Academic literature on the topic 'Cyborg fetus'

The scientific and political debate over whether a fetus can experience pain highlights a vital and controversial boundary for governance—the boundary of human life. I use the 2012 and 2013 US federal debates over twenty-week abortion bans (also known as fetal pain laws) to investigate how personhood is constructed in a society transformed by biomedical science and technology in the United States. Although those who support and oppose the bill take different stances on abortion regulation, each relies on biomedical knowledge and risk assessment to substantiate claims. Through content analysis of congressional documents, I find that members of Congress strategically draw on biomedical discourse to manage the boundaries of bodies and construct a universal “at-risk” political subject in need of governmental protection. These findings bring scholarly debates about personhood into the era of biomedicalization by emphasizing the latent process of creating a hybridized subjectivity that I call cybernetic personhood.

As the 21st century moves forward, it is becoming more and more apparent that the genetic makeup of any individual strongly influences the way they metabolise nutrients. It is very important, therefore, to understand the techniques and technologies used to assess the contribution genes make to the physiology of an individual. Clearly, it is not possible to provide a comprehensive overview, but in the present review an attempt will be made to show, using examples from the authors' research, how these methods have contributed to this understanding. Studies are being undertaken into Fe transport across the placenta, from the mother to the fetus, and the consequences of maternal anaemia on pregnancy outcome. Levels of gene transcript and protein have been measured using Northern and Western blotting respectively. During the course of this work a new protein has been identified using the available human genome database. Following this ‘in silico’ or ‘cyber biology’, techniques such as real-time RT–PCR and RNA interference have been used to examine expression of this gene and its protein. The methods used, briefly how they work and some of their limitations will be explained. The objective of the present review is primarily to give a better perception of how molecular biology can be used in research and to help gain a clearer understanding of some of the techniques used.