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There are huge changes taking place in the world of biosciences, and whether it’s new discoveries in stem cell research, new reproductive technologies, or genetics being used to make predictions about health and behavior, there are legal ramifications for everything. Journal of Law and the Biosciences is a new journal published by Oxford University Press in association Duke University, Harvard University Law School, and Stanford University, focused on the legal implications of the scientific revolutions in the biosciences. We sat down with one of the Editors in Chief, I. Glenn Cohen, to discuss the rapidly changing field, emerging legal issues, and the new peer-reviewed and open access journal.

Why have you decided to launch Journal of Law and the Biosciences?

This is an incredibly exciting time to be working in these areas and in particular the legal aspects related to these areas. We are seeing major developments in genomics, in neuroscience, in patent law, and in health care. We want to be in the forefront of this, and we think that a peer-review journal led by the leading research institutions working in this area in the United States is the way to go.

How has this subject changed in the last 10 years?

The genomics revolution, the reality of cheap whole genome sequencing, further developments in the ability to examine neuroscience, the realization that biosciences are a crucial aspect of criminal investigations, and the importance of research ethics have all become more prominent, as have roles that law and the biosciences play in the criminal justice system, health care delivery, and our understanding of ourselves.

What are the major intersections of law and the biosciences?

Neuroscience, genetics, research ethics, human enhancement, development of drugs and devices in biologics, and medical ethics, and many others.

What is it that makes this such a fast growing area of law?

First, we are fuelled by development in the biosciences, which is moving at an increasingly fast pace since we can build new technologies over old technologies. Second, there is increasing interest by jurists and by lawyers in these areas. Third is an increase in interest in health care and sciences more generally. From President Obama’s announcement of a major enterprise in studying the human brain to the passing of the Affordable Care Act, we are seeing a golden age in this field.

What do you expect to see in the coming years from both the field and the journal?

The ethical issues that have always been in the background are going to be made much more pressing, such as with cheap whole genome sequencing, fetal blood tests called non-invasive genetic testing, and increasingly science-based attempts to restrict abortion rights. All of these are raising questions that have always been present but are making them more pressing and also making it more likely that courts and legislatures will have to be the ones to wrestle with them correctly. We are hoping that the journal plays a role in answering those questions.

Last year, with the Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) and revisions to the common rule in human subjects’ research, there has also been a lot more emphasis and rethinking about the rules by which science operates at the level of human subject research regulation.

 What do you hope to see in the coming years from both the field and the journal?

Increasing number of law students and non-lawyers realizing the important role that law has to play in these disputes and enabling discourse at a deeper level than we have seen to this date.

What does Journal of Law and the Biosciences expect to focus on within the field (trends / new approaches)?

Stem cell technology, reproductive technologies, law and genetics, law and neuroscience, human subjects’ research, human enhancement, patent law, food and drug regulation, and predictive analytics and big data . . . but those are just off the top of my head. We are hoping to get submissions in many more areas as well.

Nita Farahany, I. Glenn Cohen, and Henry T. (Hank) Greely are the Editors of the Journal of Law and the Biosciences. I. Glenn Cohen, JD, is Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology & Bioethics at Harvard Law School. Cohen’s current projects relate to reproduction and reproductive technology, research ethics, rationing in law and medicine, health policy, and medical tourism. Nita Farahany, PhD, JD, is Professor of Law & Philosophy at Duke Law School and Professor of Genome Sciences and Policy at the IGSP. Since 2010, she has served on Obama’s Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues. Henry T. (Hank) Greely, JD, is the Deane F. and Kate Edelman Johnson Professor of Law at Stanford University, where he directs the Center for Law and the Biosciences. He chairs the California Advisory Committee on Human Stem Cell Research, is a founder and director of the International Neuroethics Society, and belongs to the Advisory Council for the National Institute for General Medical Sciences and the Institute of Medicine’s Neuroscience Forum.

