EurekAlert! News by Subject: Policy & Ethics - News by Subject: Policy & Ethics

Policy & Ethics

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 24-Dec-2025 20:11 ET (25-Dec-2025 01:11 GMT/UTC)

UN Member States pledge to increase access to diagnosis and inhaled medicines for the 480 million people living with COPD

Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease
Business Announcement

The Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) congratulates UN Member States for recognizing that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD) is a major cause of disability and death requiring urgent action and welcomes the call for increased access to diagnosis and inhaled medicines included in the Political Declaration.

The perfect plastic? Plant-based, fully saltwater degradable, zero microplastics

RIKEN
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS) in Japan have one-upped themselves in their quest to solve our microplastic problem. They report a new plant-based plastic made from cellulose, the world’s most abundant organic compound. The new plastic is strong, flexible, and capable of rapid decomposition in natural environments, setting it apart from other plastics marketed as biodegradable.

Journal: Journal of the American Chemical Society

Raising legal drinking age improves academic performance and mental health

University of Zurich
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A study by the University of Zurich, based on policy changes in Spain, shows that teenagers drink significantly less alcohol when the minimum legal drinking age is raised. In addition, a reduction in drinking also leads to improved academic performance and mental health. These findings could be relevant for Switzerland as well.

Journal: Journal of Health Economics

Kharon and Digital Science launch integration to strengthen research security

Digital Science
Business Announcement

Kharon and Digital Science have entered into a strategic partnership, bringing together Kharon’s risk intelligence and Digital Science’s world-leading Dimensions Research Security platform.

New video dataset to advance AI for health care

University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have released Observer, the first multimodal dataset of anonymized, real-world clinical encounters, combining video, audio, transcripts and health records. By capturing how care actually unfolds in the exam room, the dataset enables new research into communication, clinical practice and the responsible development of AI for health care.

Journal: Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association
Funder: NIH/National Library of Medicine, NIH Office of the Director

Shinshu University finds no price drop in Fukushima flounder after treated-water discharge

Shinshu University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

An analysis by Shinshu University and the Distribution Economics Institute of Japan shows that wholesale prices for flounder—a key Fukushima catch—remained stable after the August 2023 ALPS-treated water discharge. Using a predictive market model based on pre-discharge data, the study found no significant price decline, providing reassurance for fisheries stakeholders and informing future policy debates on nuclear-water disposal.

Journal: Fisheries Science

Book prepares K-12 leaders for the next public health crisis

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, News Bureau
Book Announcement

Coordinating with public health officials, offering students laptops and showing them how to connect, creating Wi-Fi hubs for neighborhoods that lack them, developing new systems for distributing school lunches and offering in-person learning hubs for students whose parents were essential workers are among the many specific recommendations included in a new book about K-12 learning during a pandemic.

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