Share Your Research at the 2018 INS Annual Meeting
We are pleased to announce our call for abstracts for the 2018 INS Annual Meeting on November 1-2 in San Diego, California. Don’t miss this opportunity to share and discuss your neuroethics research with international colleagues. 

We welcome abstracts of both empirical and philosophical natures related to the field of neuroethics. Investigators at all career stages are encouraged to submit. Abstract authors will be eligible for opportunities such as:
  • Travel stipends
  • Oral presentations
  • Poster presentations
  • Published in AJOB Neuroscience

This year, the International Brain Research Organization (IBRO) has generously provided €4,000 to support travel to the annual meeting for young women and people from ethnic minority groups working in under-resourced countries. Authors eligible for an IBRO stipend are encouraged to submit abstracts as early as possible to ensure enough time to apply for and acquire a visa to travel to the United States. Additional travel stipends will be announced as they become available.

The abstract submission deadline is June 25. This is a firm deadline! Thank you for helping us introduce this opportunity to your colleagues and students.
Take a moment today to introduce the INS to your colleagues and students who are interested in neuroethics and the responsible use of advances in brain science.
Looking for Volunteers for the Membership Task Force
A new INS Membership Task Force has been formed and will operate through the 2019 annual meeting with the goal of increasing the Society’s membership. It is chaired by Professor Jennifer Chandler and currently includes Dr. Tom Insel, Dr. Veljko Dubljevic, and Roland Nadler—but it could use a few more good people! 

If you are interested, or know another member you think would be great for it, please email Karen Graham (kgraham@neuroethicssocieety.org).
CALLS / ANNOUNCEMENTS
Request for Proposals: Developments in Neuroethics and Bioethics Volume 2 – Neuroethics Canada at the University of British Columbia is seeking proposals for the second volume of Developments in Neuroethics and Bioethics. The following topics are of special interest, but all will be considered equally based on the strength of the volume editor or editor group, and the proposed table of contents:
  • Environmental Neuroethics
  • Public and Global Mental Health
  • Advances in Neurotechnology
  • Neuroethics Policy for Children and Youth
  • Placebo and Addiction Neuroethics
  • Do-it-Yourself and Take-it-Yourself NeuroTools
  • Educational Strategies in Contemporary Neuroethics, Bioethics, and Biomedicine

A proposal for Table of Contents is due by June 1. T o submit your proposal, please send a short abstract that describes the objectives of the volume and a table of contents to: Dr. Judy Illes ( jilles@mail.ubc.ca) . Preliminary discussion about ideas and directions is welcome.
Call for SfN 2018 Abstracts – The abstract submission period for the Society for Neuroscience 2018 annual meeting opens April 12 and closes May 3.
SfN Open-Access Virtual Conference – SfN and the NIH will be hosting a conference, titled, "Enhancing Rigor and Transparency in Neuroscience," on April 10 (9am–5pm) and will be made available on-demand for those who register in advance. 
Who needs ethics anyway? The tech industry, perhaps. There has been a quiet push lately by tech industry giants to get ethical about future technologies. In October 2017, the AI company DeepMind, a subsidiary of Google, created an ethics group made up of employees and external experts called DeepMind Ethics & Society. But is it anything more than PR? And how do we teach technology students to preempt a possible ethical disaster?

To discuss these issues, Jordan Erica Webber is joined by Dr. Mariarosaria Taddeo of the Oxford Internet Institute, Professor Laura Norén of NYU and student Kandrea Wade in the latest episode of the Guardian's own Chips with Everything podcast.
MEMBER NEWS
"My Brain Made Me Do It" Is Becoming a More Common Criminal Defense – Dina Fine Maron (Scientific American)

The Scientific American recently published an article surrounding the phenomenon of defendants beginning to use their brains as a defense in criminal court, often admitting neuroscientific evidence in the process. In the discussion, INS Board members Nita Farahany and Steven Hyman weigh in with their expertise. Farahany highlights that in 2012 this brain-based defense was cited in, "over 250 judicial opinions—more than double the number in 2007," and has increased to nearly 420 cases annually.