The Journal of Law and the Biosciences (JLB) is the first fully Open Access peer-reviewed legal journal focused on the advances at the intersection of law and the biosciences. A co-venture between Duke University, Harvard University Law School, and Stanford University, and published by Oxford University Press, this open access, online, and interdisciplinary academic journal publishes cutting-edge scholarship in this important new field. The Journal contains original and response articles, essays, and commentaries on a wide range of topics, including bioethics, neuroethics, genetics, reproductive technologies, stem cells, enhancement, patent law, and food and drug regulation.

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The post An interview with I. Glenn Cohen on law and bioscience appeared first on OUPblog.

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2.5 x 3.5
Prismacolor! on board
ebay

Well well well. Prismacolors, what a surprise. This was done with a French Grey 90%.
I've never liked Prismacolors all that much. They're too soft. This one broke twice while I was doing this piece (it broke in the sharpener) and I ended up using almost one whole pencil just on this little illustration. I mean, c'mon.
I've come to the conclusion that nothing on earth will ever 'do it' for me like my Polychromos, but I'm still glad to know what's out there.
I do like this color though for a warmer alternative to black.

And I don't know what this bondage thing is I have going on. I don't think I'll analyze it.

To see all the Yarn pieces in this series side-by-side, please go here. Or visit my ebay store to see which are available for sale.
All images and content herein are © Paula Pertile and may not be used or reproduced without permission.

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My husband and I are going to Scotland in a few months! It will be our first real vacation by ourselves since we had kids, and our first trip overseas. To say we are excited is a bit of an understatement.

To prepare for our trip, in addition to doing mountains (or maybe that should be "munros") of research into rental cars, ferry schedules, castles, shortbread, emergency childcare forms, etc., etc., etc., we're also getting ourselves in a Scottish frame of mind. And how do we do that? Through our favorite things: books, music, and movies.

We're reading The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, by Muriel Spark, right now. Next up is Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped. That will be followed by Sherlock Holmes stories (even though they're set in England, Doyle was Scottish, and why pass up a chance to read some Holmes favorites?) and plenty of Scottish poetry (I just received the huge anthology I ordered).

Randy's the movie man, so he's in charge of those choices. So far, we've watched Local Hero and Restless Natives. Both were fine, but neither blew me away. I'm not a big fan of anti-heroes. My favorite part of Restless Natives was the score by Big Country. I know that we have epics like Braveheart and Rob Roy on the list, and he's dug up a bunch more, too. I probably won't be watching Trainspotting, since movies (and books) about the mob and/or about drug addicts tend to bore me senseless. I know it's terrible to wipe out entire cinematic genres like that, but life is short. I've wasted enough time watching movies that didn't interest me because people knew I would love them.

Tomorrow, I'll post about the music we're listening to and the concert we're going to go to in Scotland, but, meanwhile, any book or movie recommendations for us?

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Yesterday, I shared some of the books and movies we're reading and watching to get in the mood for Scotland. And I got some suggestions of ones to add to our list--thank you!

The third part of the Scottish arts triumverate is music, of course. I love music, and while I'm not musically talented myself (be here during family karaoke if you don't believe me), I'm constantly singing and listening to music. Good lyrics are poetry, and songs are about the only form of poetry I can actually memorize.

Anyway, we're listening to lots of Big Country, and I need to put CDs of Snow Patrol, Jethro Tull (Ian Anderson was born in Scotland and owned--still owns?--an island where he lives and runs a fish farm), and, of course, Midge Ure (he's the behind the scenes guy who did much of the work organizing Live Aid, for which Bob Geldof gets all the credit). 

We thought it would be fun to see a concert in Scotland, but it's working out in kind of a funny way. Big Country no longer exists in the form we love, since Stuart Adamson's suicide in 2001. 

Here's one of my favorite Big Country songs, 

The Seer:

Long ago I heard a tale I never will forget
The time was in the telling and the banquet scene was set
The sky was rolling blindly on, the daylight had not gone
She washed her hair among the stones and saw what was to come
All this will pass
There will be blood among the corn and heroes in the hills
But there is more to come my boy before you've had your fill

Read the rest here. Or watch this live performance:



"Ships" is another favorite of mine. The anguish in this song is visceral.

   

OK, LiveJournal apparently doesn't like embedded videos, because entire chunks keep disappearing. I thought I did something wrong the first time, but now I see it's just randomly chopping things off.

