ethics

Space Mining: Ethical Issues and Some Possible Solutions

Stephanie Meursing shares her ethics & society case study, which she completed as part of our Young Scientist Program. Earth, the planet we have known for so long. The planet which fuels our every need. But with population increasing, with a prediction to be around 10 billion people by 2050, can the Earth sustain our needs? Many individuals think not. This fear has caused a boom of companies that can lead humankind into a new revolution. Companies such as Shackleton Energy […]

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One for All, All for One: A Report on the Ethics of Model Organisms

Brian Smith shares his ethics & society case study, which he completed as part of our Young Scientist Program. The use of animals in scientific research has long been a subject of controversy, dating back to at least 1822, when the British Parliament enacted new laws “relating to the Cruelty to Animals” (Nowlan). Movements like these set the precedent for animals’ treatment in research, with two critical pillars on which even modern model organism work stands: A person shall not perform […]

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They’re Deserts, But They’re Not Deserted

Iman Hamid shares her ethics & society case study, which she completed as part of our Young Scientist Program. A friend of mine recently shared a 2014 Onion article titled “Scientists Politely Remind World That Clean Energy Technology Ready To Go Whenever.” It was funny, if a bit over-simplified. This jibe at the world’s slow embrace of renewable energy sparked a debate on my friend’s post. Someone noted that renewable energy technology is inefficient and still has negative environmental impacts. Two […]

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Authorship of Scientific Papers

Christina Cheung shares her ethics & society case study, which she completed as part of our Young Scientist Program. For any aspiring scientist, authorship is crucial in many ways. In a scientific world where literature is one of the most trusted ways to share information, the people responsible for the work are given authorship of that particular paper. Potential publications often have stringent criteria and are put through the ringer by peer reviews to ensure quality control of the information. Nowadays, […]

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How Should Creationism and Evolution Be Taught in Public Schools?

Joshua Kreisel shares his ethics & society case study, which he completed as part of our Young Scientist Program. The topics of evolution, creationism, and their place in the public school curriculum have been one of contentious debate for decades. There are many contesting viewpoints on this issue, ranging from teaching both theories on the origins of life, neither of them, or just one. To address all of these arguments would be beyond the scope of this paper. Instead, the case […]

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Leaving Earth, in Search of a Better Home…

Vigneshwaran Krishnamurthy shares his ethics & society case study, which he completed as part of our Young Scientist Program. We, Earthlings have taken our planet for granted. We have come far from realizing that the resources here are limited and finite. From the air we breathe to the water we consume, everything here are perishable. And with the geometrically growing population and the pollution we caused, the day we run out of resources is not very far. We had pushed the Earth to its […]

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Ethics of Space Colonization

Julia Sullivan shares her ethics & society case study, which she completed as part of our Young Scientist Program. For many, the idea of space colonization may seem to be an inevitable fact, with Mars seeming to be within reaching distance, with our only obstacle being time, as our technological advances and scientific understanding no longer feel like limiting factors. This may be so, but one question that isn’t commonly considered is, should we? Yes, humans have explored and expanded across […]

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Funding Space Exploration: Benefits Beyond Space

Shaelyn Silverman shares her ethics & society case study, which she completed as part of our Young Scientist Program. On July 20, 1969, a surge of national pride rippled through the entire nation when Neil Armstrong uttered what has become one of the most famous and beloved phrases in the history of the United States: “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind” [1]. Armstrong had just become the first human to set foot on our moon […]

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Prioritization in Funding Among Competing Projects

Selen Çetin shares her ethics & society case study, which she completed as part of our Young Scientist Program. Given a fixed amount of funding and a series of problems to solve that are related to our future life as human beings; such as the need to explore space, millions of cancer patients awaiting to get cured, or billions of people that cannot afford getting a proper education, suffering from poverty. Which one of them should be of top priority? […]

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