All cells have electric potentials across their membranes, but is there really compelling evidence to think that such potentials are used as instructional cues in developmental biology? Numerous reports indicate that, in fact, steady, weak bioelectric fields are observed throughout biology and function during diverse biological processes, including development. Bioelectric fields, generated upon amputation, are also likely to play a key role during vertebrate regeneration by providing the instructive cues needed to direct migrating cells to form a wound epithelium, a (...) structure unique to regenerating animals. However, mechanistic insight is still sorely lacking in the field. What are the genes required for bioelectric‐dependent cell migration during regeneration? The power of genetics combined with the use of zebrafish offers the best opportunity for unbiased identification of the molecular players in bioelectricity. BioEssays 29:1133–1137, 2007. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

This paper begins by distinguishing between two levels at which ethics has been applied in the past half century. Typically, ethics gets applied at the level of public debate and policy. Much less often, applied ethics centers on the personal level. As a literature search reveals, this is true of recent philosophic discussions of divorce. This paper seeks to begin an alternative philosophic discussion of divorce and separation by considering it at a personal level. I begin this discussion by analyzing (...) two different conceptions of love-eros and agape-and suggest a synthesis of the two. The conception of love that I endorse suggests that the value of the parties in a loving relationship is constructed within the relationship itself. It is this feature of love that helps to explain why so many feel sueh a sense of worthlessness when experiencing a divorce or separation. Namely, that much of the positive value they had within their relationship has little or no value outside the context of that relationship. (shrink)

This paper begins by distinguishing between two levels at which ethics has been applied in the past half century. Typically, ethics gets applied at the level of public debate and policy. Much less often, applied ethics centers on the personal level. As a literature search reveals, this is true of recent philosophic discussions of divorce. This paper seeks to begin an alternative philosophic discussion of divorce and separation by considering it at a personal level. I begin this discussion by analyzing (...) two different conceptions of love-eros and agape-and suggest a synthesis of the two. The conception of love that I endorse suggests that the value of the parties in a loving relationship is constructed within the relationship itself. It is this feature of love that helps to explain why so many feel sueh a sense of worthlessness when experiencing a divorce or separation. Namely, that much of the positive value they had within their relationship has little or no value outside the context of that relationship. (shrink)