So I'll keep this short:

We've seen both Snow Patrol and Jethro Tull in the past couple of years here in Minneapolis, so although Jethro Tull is touring Scotland while we're there, they're never where we'll be, and we don't feel strongly enough to change plans. Plus we'd love to see someone we haven't seen before.

Midge Ure is who we most would have liked to have seen, and he's going to be playing a month before we go. I'm so sad. We'll never see him here in America because he's not well-known here at all. For him, we would have changed plans of which city we'll be in when.

If you're tired of politicians and preachers and everyone who claims to have all the answers, watch Midge Ure's "Answers to Nothing."  "Dear God" is another fantastic one. The lyrics to both of these are poetry in the best sense.

But, no Midge Ure.
 
So who are we going to see while we're in Scotland? Matchbox Twenty, a purely American band! They also played here recently, though we didn't go. Ha. Who would've thought we'd go to Scotland and see a U.S. band. But it should be fun. I like their cd from 2002, and now I need to get last year's release. A few songs I like by them are (click links for lyrics) Unwell, If You're Gone, and Bright Lights. Not exactly happy songs, any of them! But I tend to be drawn toward darker songs, anyway.

Hopefully we'll get a chance to hear some homegrown Scottish music while we're there. I really want to hear some bagpipe playing. Love their mournful sound. Don't know how common it is outside of Highland Games celebrations, though, which won't be going on while we're there.

If you have any recommendations for Scottish rock or traditional music, I'm all ears. Thanks!  

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Kind of a Poetry Sunday. 

Lament for Flodden*

I'VE heard them lilting at our ewe-milking,
Lasses a' lilting before dawn o' day;
But now they are moaning on ilka green loaning--
The Flowers of the Forest are a' wede away.

At bughts, in the morning, nae blythe lads are scorning,
Lasses are lonely and dowie and wae;
Nae daffing, nae gabbing, but sighing and sabbing,
Ilk ane lifts her leglin and hies her away.

In hairst, at the shearing, nae youths now are jeering,
Bandsters are lyart, and runkled, and gray:
At fair or at preaching, nae wooing, nae fleeching--
The Flowers of the Forest are a' wede away.

At e'en, in the gloaming, nae swankies are roaming
'Bout stacks wi' the lasses at bogle to play;
But ilk ane sits eerie, lamenting her dearie--
The Flowers of the Forest are a' wede away.

Dool and wae for the order sent our lads to the Border!
The English, for ance, by guile wan the day;
The Flowers of the Forest, that fought aye the foremost,
The prime of our land, lie cauld in the clay.

We'll hear nae mair lilting at our ewe-milking;
Women and bairns are heartless and wae;
Sighing and moaning on ilka green loaning--
The Flowers of the Forest are a' wede away.

Jane Elliot (1727-1805)

I'm sitting here ripping a whole bunch of CDs (which I picked up at the library annual sale) to my iPod. My tastes definitely run to the eclectic side--jazz from Harry Connick Jr. to Lena Horne to Miles Davis, some R&B, lots and lots of folk and bluegrass, some country (though I have always leaned toward the older stuff excepting some really great stuff in the early and mid 90s, and I've been an Alabama and Judds fan since I was a kid--not to say I love it all; years of listening to Conway Twitty woo Loretta Lynn in song left me not really a fan of their duets, though I love her solo stuff). I love religious choral music, too, the more classical the better--hence the University Presbyterian Church Cathedral Choir CD I picked up of pieces from Bach, Brahms, Rutter, and others.

At the same time, I suddenly had a desire to reread Rob Roy, which I haven't picked up since the big to-do over the Liam Neeson movie. I don't remember reading it for class; I think I must just have been in a Sir Walter Scott mood back then and decided to read the book before I ever saw the movie. I highly recommend the book; don't bother with the movie.

Picking up Rob Roy made me want to read a few shorter pieces by Scott, which I was pretty sure I had in one of three volumes of poetry from the Harvard Classics set**--also picked up at a nice price at a library book sale!--and in searching for Scott ran across two women poets of the later 18th century, Alison Rutherford Cockburn (1712-1794) and Jane Elliot (1727-1805). 

