Ethical Challenges in Developing Artificial Intelligence

Fernando Favoretti shares his ethics & society case study, which he completed as part of our Young Scientist Program. When we hear the words ’Artificial Intelligence’, the idea of intelligent cyborgs, the sky-net, and future terminators comes to mind. With rapid advancement in technology nowadays mostly thanks to the ability to create cheap hardware attached to equally cheap parallel computing systems, artificial intelligence is now capable of developing advancements that were previously only considered to be the fruit of science fiction […]

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Ethical Considerations of Altering Mars and Other Planetary Bodies

Tara Vega shares her ethics & society case study, which she completed as part of our Young Scientist Program. While studying the various factors that go into allowing permanent human settlement on Mars, I repeatedly came across many possibilities of contamination. Carrying plants, microbes, water etc., within spacecraft landings to Mars all harbor the possibility of contaminating the red planet. I use not the term contamination as negativity, but more as the result of no better way to explain such an […]

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The Ethics of Space Exploration

Liz Miller shares her ethics & society case study, which she completed as part of our Young Scientist Program. Space exploration is an exciting and constantly progressing field. Fulfilling natural human curiosity about worlds other than our own, exploration of our solar system and beyond is generally met with support by people from all walks of life. While the bulk of our effort is put into allowing both objects and humans to survive safely on other planets and moons, there is […]

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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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Information Systems Week at São Paulo University

BMSIS Young Scientist Fernando Favoretti Vital do Prado led an outreach event at the University of São Paulo. Fernando’s engagement was part of his Communications requirements for the BMSIS Young Scientist Program. Read Fernando’s impressions below: Last week I gave a talk at the University of São Paulo for the Information Systems Week. The Information Systems Week is characterized by technical-scientific-cultural events carried out in different formats and by the exchange of experiences between students of all levels inside and […]

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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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Ryan Scott Ranks at State-wide Student Research Competition

Young Scientist Ryan Scott placed 2nd in the Graduate Division of Biological and Agricultural Sciences at the 31st Annual California State University (CSU) Student Research Competition, held April 28-29, at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. The event saw the participation of hundreds of graduate and undergraduates student researchers from all 23 CSU campuses, extending from San Diego State to Humboldt State. Ryan was there representing San José State University, as all the participants had been selected beforehand as winners in […]

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Christina Cheung Selected as NASA Outreach Lead

Young Scientist Christina Cheung is now serving as the Space Biosciences Outreach Lead at the NASA Ames Research Center. She is ramping into this duty slowly, as her primary duties for the next few weeks will be supporting the Fruit Fly Lab-2 experiment which is due to launch on SpaceX-11 in mid-May. Following this mission, she will be working half time on Fruit Fly Lab and half time as the Outreach Lead. Christina Cheung received her Bachelor of Science degree […]

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Ryan Scott Wins Student Research Competition

Young Scientist Ryan T. Scott, working with with Joshua S. Alwood in the Bone and Signaling Lab, recently was selected as a winner of the 2017 San José State University Student Research Competition. Having completed his Masters last year, the next step is one more oral and one more poster presentation at the statewide CSU Student Research Competition in late April, at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. The research was conducted at NASA Ames Research Center, and is […]

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