Adoption of AI-scribes by doctors raises ethical questions
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 12-Jan-2026 05:16 ET (12-Jan-2026 10:16 GMT/UTC)
Many New Zealand GPs have taken up the use of AI scribes to transcribe patient notes during consultations despite ongoing challenges with their legal and ethical oversight, data security, patient consent, and the impact on the doctor-patient relationship, a study led by the University of Otago, Wellington – Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka, Pōneke has found.
Kyoto, Japan -- For many endangered species, population decline to the brink of extinction leads to inbreeding, exposing a species to deleterious recessive mutations that severely limit its potential to recover. But the red-headed wood pigeon, endemic to the Ogasawara Islands in Japan, followed a different trajectory.
Although this pigeon population fell to below 80 individuals in the 2000s, it began to increase markedly after the removal of an introduced predator, the feral cat. Such a remarkable recovery raised questions regarding inbreeding, and why harmful mutations that could cause inbreeding depression, or a loss of genetic diversity, didn't hinder the species' revival.
In an effort to unravel this biological puzzle, a team of researchers at Kyoto University set out to investigate the factors that contributed to this unlikely comeback.
As the nation gears up for the rollout of an updated COVID-19 vaccine, a new study shows the economic benefits of continued broad vaccination in adults. In fact, the country would ultimately save more money that it would spend on vaccinating every person over age 65 with a single dose of an updated mRNA vaccine against coronavirus, the study concludes.