https://journals.sagepub.com/overview-metric/BOD
Lab-grown 3D structures spark emerging concerns over donor consent, animal welfare, and developing sentience in a dish
Nature Reviews -- Bioengineering
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/science/brain-organoids-neurons.html
Below I've linked a chapter that may be helpful in coming up with practical ways to integrate this theme into YOUR course. The chapter is titled, "What is integration?" and it is found in a book called Branches on the Same Tree: The Integration of the Humanities and Arts with Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in Higher Education.
This chapter reminds us that subjects like Bioethics are NEW disciplines that have "arisen at the intersection of existing fields" (p. 59). Courses like "Science, Technology, and Society" have become increasingly popular because they address the need for multiple lenses on truly complex issues.
When you choose to tackle a topic from within your discipline that typically lies outside of it, you are giving your students the opportunity to develop "cognitive diversity" -- a trait of increasing importance in light of AI's rapidly growing influence.
The chapter linked below outlines the "threshold concepts" of the Humanities, Arts, Science, Engineering, and Medicine. A "threshold concept" is a concept that opens up a door to a whole new world of thought and perspective for a student. When we introduce students to these concepts, avenues of thought open up to them which were previously closed off. When we introduce multiple ways of thinking within the same course, we offer opportunities for truly innovative work to take place.
Here's a link to the chapter, "What is integration?" nationalacademies.org/read/24988/chapter/5
In this chapter, you'll find many specific examples of how faculty around the country have integrated disciplines within their individual courses and programs.
There is much fuel for the imagination in this text, when it comes to this symposium!!
Here is the link to the full eBook text: nationalacademies.org/read/24988
How do generative AI systems challenge traditional humanistic ideas of authorship, originality, and artistic meaning?
Connects to: philosophy, art, literature, media studies
Key tension: Is creativity essentially human?
How recommendation systems (TikTok, Netflix, Amazon) actively shape taste, identity, and public discourse.
Connects to: sociology, cultural studies, communication
Key tension: Do algorithms reflect us—or remake us?
What do we owe workers displaced by AI and automation?
Connects to: ethics, economics, political theory
Key tension: Efficiency vs. human dignity
How facial recognition, data tracking, and biometric systems reshape what it means to be a “person” in public.
Connects to: philosophy, law, psychology
Key tension: Security vs. autonomy
How racial, gendered, and socioeconomic biases enter machine learning systems—and what responsibility developers carry.
Connects to: critical race studies, gender studies, ethics
Key tension: Can code ever be neutral?
What happens to identity, empathy, and ethics in VR spaces, gaming communities, and digital avatars?
Connects to: psychology, philosophy, performance studies
Key tension: What is “real” presence?
Who controls digital history when everything is searchable, permanent, and copyable?
Connects to: history, archival studies, law
Key tension: Permanence vs. forgiveness
Can chatbots, virtual therapists, and AI companions ease isolation—or do they worsen it?
Connects to: psychology, spiritual studies, ethics
Key tension: Connection vs. simulation
How social media platforms, bots, and algorithms influence elections, protests, and civic participation.
Connects to: political science, media studies, ethics
Key tension: Access vs. manipulation
A capstone philosophical reflection on consciousness, agency, moral responsibility, and machine “thinking.”
Connects to: philosophy, theology, cognitive science
Key tension: Intelligence vs. personhood