Articles

Genomics is an area of information technology that’s been growing faster than Moore’s law, an exciting development given its potential to transform medicine. That provokes resentment from bureaucrats, because it means they lose some control. However, less government involvement does

Personal computing altered the world forever, and now the digitization of biology is poised to bring about sweeping change. Craig Venter’s recent announcement of the first synthetic genome was a huge milestone, but many outside of Silicon Valley remain unaware of the

Facebook is still a big deal, with more than 400 million users, but its future will hinge to a large extent on whether it is right about social norms. If the company doesn’t properly respect wishes for data control and

During his homily this Easter, Pope Benedict argued that medical science, in trying to defeat death, is leading humanity toward likely condemnation. It’s a position at odds with the value of life, one that the Church will likely revise years

Silicon Valley is known for innovative ideas in technology, and now some of the area’s greatest minds have come up with a new way to solve one of their biggest operational problems: securing foreign talent. It’s called the “startup visa”

New technologies that allow users to interact with one another in virtual settings are undoubtedly cool, but augmented reality is served best with a heavy dollop of privacy — or at least, choice. Social networking fans like Facebook CEO Mark

Affordable genome sequencing is coming soon, but few doctors appear ready to deal with the difficult issues this technology could raise. Suppose a doctor sequences a genome for cardiac data, but finds genes indicating a very high cancer risk in

Intellectual property was at the heart of many discussions at this year’s U.S.-China Internet Industry Forum. Though the software piracy rate currently stands at 80 percent in China, there are hopeful signs. Now that it is moving toward a knowledge-based

There have been striking advances in healthcare, thanks to technology, that have nothing to do with the controversial “reform” efforts under way in Washington. Among the life-improving — even potentially life-saving — gifts of recent years: less costly genome sequencing;

Regulation by the U.S. government is not the way to keep the Internet neutral. A better approach would be self-regulation. Now is the time for ISPs to support an independent, private body to monitor neutrality issues and forestall the possibility