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Embryonic stem cell research and cloning are among the most controversial and ethically-loaded scientific advances of the past few decades. This paper argues that, in the context of recent theoretical developments in anthropology and cognitive psychology, Thorstein Veblen's work on the place of science in modern societies can provide a theoretical framework to study public misgiving toward embryology in the United States. It is argued that combining insights regarding human cognitive predisposition toward ritualization offered by Veblen with evolutionary theory on hazard-precaution systems and religious cognition may shed some light on the "peculiarity" of the initial public responses to embryology. Ultimately, this paper contends that understanding that initial reactions to embryology may follow a cognitive path of least resistance signifies that assessing the legitimacy of embryology will necessitate a deliberate effort toward instrumental thinking that may go against human cognitive predispositions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the need for an international commitment toward biological weapons disarmament in order to prevent the use of bioengineering technology for military purposes. Recombinant DNA technology has been responsible for the development of harmful biological agents. There is a strong possibility that these agents might be used for military applications. The use of the biological agents was prohibited under the Biological Weapons Convention of 1972. Nations including the United States and the Soviet Union had signed this treaty.

The article offers information on bacterial computing in the U.S. It mentions that synthetic biology uses mathematical modeling and molecular biology techniques which construct biological devices with applications in medicine. It states the three feats of genetic engineering which can solve the burnt pancake problem (BPP) in living cells which include encoding a signed permutation, endowing the bacterium with the ability to flip segment of its DNA, and the presence of the identity permutation.

The assumption that technological innovation constitutes an inevitable facet of something called ‘globalisation’ is called into question by comparative historical investigation. In the areas of biotechnology and genome research, for instance, the United States and Germany - two advanced industrial states - have demonstrated remarkably different historical trajectories. While the US was a driving force behind the explosion of biotechnology as an industrial sector, Germany was unable to muster much effort until the late 1990s. Explaining this difference, this article utilizes historical political economy to characterize these states and their relationship to capitalism. The lag in German efforts is understood as a function of the pre-capitalist vestiges of the state and their peculiar effects on capitalist social relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT. Genetic engineering is often depicted as a breakthrough solution to hunger and environmental problems in agriculture. Such claims encourage the further shift of public resources toward molecular sciences, globalized intellectual property rights, and relaxed biotechnology regulation. However, focusing on transgenic crops is a risky and inadequate response to socioeconomic and ecological challenges. The search for a universal, technological solution disregards the complex geographies of food production and trade. This article challenges claims that crop genetic engineering represents a new direction in agriculture, that transgenic crops have performed well, and that the regulatory approaches used in the United States or Europe are universally applicable. It outlines three geographies of difference that distinguish agriculture in the global North from farming in most of the global South. Those differences point to the need for more place-specific, multifaceted, and farmer-centered approaches to agricultural productivity and sustainability, approaches to which geographers have much to contribute. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]