Research Library

The birth of the world’s first genetically modified babies raises a host of ethical issues.

Gene editing in humans raises ethical and safety issues that require further discussion to identify a responsible way forward.

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This report is part of a series examining the…

The authors show that border barriers can have unintended but important biological consequences for biodiversity by, for instance, inducing changes to the environment and reducing genetic diversity.

By Michael W. Deem, Melia E. Bonomo and Kirstin R.W. Matthews Due to the rapidly mutating influenza virus, a new vaccine is usually developed for each flu season. In this policy brief, the authors discuss the current method used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to develop the flu vaccine and propose the use of mathematical modeling to improve the vaccine's effectiveness.

This issue brief examines how produced water recycling in Texas oilfields threatens landowners’ ability to earn revenue from selling frac water and disposal services, a more lucrative revenue stream compared to raising cattle.

To what lengths should we go to preserve human life? Doctors from Italy and China plan to provide a Russian volunteer with a new body. But is this ethical? Should they proceed? Nonresident scholar Ana S. Iltis explores these issues in a post on the Baker Institute Blog.

The Advancing Care for Exceptional Kids Act proposes a national database that would serve as a centralized source of information on children with medically complex conditions. The aim is to improve treatment and care coordination. The authors of this brief argue, however, that the database could put children and their families at risk of discrimination by making their health information public, and therefore accessible to employers and health insurers.

The author analyzes the major claims and implications of the Surgeon General's report "Facing Addiction in America," and proposes additional drug policy considerations for addressing substance use disorders.

The "molecular autopsy," or the collection of blood and tissue for DNA analysis, is an increasingly pervasive tool in investigating sudden death in the young. The authors offer recommendations that address ethical and policy issues that arise when molecular autopsies are conducted as part of a death investigation by medical examiner or coroner offices.