Bioethics has become an important part of everyday dynamics, encompassing both clinical and research ethics. This edited collection aims to challenge some critical cornerstones of today's contemporary bioethical concerns and issues. The individual chapters were prepared by esteemed scholars with international background in their specialties. Nowadays technological revolution is reaching a whole new level, continuously challenging us to define what is human. Keeping this in mind, the authors provided comprehensive and thoughtful views on different bioethical issues, including cultural and social influences on contemporary bioethics, posthumanism and transhumanism, death, the critical importance of informed consent, prenatal genetic testing, gene and cell therapy, mandatory vaccinations, cannabis use, antidoping concerns, treatment of rare diseases and pain management, and finally educational and legislative lines of reasoning.

A theory of human evolution and history based on ever-increasing mutual dependency between humans and things In this engaging exploration, archaeologist Ian Hodder departs from the two prevailing modes of thought about human evolution: the older idea of constant advancement toward a civilized ideal and the newer one of a directionless process of natural selection. Instead, he proposes a theory of human evolution and history based on “entanglement,” the ever-increasing mutual dependency between humans and things. Not only do humans become dependent on things, Hodder asserts, but things become dependent on humans, requiring an endless succession of new innovations. It is this mutual dependency that creates the dominant trend in both cultural and genetic evolution. He selects a small number of cases, ranging in significance from the invention of the wheel down to Christmas tree lights, to show how entanglement has created webs of human-thing dependency that encircle the world and limit our responses to global crises.

Genocide involves significant death and trauma. Yet the enormous scope of genocide comes into view when one looks at the factors that lead to mass killing, the struggle for survival during genocide, and the ways survivors reconstruct their lives after the violence ends. Over a one hundred day period in 1994, the country of Rwanda saw the genocidal slaughter of at least 800,000 Tutsi at the hands of members of the Hutu majority government. This book is a powerful oral history of the tragedy and its aftermath from the perspective of its survivors. Based on in-depth interviews conducted over the course of fifteen years, the authors take a holistic approach by tracing how victims experienced the horrific events, as well as how they have coped with the aftermath as they struggled to resume their lives. The Rwanda genocide deserves study and documentation not only because of the failure of the Western world to intervene, but also because it raises profound questions about the ways survivors create a new life out of the ashes of all that was destroyed. How do they deal with the all-encompassing traumas of genocide? Is forgiveness possible? And what does the process of rebuilding teach us about genocide, trauma, and human life?

Azahr has always known what to expect from life. As the second son of Delphe, a great military future beckons, and he’s content in his role as future protector of his brother Adlard’s crown. But when Adlard dies suddenly, Azahr is immediately thrust into the role of first son and future heir to the throne. Despite his best efforts, it quickly becomes apparent that nothing he does will ever make him good enough to replace Adlard. In the absence his beloved brother left behind, a dark void created by anger, frustration, and fear begins to open within Azahr. And in that void, a beast is born. On the eve of his eighteenth birthday, Azahr crosses a faery when he refuses her hospitality from a relentless downpour. The faery condemns him with a curse that will haunt him and threaten his very humanity; a curse that empowers the beast and sets it free. Exiled from his home, Azahr takes refuge in a forgotten corner of the kingdom, where he battles daily to hold the beast at bay. Until, one day, the door opens and a ray of light shines into his castle, as Kiara enters and brings with her a heretofore unimagined hope of breaking the curse. If Azahr can just keep himself together long enough for Kiara to find/glimpse in him the man he could, and may yet, be. Human Again is the fourth in a five part companion series that rewrites the classic tales of happily ever after.

The author, a computer science professor diagnosed with terminal cancer, explores his life, the lessons that he has learned, how he has worked to achieve his childhood dreams, and the effect of his diagnosis on him and his family.

Three decades of continual polypandemic more or less eradicated the weak and the elderly, and finally, through vaccination, the world population achieved viral immunity. The society changed significantly over this period. The last pandemic, caused by the AGIS-CoV-1 virus (Acute Gastrointestinal Syndrome Corona Virus-1), initially seemed similar to the previous ones, a mutation of the original, attacking specific combination of organs. This particular strain affected the intestinal tract, radically changing the gut microbiota. The symptoms, however, seemed mild, and the virus was deemed as unthreatening at the time. Even though the virus was not deadly, the aftermath altered society completely. The human microbiota was depleted severely as a result of the virus attack. Most gut bacteria types were destroyed, except some with specific mutations. Depending on the host microflora composition after the infection, several classes of behavioral responses were observed, leaving the human host dominated by only a few types of bacterial- rather than hundreds previously. The drastically altered human gut microbiota transformed the host's neurotranmsmitter biochemistry in the brain, leaving personal traits identified with the bacteria type. Six major groups in society coexisted. The groups differed not only in the gut bacterial composition but also by significant differences in behavior, leading to a society differentiated into subclasses. The impact effected the political system and led to the formation of a new religion Dr. Jonas Frost, a cell biologist, belonged to the Hyper-class, known for their typical hyperactivity and intensity. He was on the verge of making an extraordinary discovery. The bacteria had established access to the Homosapien brain and were modifying, not only the human behavior but also the genome for a new human species: The Homo U-Enteroensis.

I was born in a very small town in rural southern Mississippi, down in the delta, the name of the town is Little Texas. My parents were share croppers. I am the second eldest of five siblings. When I was eight, we moved to Rockford, ILL. We were all schooled there. I left school my senior year and became a machinist. I worked in machine shops for 22 years then became a truck driver and moved to Florida. I attended Indian River Community College and studied Art. I paint portraits, seascapes, land