European Parliament - Eprs Science And Technology Podcasts

Drug addiction is one of the greatest problems facing European public health authorities. Advances in drug addiction research have focused mostly on the neurobiological aspects of the disease, but now promising new technologies are enhancing our ability to understand and treat drug addiction. A wide range of health tools for drug addiction recovery is available on the internet: information and education websites; assessment and psychotherapeutic software; comprehensive self-help programmes; and social network therapeutic communities. Use of such tools on smartphones and other mobile devices is known as mobile health (mHealth). The utilisation of new technologies in drug addiction treatment and research has generated interest, curiosity and expectation, but also concerns regarding the ethical aspects of their use. Source: © European Union - EP

What if new-born babies were given a DNA report card that predicted their intelligence, their odds of getting a PhD, their chances of becoming a chain smoker or suffering depression, a heart attack or cancer? Today, a large amount of genetic data are available, involving millions of people. This wealth of information available to researchers is allowing them to create a polygenic risk score based on the DNA test of an individual. This predicts a person's chance of getting a disease, his or her traits and behaviour. Are these predictions perfect? What if you do not want to know what could happen to you? What if these data were used or abused by others? Source: © European Union - EP

Facial recognition technology can identify a person in real time by instantaneously searching databases containing tens of millions of faces. What began as a tool to authenticate identity at airports and border crossings has sneaked its way to performing surveillance of human beings in their daily lives without their consent. What implications will these facial recognition techniques have, and in what way could there be a meaningful process of asking for prior consent from the people that are being identified by these technologies? Source: © European Union - EP

While we often talk about the need to achieve acceptance of technology in the face of real and potential public opposition, there are frequently gaps between how regulators, developers and experts conceptualise acceptance and opposition. Here, we examine some prominent conceptualisations and suggest that, rather than responding to public opposition with information campaigns designed to transform citizens into acceptors, strategies for managing public acceptability should include meaningful dialogues that aim to create better technologies which are not only acceptable to citizens, but can even be actively supported by them.https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_ATA(2019)624291 Source: © European Union - EP

Allowing consumer electricity prices to fluctuate from one time of the day to another could help accelerate the transition towards renewable energies and drive down the costs of this transition. Electricity production from renewable sources, such as wind and solar energy, is expanding rapidly in Europe and around the world. However, integrating these fluctuating sources into the grid is increasingly becoming a challenge for grid operators that need to match electricity supply with demand. Switching over to a new electricity market system, where the demand would better adapt to the supply, could be crucial for the success of the transition towards a low-carbon society. Source: © European Union - EP

Genetic engineering is usually applied to individual plants and animals. But what if we could genetically engineer an entire species? Today techniques have progressed so far so as to make that feasible, allowing us to eradicate malaria and cure ecosystems from exotic pest species, while also bringing with it a host of ethical questions we should urgently ask ourselves. Source: © European Union - EP

Algorithms, are step-by-step procedure for solving a problem, usually expressed in computer code as a set of instructions for a computer to follow in order to complete a task. Day-to-day decisions around the world are increasingly based on data science techniques powered by machine learning algorithms that are gradually making a meaningful impact on human lives. For example, the operation of intermediary platforms that propose accommodation (AirBnB) or transportation alternatives (Uber) are extensively using algorithms. Algorithms implicitly or explicitly are not neutral as they comprise essential value-judgments that can potentially have race or sex biases. This raises an important question: is it possible to develop and ensure that algorithms are ethical? Source: © European Union - EP

The link between high consumption of trans fats, sugar and salt, found in high amounts in processed food, and an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), type 2 diabetes and various cancers is well established. In the current food market, calorie-rich, processed food, wrapped with ambiguous labels, is readily available, cheap and heavily promoted. But what if consumers could be prompted to make healthier food choices? Source: © European Union - EP

