We usually associate open access with the publication of scientific articles that anyone with internet access can read, without price barrier. The concept “open access” is now being used also for research data. I have written about this trend towards open data earlier on the Ethics Blog: Openness as a norm. In many cases, research […]
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Health care receives patients from many different cultures and health care professionals are encouraged to be sensitive to patients’ cultural background. But what is a culture? What is it one should be sensitive to? Last week, CRB organized a workshop on Islamic perspectives on reproductive ethics. A case that was discussed was this: an unmarried […]
Continue readingMost of us learn about scientific developments through the media. Journalists and newspaper editors not only select what to bring to public attention but also the way the contents are conveyed. But how can we be sure that what they report is well researched? There are some new studies on how media portray synthetic biology […]
Continue readingThis is just a short follow-up to last week’s post: Thinking to the limits of language. The attentive reader may have noticed that I spoke there of two kinds of transgressions of limits of language: A tendency to make a sweeping gesture and say, “Space is everywhere; it surrounds me.” A tendency to interpret the […]
Continue readingI read last summer Immanuel Kant’s enormous work, Critique of Pure Reason. It struck me that one of the “methods” he uses could be described as: thinking to the limits of language. How is such thinking done? Like this, for example: I see a cloud in the sky and think that the cloud is up […]
Continue readingIs it possible to create a computer simulation of the human brain? Perhaps, perhaps not. But right now, a group of scientists is trying. But it is not only finding enough computer power that makes it difficult: there are some very real philosophical challenges too. Computer simulation of the brain is one of the most […]
Continue readingWhen a scientific article is retracted, it means that the article should never have been published and that data and conclusions from the study should not be used to underpin future research. Articles are often retracted when it is found that the authors acted fraudulently. They may have been careless, or cheated, or have plagiarized […]
Continue readingApproximately every fifth child who gets cancer in Sweden dies from their disease. In her dissertation work at CRB, Li Jalmsell studied the care of these children at the end of their life from both the child’s and the parents’ and siblings’ perspectives. One of her findings is that one doesn’t generally recognize that the […]
Continue readingMany posts on the Ethics Blog are about how new possibilities to collect and process large amounts of data change the horizon for medical research. But “Big Data” makes its entry also in the humanities and social sciences. How does the horizon change there? How is the understanding of humans and of society affected when […]
Continue readingIt is still unclear what kind of consent should be used when collecting biological samples for future research. Different forms of consent are practiced, which creates another uncertainty: which research is actually permitted with the collected samples? This haphazard situation leads to unintended constraints on research. But it also leads to research sometimes being carried […]
Continue readingTHE ETHICS BLOG
A research blog from the Centre for Research Ethics & Bioethics (CRB)
We write for researchers, healthcare staff, officials, politicians, patient organisations and anyone interested in ethics.
We comment on the research ethics and bioethics debate and discuss our own research. We address issues from current debates in the research community and in the press.
MEET THE EDITOR
Pär Segerdahl is editor of the Ethics Blog and Associate Professor of Philosophy at the Centre for Research Ethics & Bioethics.