research (it last six and a half minutes). I am particularly please about this one as it is the first of two main films that have been at the core of a project supported by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (the other film, due for completion shortly, is on Comparative Genomics).
For reasons I needn’t go into these videos have had longer gestation than a baby elephant but we are very pleased with the outcome and hope you will agree that they have been worth the wait. In the fullness of time there will also be some structured suggestions for how to use these videos in a teaching context.
Production of the two main videos has resulted in the release of seven further films as side-product of the project. These have been previously mentioned on this site, see here for a list.
The new booklet includes coverage of the following topics:
Teaching ethics
Assessing ethics
Ethical theory: How are ethical decisions made?
The ethics of being a scientist
Environmental ethics
Issues at the beginning of life
Issues at the end of life
Genetics and genomes
Animal experimentation
Transhumanism
Ethics and Risk
Each chapter includes a short introduction written by an expert on the topic and then a recommendations of other resources (websites, books, articles, slides, videos, etc) which have proven to be useful in teaching on the subject.
In addition to the online version of the booklet, a number of hard copies have been produced – if you would like one please contact the UK Centre for Bioscience before December 2011 when, unfortunately, their activities will be substantially scaled back.
For the past few years, Second year Medical Biochemistry students at the University of Leicester (and Medics taking the relevant module as a special studies course) have been asked to produce short videos on a bioethical topic. It seemed a shame not to make their excellent videos more widely available, so we’ve started to post some to YouTube. Topics covered this time around included: organ trading, egg donation, brain imaging and public health initiatives.
The Headline Bioethics study guides are being hosted on the Virtual Genetics Education Centre at the University of Leicester
Headline bioethics is a new series of resources for teaching about bioethics. There will be two styles of Headline bioethics resources – study guides and commentaries. For both sets of material, each resource is focussed around a news story which raises interesting ethical question in the fields of biology and biomedicine. The selected stories must all be available as a video clip on the BBC news website.
Study guides include background information and structured worksheets which teachers can either use “of the shelf” or customise for their own purposes. Commentaries are authored by undergraduate students and offer reflections on some of the ethical issues raised by the news story.
The ethics of GM crops is one of the topics considered in Headline Bioethics
The first two study guides, on Genetically Modified crops and Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis, are now available. These Headline bioethics resources was authored by Sarah Curtis, a TULIP intern at the University of Leicester. If you have thoughts about these materials, or suggestions for future topics that you’d like to see covered in this way, then please let us know.
Doctor Who and Philosophy is the 55th title in the Popular Culture and Philosophy series
The new series of Doctor Who is underway, the sixth in the 21st Century reincarnation of the classic science fiction drama. The current two-parter The Rebel Flesh and The Almost People is raising some interesting ethical questions which I hope to discuss here in the near future. If you are interested in ethical and philosophical questions raised by the Timelord’s adventures you may be interested in Doctor Who and Philosophy: Bigger on the inside.
A recent addition to the Popular Culture and Philosophy series, this multi-author work has been edited by Courtland Lewis and Paula Smithka. Topics covered include questions of personal identity, existence, science and ethics. My former colleague Bonnie Green and I have a chapter Ain’t we all the same? Underneath, ain’t we all kin? on the notion of species. This actually started life as a post here on Bioethicsbytes (see The Meaning of Humanity). I am delighted that the publishers have allowed us to include a pre-publication edition of our chapter in the Leicester Research Archive. It can therefore be accessed via this link. If you like the look of it, why not buy the book!
I gave a presentation at a recent meeting of the UK Centre for Bioscience day conference on Some (in)famous cases of research conduct. I’ve uploaded both the slides (below, and on Slideshare) as well as a table summarising who, what, when and my classification of what category or categories of research misconduct they represent. Some of the discussion at the session was of the “why haven’t you included Dr So-and-so?” variety. One of two of these were new to me, but mostly I had made a conscious decision to exclude the person named, either because they have since been exonerated or because the jury is still out. I’d welcome suggestions for other examples to include in a revised version.
This is the 4th resource produced by Nuffield's education team to accompany their more chunky reports on ethical developments in biology and medicine
The latest in a series of educational resources to accompany major reports by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics are now available. Picking up from the 2010 Nuffield report on the ethics of Personalised Healthcare, the resources have been developed by the Reaching Out to Young People team. The materials are based around three case studies looking at the impact of different developments moving medicine away from the traditional patient-doctor consultation. These are: the availability of personal genetic profiles; the ability to buy medicines online; and the rise of the internet as a source of health information.
The story of Christina and her decision about whether or not to buy a test for an inherited disease is one of the new resources
(Note: anyone who has ended at this post looking for “personalised healthcare” in the pharmacogenetic sense might like to know that this was the subject of a different Nuffield report in 2003 and hence it was not included in the 2010 document).
Posted by Chris Willmott 
