Stories from the far side of research
22 November 2012
Programmable memories, fatherless reproduction, nanotech implants, amphibian-powered scar treatment, full body modification, brain-scanning lie detectors, inter-species reproduction, and self-determining synthetic 'green goo'…
Which of these are pure science fiction, and which are currently being developed in the lab? Such is the speed of today's biomedical research - sprinting from the starting gun that was the Human Genome Project - that it's sometimes hard to tell.
In ‘BioPunk: Stories from the far side of research’, a unique collaboration supported by the Wellcome Trust, 14 short story writers have been invited to explore the increasingly grey area between the fantastical and that which is already within our reach. Closely collaborating with scientists and ethicists working at the forefronts of their respective fields, each writer has been tasked with predicting some of the potential 'ethical side-effects' of this ground-breaking work.
Authors
Jane Feaver, Simon Ings, Annie Kirby, Toby Litt, Sara Maitland, Adam Marek, Gregory Norminton, Sean O'Brien, K J Orr, Justina Robson, Jane Rogers, Dilys Rose, Sarah Schofield and Simon Van Booy.
Scientists and ethicists
Professor Martyn Amos, Dr Melissa Baxter, Dr Jane Calvert, Sarah Gilbert, Dr Jane Haley, Dr Nick Love, Dr Ian McGonigle, Dr Ainsley Newson, Dr Simon Stott, Dr Nihal Engin Vrana, Dr Angharad Watson and Professor Bruce Whitelaw.
