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Policy & Ethics

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 18-Jun-2026 11:16 ET (18-Jun-2026 15:16 GMT/UTC)

Q&A: Most biology education guidelines lack any connection to society — UW researchers explain why that's a problem

University of Washington
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Elli Theobald, University of Washington assistant professor of biology, aims to connect the biology concepts her students learn in class to real-world issues, something she hopes will help both retain students in the biology major at the UW and help non-majors in the class with their future careers. How common is it for educational materials — such as guidelines or test questions — to include connections to society? In a recent paper, Theobald and her team examined almost 3,000 science guidelines and assessment questions from 16 sources to answer this question. Of the approximately 200 elements — about 7% — that had real-world implications, many discussed ethics and public health issues.

Journal: Disciplinary and Interdisciplinary Science Education Research
Funder: National Science Foundation

Researchers create first-of-its-kind index of evolving policy landscape around health care AI

The Mount Sinai Hospital / Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Peer-Reviewed Publication

New York, NY — [June 1, 2026] —As hospitals and health systems rapidly adopt artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, a new study by investigators at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai finds that the policies governing health care AI are expanding quickly but remain fragmented across regulators, governments, and standards organizations. Their findings were published in today’s online issue of npj Digital Medicine [https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-026-02734-y]. The researchers analyzed 240 health care AI-related policies published between 2016 and 2025 using their newly developed framework called the Health & AI Policy Index. The analysis found that oversight efforts are accelerating worldwide, though no single, unified framework currently exists to guide how AI should be deployed, monitored, and governed in clinical settings.

Journal: npj Digital Medicine

JMIR report: Digital platforms and policy shifts reshape GLP-1 affordability

JMIR Publications
Peer-Reviewed Publication

(Toronto, June 1, 2026) JMIR Publications today released a News and Perspectives report on emerging pharmaceutical access models in the United States.

Journal: Journal of Medical Internet Research

Digital Science launches AI-Assisted Profile Curation in Symplectic Elements

Digital Science
Business Announcement

Digital Science has announced a new suite of AI-powered capabilities for Symplectic Elements that streamline how research information is captured and maintained across higher education institutions.

DFG to fund 13 new collaborative research centers

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
Business Announcement

Topics range from the exploration of extraterrestrial life to the paper applications of the future / Approximately €170 million in funding for the first funding period

How the EU’s carbon price on imports strengthens climate policies globally

Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In early 2026, the EU extended its domestic carbon pricing to key products from beyond its borders. This is managed through the “Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism” (CBAM). Exporters of polluting goods to the EU must pay a climate tariff, unless their country has its own pricing scheme. A study finds that this could incentivise EU trade partners to adopt carbon pricing as well. In particular Canada, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea are found to be likely candidates, leading to 73 percent more CO₂ emissions being avoided compared to when only the EU applies its climate policy.

Journal: Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists

Regulatory definitions and classification of biosimilar medications across the 6 regions of the World Health Organization

JAMA Network
Peer-Reviewed Publication

About The Study: This scoping review provides a detailed comparison of biosimilar regulatory guidelines across all World Health Organization regions and identified similarities and differences that may limit the transferability of data between and among countries. These barriers can potentially affect medication availability, price, access, and reimbursement of biosimilars.

Journal: JAMA Health Forum

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