Singer Slips Up Over Science of Signs

A guest post today is courtesy of Mark Seidenberg addresses the errors of Peter Singer in his recent piece in the New York Review of Books. Mark was a graduate student at Columbia during the research on Nim Chimpsky, a chimpanzee which scientists attempted to teach sign language to. This piece is the second time … Continue reading Singer Slips Up Over Science of Signs

Facts must inform discussion of future of chimpanzee research

The future of behavioral and biomedical research with chimpanzees is the focus of current discussion by a committee convened by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) at the request of the U.S. National Institutes of Health.  The second public meeting of the IOM convened Wednesday and Thursday. The meeting includes both experts on a broad range … Continue reading Facts must inform discussion of future of chimpanzee research

A shield against the nightmare: Ebola virus vaccine success

There must be few diseases that can conjure up images of horror the way Ebola virus can. Since it was first identified in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) in the mid-1970’s there have been several outbreaks that have left hundreds of people dead, but it is the potential for far worse outbreaks … Continue reading A shield against the nightmare: Ebola virus vaccine success

Scientists discover AIDS in Chimpanzees

The discovery of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) by the French scientists Luc Montagnier and Françoise Barré-Sinoussi in 1983, and the, and the subsequent confirmation by the American scientist Robert Gallo that it caused AIDS was a shock to doctors and scientists around the globe, and begged the question as to whether or not similar … Continue reading Scientists discover AIDS in Chimpanzees