Hyman goes on to discuss the recent meeting of a committee within the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine in response to this phenomenon titled, "Neuroforensics: Exploring the Legal Implications of Emerging Neurotechnologies." Hyman explains that, "[t]he meeting is largely future-oriented, and focused not so much on law enforcement use, but on admissibility in court.”
Can Science Help Boost our Brains? – INS Past President Barbara Sahakian recently authored a review of the book The Genius Within, written by David Adam. The book discusses the history of intelligence and the misuse of intelligence measurements by the eugenics movement. "The reflections on ethics are extremely refreshing, especially given the emphasis currently being placed on genetics in health science, even in the area of complex mental health disorders such as schizophrenia, despite the fact that there are many genes involved of very small effect." – Barbara Sahakian (The Guardian)
JOBS / CAREER OPPORTUNITIES
Bioethics Fellowship – Harvard Medical School Center for Bioethics; Applications are due March 19.
Postdoctoral Fellowship – The teaching and research area of Applied Ethics and Ethics of Technology of the RWTH Aachen, under the direction of Dr. Saskia Nagel, is seeking a postdoc in ethics of technology, neuro-, biomedical-, data-ethics, ethics of AI, or applied philosophy of technology. The group addresses questions about the ethical and social challenges of scientific and technological progress. It develops the interdisciplinary potential between philosophy and the natural and engineering sciences. Key topics are the philosophy and ethics of the human-technology relationship. Applications are due March 20.
Limited Term Assistant Professor – The Department of Philosophy in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Waterloo invites applications for a two-year fixed-term contract at the rank of Assistant Professor, with a preferred start date of July 1. The Area of Specialization is open, though a specialization in Philosophy of Mind or a related area of Philosophy is preferred. The successful candidate will be able to teach interdisciplinary courses in Cognitive Science and courses in Philosophy of Mind, as well as having a broader teaching competence in Philosophy. Applications are due March 29.
Postdoctoral Research Scholars Program in Bioethics – Harvard Medical School Center for Bioethics; Applications are due March 30.
Postdoctoral Fellowship – The University of Vienna is seeking a University Assistant (post doc) at the Department of Science and Technology Studies, a social science field with a strong interdisciplinary orientation. It analyzes the interactions of science, technology and society and is highly research oriented. Department research focuses on knowledge and technology cultures, the relations of techno-sciences and publics and the governance of techno-sciences and society. Applications are due April 3.
THE NEUROETHICS BLOG
The Brain In Context – The author reviews the session titled, “The Brain in Context,” at the 2017 INS Annual Meeting. Sarah comments that the session provided, "a multidisciplinary view of the challenges we face today in understanding the context of lived experiences and how our brains impact our environments. Getting at the heart of the context in which our brains develop and grow may help us to reduce stigma by increasing our understanding of how our environments impact our brains in a myriad of ways." – Sarah W. Denton (The Wilson Center)
Practical and Ethical Considerations in Consciousness Restoration – "What does it mean to be conscious? In Arthur Caplan’s plenary session at the 2017 INS Annual Meeting – Neuromodulation of the Dead, Persistent Vegetative State, and Minimally Conscious – he explored this question and how the answers may impact research and medicine." – Tabitha Moses (Wayne State University School of Medicine)
RESEARCH / ARTICLES
The Neuroscientific Non-Challenge to Meaning, Morals, and Purpose – Stephen J. Morse ( Neuroexistentialism: Meaning, Morals, and Purpose in the Age of Neuroscience)
How flashing lights and pink noise might banish Alzheimer’s, improve memory and more – "Now, a growing body of evidence...hint[s] at a meaningful connection to neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. The work offers the possibility of forestalling or even reversing the damage caused by such conditions without using a drug." – Helen Thomson (Nature News Feature)
Three Research Strategies of Neuroscience and the Future of Legal Imaging Evidence – Jinkwon Jun and Soyoung Yoo (Frontiers in Neuroscience)
