In its ideal form, a contraceptive vaccine could prevent pregnancy without the messy side effects of some hormonal birth control.

The latest wave of research exploring the drugs focuses on conditions that disproportionately affect women. But amid claims ranging from poor-quality data to abuse, not everyone is celebrating this shift.

Sociologist Rene Almeling, bioethicist Lisa Campo-Engelstein, and physician-scientist Brian T. Nguyen are launching a book project designed to bring together a wide range of experts in the social sciences, humanities, public health, and medicine to rethink and reframe “male” reproductive and sexual health in the United States. The panel provided an overview of the many complexities facing those who work on issues such as contraception, infertility, “paternal effects” on reproductive outcomes, and the provision of reproductive and sexual healthcare.

What can we learn about the future of artificial intelligence by looking back fifty years to when molecular biologists were on the verge of creating artificial life? Bioethics & Health Humanities Assistant Professor Jacob Moses and Gili Vidan (Information Science, Cornell University) publish a perspective piece in the Washington Post about how recent calls for a moratorium on AI harken back to debates about the governance of biotechnology. To chart a responsible course forward for AI, science policymakers can learn lessons from the famous 1975 Asilomar conference on recombinant DNA.