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The history and development of reproductive genetics span centuries of scientific exploration and technological innovation. Today, the importance of offspring health and further understanding of the relevant molecular mechanisms and interdisciplinary knowledge have led to significant advancements, which are gradually appearing in clinical settings. However, whether this rapid progress in reproductive genetics could lead to technical, ethical, and economic problems warrants evaluation. This brief review introduces a range of approaches to reproductive genetics, from the earliest to the most recent, and discusses future concerns regarding the large-scale use of emerging reproductive genetic tools.

New Polio Vaccine Delayed.

How Much One Needs to Know about One's Food?

Singapore: A Thriving Biomedical Hub.

Balancing Science and Ethics.

Latest Developments in Gene Therapy.

The Status and Promise of Cancer Gene Therapy.

Beauty and Beast: The Promises and Concerns of Gene Therapy Vectors.

How Safe is Gene Therapy?

Gene Therapy of Cancer.

This article reports on the recent developments to the regulation of human cloning and genetic testing and research in Singapore.

The Human Biomedical Research Act: Overview and International Comparisons.

Tissue Banking in Singapore – An Evolving Enterprise.

After Ebola, Social Justice as a Base for a Biobanking Governance Framework.

Community Engagement for Biobanking Research: Perspectives from Africa.

To deliver on the 2030 Agenda and the seventeen development goals, while facing complex health challenges, we need research and education that extend across multiple scientific fields. This will enable researchers from a variety of disciplines to meet, identify research issues, apply for funding, and conduct interdisciplinary research. In addition, student involvement is key in achieving the 2030 Agenda’s global goals – and beyond. Challenges include, climate change and child health, non-peaceful societies, gender inequalities and health.

The Swedish Institute for Global Health Transformation (SIGHT) was founded in 2017 at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences with the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. SIGHT’s mission is to promote an interdisciplinary approach in research and education in the field of global health. In order to deliver on the commitment to global health among researchers and students in various scientific fields and at universities and colleges across Sweden, SIGHT has established SIGHT Fellows, a mentoring programme for academic researchers. In collaboration with universities, established research institutions, and other stakeholders, SIGHT Student Network holds dynamic meetings for students from a variety of disciplines and universities to contribute to delivering the UN’s sustainability goals.

Philosophy and AI have had a difficult relationship from the beginning. The “classic” period from 1950 to 2000 saw four major conflicts, first about the logical coherence of AI as an endeavor, and then about architecture, semantics, and the Frame Problem. Since 2000, these early debates have been largely replaced by arguments about consciousness and ethics, arguments that now involve neuroscientists, lawyers, and economists as well as AI scientists and philosophers. We trace these developments, and speculate about the future.

GPT-4 (Generative Pre-Trained Transformer 4) is often heralded as a leading commercial AI offering, sparking debates over its potential as a steppingstone toward Artificial General Intelligence. But does it possess consciousness? This paper investigates this key question using the nine qualitative measurements of the Building Blocks theory. GPT-4’s design, architecture, and implementation are compared to each of the building blocks of consciousness to determine whether it has achieved the requisite milestones to be classified as conscious or, if not, how close to consciousness GPT-4 is. Our assessment is that, while GPT-4 in its native configuration is not currently conscious, current technological research and development is sufficient to modify GPT-4 to have all the building blocks of consciousness. Consequently, we argue that the emergence of a conscious AI model is plausible in the near term. The paper concludes with a comprehensive discussion of the ethical implications and societal ramifications of engineering conscious AI entities.

“The Prospect of a Humanitarian Artificial Intelligence: Agency and Value Alignment” reunites fields of inquiry that are typically kept separate-philosophy of mind, theory of knowledge, psychology, the social and political sciences, law and ethics. What we have learned to call “artificial intelligence” (AI), and the ways we may use it — intelligently — to promote life, knowledge, freedom, care, altruism, is a technology that must be democratized if it is to be used properly. But we have to be cautious to call it “intelligent” before seeing more carefully how it affects us, humans as a whole.

In this chapter, the humane use of animals in surgical research is described, with reference to Russell and Burch's The Principles of Humane Experimental Technique (1992) — commonly known as the 3R's of replacement, reduction, and refinement — as well as the ethical need for researchers to justify the experiment and take responsibility for the well-being of animals in their care. The basic role of animal ethics committees is also discussed. The chapter then describes in practical terms the preparation of the experimental animal for surgery; the techniques for anesthesia, including knock-down, intubation, and maintenance; and the drugs used for premedication before anesthesia, maintenance of anesthesia, and, most importantly, pre-emptive and postoperative pain relief. The monitoring of the experimental animal under anesthesia and during recovery is also discussed.