There was a time when humans could impact genes only crudely, such as through radiation. Nowadays, thanks to gene-editing technologies, particularly CRISPR-CAS9, we can edit genes accurately.
Global warming will unleash frequent disasters like hurricanes and flooding. The largely human source of this mess shows that we can impact the climate. So far, that impact remains largely adverse. In the future, we may also develop crude tools for intentional positive impact on the climate. Read More
By Nir Eyal
Last week, over 200 experts called on the next Director General of the World Health Organization to prioritize factory farming in an open letter. Announced in articles in the New York Times and The Lancet, the letter argues that factory farming is a major barrier to better global health. The letter does not make this argument on animal rights grounds – although this argument is certainly strong – but instead focuses on factory farming’s contribution to antibiotic resistance, climate change, and the rise of chronic diseases. These three issues formed the core of the last Director General’s agenda, although limited attention was paid to factory farming, which the authors argue, “connects the dots among them.”
One of the authors is Scott Weathers, a Global Health and Population MSc student at the Harvard T.H. Chan SPH. The other is Sophie Hermans, a doctoral student from Cambridge U. Their letter received overwhelming response. On twitter, their announcement of the letter was the #1 trending tweet on all relevant hashtags for the recent World Health Assembly.
Congratulations, Scott and Sophie!
(I am among the letter signatories.)
An opportunity for graduate students and young scholars; application deadline March 11
Applications are invited for participating in a five day working conference and summer school on ethical issues posed by randomized trials in development economics and health policy, to be held June 20-24 at the beautiful Brocher Foundation villa in Hermance, Switzerland.
The conference offers trainees and younger scholars in development economics, global health, ethics, and related fields and areas of practice an opportunity to participate in five full days of debate and discussion with leading scholars. Those include Angus Deaton (Princeton; this year’s Nobel Laureate in Economics), Michael Marmot (UCL; current President, World Medical Association), Josh Angrist (MIT), Adam Wagstaff (World Bank), Tyler Cowen (George Mason University), Will MacAskill (University of Oxford), Nancy Cartwright (Durham), and many others.
Selection of the applicants will be made by the conference directors, Profs. Nir Eyal and Daniel Wikler (Harvard University), Dr. Anders Huitfeldt (Stanford University), Prof. Samia Hurst (University of Geneva).
The application deadline is March 11, 2016. Further information is available at the Brocher website. For remaining questions, please email Dr Huitfeldt, at anders@huitfeldt.net.
Larissa MacFarquhar has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1998. Her subjects have included John Ashbery and Edward Albee, among many others. Before joining the magazine, she was a senior editor at Lingua Franca and an advisory editor at The Paris Review. She is working on a book about extremely ethical lives.
When: Tuesday, April 21, 6:00pm Where: Harvard campus, Science Center E
Oxford and Harvard philosopher Derek Parfit is described by Encyclopaedia Britannica as “the most important moral philosopher of the 20th and early 21st centuries”. The New Yorker called his books “the most important works to be written in the field in more than a century.” He will be discussing personal identity, future generations, ethics and Effective Altruism in a fireside chat moderated by ethicist Nir Eyal, Associate Professor of Global Health and Population at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
This event is co-sponsored by Harvard University Effective Altruism (HUEA) and Harvard College Effective Altruism (HCEA), and is open to the public.
You are invited to the Harvard Undergraduate Bioethics Society 2015 Conference:
“Big Brother Is Watching: Paternalism and Bioethics”
Saturday, March 28th, 3.30-6.30pm, Harvard Hall 104
Coffee and desserts will be served
A panel discussion and talks by
David Buchanan, PhD
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Professor and Chair of the Department of Health Promotion & Policy, and Director of the Institute for Global Health
Sarah Conly, PhD
Bowdoin College
Associate Professor of Philosophy
Wendy Mariner, JD MPH LLM
Edward R. Utley Professor of Health Law at Boston University School of Public Health
Professor of Law at Boston University School of Law
Professor of Socio-Medical Sciences at Boston University School of Medicine
Steven Ralston, MD
Harvard Medical School
Associate Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology
Harvard College Effective Altruism presents:
The Past, Present, and Future of Violence
with Steven Pinker
Monday, November 17th, 7 PM
Science Center D
RSVP here.
Contact Harvard College Effective Altruism at harvardea@gmail.com.
Join us for a Skype call and Q&A with the founder/CEO of AMF! Monday, October 27 at 5pm, Sever 102. RSVP here.
From Harvard College Effective Altruism:
The Risks of Biotechnology, with George Church
Monday, Oct. 20, 5.30pm, Sever 102
Genetic manipulations can reintroduce extinct viruses or create viruses much deadlier than ever before. What are the dangers associated with biotechnology? Can a mistake in a lab lead to a global pandemic? Can this technology be used by terrorists? What would be the implications? And is humanity doing enough to avoid these threats?
George Church, Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and the world’s leading expert on synthetic biology and security will share his insights on these issues.
As indicated in the revised poster below, the event with Elie Hassenfeld, scheduled for tonight, October 13th at 8pm, has been moved to Lowell Junior Common Room. Apologies for the hassle!
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