What was it about writing in Scots at that time? It's basically a completely foreign dialect, as foreign from standard British English as modern American slang is, I would think.

I didn't know the work of either Cockburn or Elliot before today. Both of these women's work predated Scott, and in my evening musings that didn't involve invoking Google, which of course could lead me to all answers, wondered if their Scots poetry influenced Scott. Or was it just a pervasive style, perhaps employed by the English, in the way that many white writers wrote slave dialect for so many years? 

(At least, I didn't Google until I decided to put links into this entry. And then I went with the option of the the truly lazy--turn to Wikipedia, which, though not all that reliable, at least seems plausible for my purposes.) 

Elliot's version of the poem is a tribute to the fallen men of Ettrick Forest in Selkirk (Scotland) who fell at the battle of Flodden, which I'm not familiar with, but Wikipedia says it was a battle in Northumberland in 1513. Cockburn's lyrics were set to the same traditional tune, but apparently it's debatable whether it refers to the same battle (according to my Harvard Classic edition), the fall of her husband's fortunes, or a lost love (the two latter being Wikipedia's suggestions). As you can probably tell due to my quoting it above, I think I prefer the Elliot version, perhaps most because of the heavy use of Scots. You just couldn't use that nowadays and expect to communicate with your reader--at least, for a U.S. audience. Makes me wonder how much more easily it might be understood in any of the Commonwealth countries, especially eastern Canada and anywhere in Australia that might have a strong Scot region.

This also brings up the question of the heavy Scots in anything by Scott. I'll have to reread and decide again what I think, because I remember it being very hard to read. But that was before I visited Scotland and got to know a few people who speak a little more like that, though not in complete Scots. It makes me want to study Gàidhlig again and go back to Scotland. (The latter is on my agenda for next year; tltrent, start saving up, because here's your chance for a tour guide! :) )


Anyway, these are the kinds of things I think of while ripping a Boyz II Men cd (ah, high school memories! *sniff*) and thinking of starting Rob Roy again on a Sunday evening. And neither the music or the books are at all from this time period. Which makes me think of really bad movies. What was that one called that used a rock soundtrack... A Knight's Tale? What say ye all? I hated it and turned it off in the first 10 minutes, but I've been told it's because I didn't understand what they were going for. I maintain that it's just that it was a bad movie. :)

If you're interested in either of the poems, you can read them in full here and here. 




* I wanted to indent every 2nd line, but I couldn't figure out how to do a hard space or a tab. HTML annoys me. I know there's a code for a hard space, but I don't want to go looking it up at midnight.

**Flipping through all these old books***, I'm starting to have an allergy attack! I sure hope my books haven't gotten moldy in this climate, because I think that would devastate me. But these Harvard Classics were printed in 1910, so I think it's just plain age. The same thing would happen when I was back in the stacks for too long at my college job, working for the Special Collections*** department of the library.

***Which makes me remember that I need to find a better way to preserve two relatively ancient family Bibles I just inherited. They were delivered to me in ziplock bags. Which certainly aren't acid-free, although they do seal out the air. I'm thinking an archival box for each of them. Anyone have any experience with preserving old books like this? I should call my old boss.

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By Kirsty OUP-UK

It has recently been a time of great political change in my native Scotland. For the first time since power was devolved from the central UK government in Westminster to the new Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh in 1999, the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) has taken over power from the Labour Party. In the news this week is the White Paper introduced by the SNP in a bid to call for a referendum on whether Scotland should break away from the United Kingdom and become an independent nation. With so many eyes on Scotland this week, I thought it would be a fitting time to bring you this excerpt from our book Scotland: A History, edited by Jenny Wormald. From an essay by Richard Finlay called ‘The Turbulent Century: Scotland Since 1900′, here is the passage discussing Scotland from 1979 until 1999, when the Scottish Parliament came into being again for the first time since the Act of Union in 1707.

