Neuroscience - Bill of Health

blue brain hovers over bright blue circle.

Is OI the New AI? Questions Surrounding “Brainoware”

March 13, 2024February 23, 2024 Adithi Iyer Leave a comment

By Adithi Iyer

The idea of artificial intelligence is just seeping into our collective consciousness, but as we watch new developments in the space, the true “new kid on the block” may be a new type of infused human-technology intelligence — one derived from a blob of cells no larger than a grain of rice. These new units of computational prowess are brain organoids, grown in-lab and capable of producing very basic, but real-time, neurological activity. Brain organoids are a specific, and arguably the most interesting, subset of organoid models that are just beginning to enter legal debates.

Mushrooms, capsules, and dropper bottle.

Psychedelics Are Cheap. Psychedelic Treatment Is Not.

October 6, 2023April 8, 2024 Vincent Joralemon Leave a comment

By Vincent Joralemon

Psychedelics hold immense potential to address an array of conditions that are otherwise challenging to treat, but accessing these therapies can be costly, which means that potential benefits will be stratified along the lines of socioeconomic status.

This is an acute concern, because many with conditions that psychedelics may help to treat — such as post-traumatic stress disorder, postpartum depression, treatment-resistant depression, and alcohol use disorder — lack the resources to pay for effective health treatments.

Effects and action of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) on human brain. Anatomical model of brain is near leaf of hemp and notepad inscribed with title tetrahydrocannabinol and drawn it chemical formula.

Highlights from Petrie-Flom Center Discussion on Neuroscience and Cannabis

June 16, 2023June 16, 2023 Minsoo Kwon Leave a comment

By Minsoo Kwon

The legalization of cannabis has raised ethical, regulatory, and scientific questions. Panelists discussed these topics during a recent webinar hosted by the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics. This article highlights key points made during the conversation.

cells with the doors closed at a historic Idaho prison.

Trying and Sentencing Youth As Adults: Key Takeaways from Recent Petrie-Flom Center Event

April 19, 2023April 19, 2023 Minsoo Kwon Leave a comment

By Minsoo Kwon

All 50 states have transfer laws that either allow or require children to be prosecuted in adult criminal court, rather than juvenile court. There is no constitutional right to be tried in juvenile court. What has modern neuroscience shown about the differences between the developing and the adult brain, and how justifiable is trying, prosecuting, and sentencing children in the adult criminal justice system?

Panelists discussed these topics during a recent webinar hosted by the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics. This article highlights key points made during the conversation.

Insurance concept. Wooden blocks with insurance icons. family, life, car, travel, health and house insurance icons on blue background.

Autonomy, Insurance, and Luck

February 3, 2023February 3, 2023 Leslie C. Griffin Leave a comment

By Leslie C. Griffin

You will be surprised I’ve been through all the experiences described in this post, and that I’m still alive to tell you about them. Even I can’t believe it some days. It’s quite a list, so sometimes I mention it to my friends, so they will be as amazed as I am.

I am a lifelong academic, so I also think about what lessons they’ve taught me.

One is the philosophical principle of autonomy, which I regularly teach in my bioethics class. In my opinion, it means you always have to be prepared for the very worst. You have to live knowing it could happen to you. The worst doesn’t always occur. But when it does, you need to find a positive way to look at it and to make good decisions about it.

Two is the practical decision to have your legal documents in place. A durable power of attorney. Health insurance and property insurance. These practical items also help a lot in getting you through terrible situations. Lack of insurance makes everything dreadful.

Autonomy and insurance help you through a lot of crises. My crises include a blizzard, a tornado, an earthquake, a car accident, a hurricane, and two murderers.

You also need good luck.

Neurorehabilitation and Recovery: Going Through Hell

December 22, 2022December 15, 2022 Leslie C. Griffin Leave a comment

This article is adapted slightly from remarks the author delivered at the 2022 International Neuroethics Society annual meeting on a panel about neurorehabilitation moderated by Dr. Joseph Fins.

By Leslie C. Griffin

I’m a tenured law professor at UNLV. This semester I’m teaching Bioethics and Constitutional Law.

I am healthy, happy, working, and working out.

But I went through hell to be here.

Why? Because twice, doctors told members of my family that due to brain injury, I was about to die. Or if I lived, I would probably live in rehab the rest of my life because I would not be able to work again.

Branding Dreams

October 4, 2022October 4, 2022 Dustin Marlan Leave a comment

By Dustin Marlan

Advertisers are trying to market to us while we dream. This is not the science fiction of the film Inception or the series Black Mirror, but instead a troubling — and potentially illegal — new reality. To begin, consider three recent examples of dream advertising:

Medical Hospital: Neurologist and Neurosurgeon Talk, Use Computer, Analyse Patient MRI Scan, Diagnose Brain. Brain Surgery Health Clinic Lab: Two Professional Physicians Look at CT Scan. Close-up.

Creating Brain-Forward Policies Amid a ‘Mass Deterioration Event’

September 12, 2022September 9, 2022 The Petrie-Flom Center Staff Leave a comment

By Emily R.D. Murphy

COVID-19 will be with us — in our society and in our brains — for the foreseeable future. Especially as death and severe illness rates have dropped since the introduction of vaccines and therapeutics, widespread and potentially lasting brain effects of COVID have become a significant source of discussion, fear, and even pernicious rumors about the privileged deliberately seeking competitive economic advantages by avoiding COVID (by continuing to work from home and use other peoples’ labor to avoid exposures) and its consequent brain damage.

This symposium contribution focuses specifically on COVID’s lasting effects in our brains, about which much is still unknown. It is critical to focus on this — notwithstanding the uncertainty about what happens, to how many, and for how long — for two reasons. First, brain problems (and mental health) are largely invisible and thus overlooked and deprioritized. And second, our current disability laws and policies that might be thought to deal with the problem are not up to the looming task. Instead, we should affirmatively consider what brain-forward policies and governance could look like, building on lessons from past pandemics and towards a future of more universal support and structural accommodation of diminishment as well as disability.

Placebo Effect vector illustration blue.

Is Microdosing Just Placebo?

April 7, 2022April 7, 2022 The Petrie-Flom Center Staff Leave a comment

By Vince Polito

People who microdose psychedelics claim that it provides a very wide range of benefits, from improvements in mood, to reduced substance use, to cognitive enhancement.

But is microdosing really delivering all of those benefits? Or is it just a placebo effect?

Introducing Affiliated Researchers for the Project on Psychedelics Law and Regulation