AI researchers embrace Bitcoin technology to share medical data – "Ultimately...the immense amount of routine medical data that physicians collect can only yield medical advances if the information is shared and studied. “We need to engage people so that they show us their data,” [Dexter Hadley] says." – Amy Maxmen (Nature News)
Medical decision-making in children and adolescents: developmental and neuroscientific aspects – Petronella Grootens-Wiegers, Irma Hein, Jos van den Broek, and Martine de Vries (BMC Pediatrics)
Pushing the Margins of Responsibility: Lessons from Parks’ Somnambulistic Killing – Filippo Santoni de Sio and Ezio Di Nucci (AJOB Neuroethics)
Police probe of Brazilian marijuana researcher sparks protests – "A police investigation targeting Brazil’s most prominent marijuana researcher has ignited a wave of protest among scientists. They say that the move by authorities from the state of São Paulo threatens research freedoms at a time when science in the country faces severe problems because of draconian budget cuts." – Claudio Angelo (Nature News)
Dark past of deep-brain stimulation – Christian Lüscher (Nature Books and Arts)
PRESS / GENERAL
Why We Should Lower the Voting Age to 16 – "The proposal to lower the voting age to 16 is motivated by today’s outrage that those most vulnerable to school shootings have no say in how such atrocities are best prevented. Let’s give those young people more than just their voices to make a change." – Laurence Steinberg (The New York Times)
Screen teenagers annually for depression, say US doctors – "On Monday the American Academy of Pediatrics published new guidance that adolescents should be examined every year from the age of 12 to ensure those with depression can get timely help." – Emily Hawkins (The Guardian)
Exploring AI ethics and accountability – "This Politico special report delves into some of the complex questions raised by the advancement of artificial intelligence." – Nirvi Shah (Politico)
How to Make A.I. That’s Good for People – "I worry, however, that enthusiasm for A.I. is preventing us from reckoning with its looming effects on society. Despite its name, there is nothing “artificial” about this technology — it is made by humans, intended to behave like humans and affects humans. So if we want it to play a positive role in tomorrow’s world, it must be guided by human concerns." – Fei-Fei Li (The New York Times)
Brain prize winner calls Brexit a 'disaster' for the NHS and science – "Pioneering dementia scientist Prof John Hardy to donate prize money to anti-Brexit group" – Hannah Devlin (The Guardian)
Alzheimer's Might One Day Be Treated Like HIV – Mary Brophy Marcus (Men's Health)
LSD alters the neural response to music in a number of brain regions, study finds – "In the same way, music also engages a broad range of brain regions involved in memory, emotion, attention, and self-directed thought. LSD increases the ​degree to which these brain areas process music, and it seems to use a brain mechanism that is shared across all psychedelic drugs (serotonin 2A receptor signaling)." – Eric Dolan (PsyPost)
MEETINGS / EVENTS
March 15; Madison, WI, USA
INS intern Sara Heyn will be giving a talk titled, "Transformation of the Juvenile Criminal Justice System is on the Horizon: How Developmental Neuroscience and Local Policy Support Official Federal Reform" in the monthly Neuroscience and Public Policy Seminar Series.
March 20-21; Oxford, UK
This 2-day conference will address the topic of data governance in large collaborative neuro-ICT projects, and work to clarify current practice, identify obstacles and barriers, and propose future ways of organizing data governance, particularly in the context of the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) coming into effect.
 Defining Death: Organ transplantation and the 50-year legacy of the Harvard report on brain death
April 11-13; Boston, MA, USA
April 13-14, 2018; Bethlehem, PA, USA
May 16-18; Milano, Italy
BCIs: Not Getting Lost in Translation
May 21-25; Pacific Grove, CaA, USA
June 3-9; Bertinoro, Italy
During this summer session, titled, "Neural stem cells, brain organoids and brain repair, " INS President Hank Greely will be presenting.
Human Enhancement: Bioethical Challenges of Emerging Technologies
June 9-13; Rome, Italy
Neuropsychopharmacology: Meeting Global Challenges with Global Innovation
June 16-19; Wien, Austria
June 26-30; Montréal, QB, Canada
June 27-29; Paris, France
July 7-11; Berlin, Germany
November 1-2; San Diego, California
The  International Neuroethics Society  is an interdisciplinary group of scholars, scientists, clinicians, and other professionals dedicated to encouraging and inspiring research and dialogue on the responsible use of advances in brain science. Practitioners from a wide range of disciplines join the Society to interact, learn, and participate in critical neuroethics discussions that further this growing field.  Join today!