Stem Cells

This article talks about how undifferentiated cells are developing into more than the 200 types of cells the adult human body holds. Scientists say that one day stem cells may be used to replace or repair damaged cells, and can also have the potential to drastically change the treatment of conditions like cancer, Alheimer's and Parkinson's disease and even paralysis. Most research has been conducted on embryonic stem cells lines -- cultures of cells derived from four or five day old embryos, or fertilized cells. People that are against the use of embryos in stem cell research, which often uses embryos dicarded by fertility clinics, want it to be severely restricted or banned outright as inhumane.

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/stemcells/index.html?scp=1-spot&sq=stem%20cell%20research&st=cse

Court Upholds susupension of Student in Video Case

A student, at Kentridge High School, was not the one who filmed his teacher, Joyce Mong, in her English class. He did get suspended for being a part in making the film though. The film mocked the clutter around her classroom and also mocked her hygiene, it also captured some unbecoming angles.
His suspension had begun on May 8. He is scheduled to graduate on June 16. Now he can take part in the ceremony only if he completes a research paper on secual harassment that would cut the suspension in half.
He is known for his skills as a video editor, and the school officials suspended him largely based on comments by fellow students who said he either helped make the vido or edited it online. He does not appear in the film.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/23/us/23video.html?scp=1&sq=myspace%20punishment%20at%20school%20&st=cse

Student Speech Right in the Digital Age

For several decades courts have struggled to determine when, if ever, public schools should have the power to restrict student expression that does not occur on school grounds during school hours. In the last several years, courts have struggled with this same question in a new context - the digital media. The dramatic increase in the number of student speech cases involving the Internet, mobile phones, and video cameras begs for a closer examination of the scope of school officials' authority to censor the expression of minors as well as the scope of juvenile speech rights generally. This Article takes a close look at all the various justifications for limiting juvenile speech rights and concludes that none of them supports granting schools broad authority to limit student speech in the digital media, even with respect to violent or harassing expression. Furthermore, this Arrticle argues that the tests most courts and commentators have applied to determine whether a school may control student speech grant schools far too much authority to restrict juvenile speech rights. The Article concludes that the primary approach schools should take to most digital speech is not to punish or restrict such expression, but instead to educate students about how to use digital media responsibly.

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1112789