Technological systems, once introduced in a particular socio-economic context, often evolve in unforeseen ways and may fall prey to unexpected power relations. Blockchain, as a technology that relies on decentralisation to enable storing and securing data-based transactions without central administration, is currently facing significant centralisation pressures that may undermine the purpose of operating a decentralised blockchain network. But what if blockchain fulfilled its promise to be truly decentralised? Source: © European Union - EP

Exploring the relationship between ethics and technological innovation has always been a challenging task for policy-makers. Ethical considerations concerning the impact of Research and Innovation (R&I) are increasingly important, due to the quickening pace of technological innovation and the transformative potential and complexity of contemporary advancements in science and technology. The multiplication of legal references to ethical principles and the mushrooming of ad hoc ethics committees indicate the institutional embedding of ethics into the scientific research process as such, but also into an increasing array of technological trajectories. Yet the rapid development of disruptive technologies means that social and ethical norms often struggle to keep up with technological development. But what if disruptive technologies challenged traditional ethical norms and structures? Source: © European Union - EP

Existing legal structures may prove a poor match for new types of disputes raised by disruptive technologies. Can the legal system overcome the temporal gap between the emergence of a technology and the subsequent need for controlling its possible effects and retain both flexibility and responsiveness? What regulation is justified by a particular technology? How should a particular technology be regulated? How can law regulate uncertain and unknown futures in the face of limited knowledge? Source: © European Union - EP

Εxploring the relationship between law, technological innovation and regulatory governance has always been a challenging task for policy-makers. Technologies are often seen as ordinary objects of formal law that can fit into the traditional doctrinal classification. But what if technologies were legal artefacts that question and challenge the traditional boundaries of legal thought? Some scholars even argue that technology is law, given that the employment of technology for control purposes in regulation provides opportunities to directly or indirectly shape human behaviour in legal terms. However, it is difficult to determine whether it is technology that challenges the law or the law that shapes or even predefines the development paths of new and emerging technologies. Source: © European Union - EP

Social media platforms are often thought of as open and connected spaces, since they allow users to communicate with a wide range of people and organisations. However, unlike 'old fashioned' telephone and email networks, users cannot change provider without losing access to the entire network. A truly open and connected model for social media could help foster a more competitive market that is more responsive to challenges such as privacy and disinformation. Source: © European Union - EP

Magnetic levitation is based on the creation of opposite magnetic fields that repel each other to counteract gravity and elevate the magnetised objects off the ground. Could this energy-efficient technology revolutionise transport methods and systems? How can policy-makers ensure that the right conditions are put in place in order to facilitate its development? Source: © European Union - EP

How technology has shaped society and how future technologies might affect it in the years to come are subjects for frequent debate. It can be tempting in this context to think of technologies as neutral 'things' that can be used for good or bad depending on the user's intentions and skills. However, experts on the relationship between technology and society broadly agree that technologies are social objects that reflect and reinforce human activities and even political values. By scripting, restricting and enabling different human behaviours, technologies can influence our lives in much the same way that policy programmes do. Source: © European Union - EP

Could laboratory-grown meat be the answer to our environmental problems, and how would this impact on the EU agricultural sector? Source: © European Union - EP

A new technique to simplify gene editing might herald a new era of genetic modification. What are the benefits and potential dangers of this technique, and how should policy-makers respond? Source: © European Union - EP

Organoids are artificially grown organs that mimic the properties of real organs. What new possibilities for treating diseases, drug development, and personalised and regenerative medicine do organoids provide?Source: © European Union - EP

What will be the impact of radio frequency identification tags, and other short-range communication devices, on how the Internet of Things transforms our way of life?Source: © European Union - EP

The 3D-printing sector has proven its commercial viability in recent years, reaching the high street and, indeed, many homes. The technology is already used in some medical domains such as dentistry and prosthetics, and many scientists are now exploring methods of printing biological materials. Even if reports about lifesaving 3D-printed hearts are certainly premature, the technology has several medical applications.Source: © European Union - EP