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Today I share the blogging with my son, Evan, age nine, who earlier today wrote an update of our time in the deep south (see below). Evan's comments will be in a bigger font. We just arrived in Bryan, Texas a moment ago, so I don't have much to say about Texas yet except that it is big and dark and rainy. [Oh, I just realized that as I type this, it is techincally by 41st birthday! :-) ]

EVAN: Ok, so yesterday we left Atlanta (we got up at 7:00) and did a 2 and a half hour drive to Alabama, and all Of a sudden, we see this sign that said: ENTERING ALABAMA CENTRAL TIME ZONE . What?! We shouted. Then the clock that before said 9:49 (which was when we were supposed to arrive) went down to 8:49. We could have slept an hour later! Well, at least we get to relive the past hour, said my dad. On the road we made up a game. The game was, if you saw a water tower and shouted torre de agua (that’s Spanish) first, then you would get a point. At the end of the trip, whoever had the most points, won. To me, the driving wasn’t very long, but that’s probably because I was waching tv.

MARK: I love the south. It's green and lush, and the people are friendly and the weather has been beautiful. I also love that it has a chain of grocery stores called Piggly Wiggly. Whevenver we see one, we Hugheses are all about the Piggly Wiggly! I took this picture through the windsheild of our car on our way to Birmingham, AL:


Oh yes, Piggly. I will follow...

One thing I do miss about Massachusetts, though, is the availability of Starbucks. In fact, I've been on a daily quest to find one anywhere near where we go. On the way to Birmingham I found one! I was so pleased, I took a picture of my grande Gazebo blend.



Evan: We went to the Alabama welcome center and my dad and me got Hank Williams posters. Hank Williams is like an Elvis to country music. My dad was very happy. I was happy too, except I had never heard of Hank Williams before this. But I'm sure he must be pretty good.

Mark: Because of the unexpected time-change (what? did we miss a memo or something?), we arrived in Birmingham earlier than planned, which allowed us time to look around. Since Birmingham metal-working played a big role in the city's history, they have a huge statue of Vulcan, the Roman god of the fire and forge.



EVAN: Later, we had lunch with Hester Bass the author of So Many Houses, and her family (father Clayton, kids Anderson and Miranda) in Birmingham. We ate at a Cracker Barrell, a southern place I'd never eaten before. It was good. My mom and dad ate southern food. I ate grilled cheese. It was good. Hester gave us copies of her book, which was very nice of her.

Mark: In addition to being the author of the early reader So Many Houses, Hester is also the author of a soon-to-be released picture book biography of American artist, Walter Inglis Anderson, to be illustrated by the acclaimed E. B. Lewis and published by Candlewick Press. Hester and her family were amazingly kind to drive all the way down to Huntsville to meet with us. It's lovely to meet such wonderful people when you're far from home. Many thanks to the 'Bama Basses, our new friends!

   

EVAN: Next, we had dinner with the Campbell family In Jackson, Mississippi. I played with three boys named Graem, Nathan and Douglas. They had a big snail called a wolf snail. I let it crawl up my arm. It was so cool!

Mark: Sarah is the author and photographer of an upcoming picture book about wolf snails, snails that eat other snails -- an amazing creature I'd never heard of before. Her photographs are absolutely beautiful and her book will be published in the Spring. Although we were total strangers, Sarah and Richard and their boys fed us and treated us like family. We had a wonderful Mississippi evening which we will never forget -- complete with fireworks set off by neighbors. Thanks you, Campbells, our other new friends in the south!




This morning (actually, yesterday morning now) we stopped by at Lemuria Books in Jackson, a cool independent bookstore with a relaxing atmosphere. Here we are with a very nice bookseller named Ciel. 



Lots of traffic problems on the way through Louisianna to Bryan, TX, so it took us much longer than it should have. Still, we're here safe, sound, and happy. Soon I'll actually go to bed. 

A big, Texas good night to y'all. 
-- Mark

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Glenrothes, United Kingdom

Coordinates: 56 12 N 3 10 W

Population: 38,679 (2001 est.)

Since the mid-1970s the list of silicon-related geographical nicknames has expanded to include half a dozen valleys, two alleys, a forest, a gulf, a desert, a fen (or marsh if you prefer American English), and a glen. (more…)

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