Het gebruik en de mogelijkheden van licht bij de teelt van boomkwekerijgewassen

PPO projectnummer 32 312000 00 PT-nummer 1245

Engineering Substantially Prolonged Human Lifespans: Biotechnological Enhancement and Ethics

Substantial extension of the human lifespan has recently become a subject of lively debate. One reason for this is the completion in 2001 of the Human Genome Project and the experimental avenues for biogerontological research it has opened. Another is recent theoretical progress in biogerontology. We had better investigate the ethical aspects of considerable human lifespan extension now, before this extension has become genuinely practicable, or before large sums of money have been spent on it. We shall see, first, that these apparently technical, biomedical questions cannot be discussed without considering ethics and values, and, second, that this investigation inevitably demands that we try to conceptualise something of what ageing itself and being human is about

Liquid sorting and film coating : techniques for improving tree seed performance

Tree seed performance has benefited considerably from the development of controlled methods to overcome dormancy. Traditionally tree seeds have often been stratified outdoors. Depending on the types of dormancy, stratification starts before or during summer and continues during winter, or it starts before winter. Seeds become ready to germinate during winter, and they may start to germinate before sowing. Reducing the water content of the seeds during pre-treatment can prevent this premature germination. If premature germination is prevented, treatments at slightly reduced and controlled moisture content (MC) can be prolonged. As a result, percentage, rate, and uniformity of germination increase. Moreover germination proceeds over a wider range of seedbed conditions. So far, controlled MC treatment has been developed for about 20 species, both broad leaved and conifers

A Humanistic Interpretation of the Qur'an?

The presence of great numbers of Muslims in Europe, including The Netherlands, makes it no longer appropriate to view Islam as a non-Western religion. Naturally, Muslims, too, are people who adapt their identity and culture – including their religion – to their circumstances, and simultaneously try to turn these circumstances to their advantage. The fact that Muslims have become ever more visible in The Netherlands has led to public debate on a variety of topics: on forms of cremation and burial, ritual slaughter, honour killing, headscarves, marriage migration and, at the same time, on more abstract questions in the background, for instance the separation of church and state, cultural relativism and the multicultural society

Engineering Substantially Prolonged Human Lifespans: Biotechnological Enhancement and Ethics

Substantial extension of the human lifespan has recently become a subject of lively debate. One reason for this is the completion in 2001 of the Human Genome Project and the experimental avenues for biogerontological research it has opened. Another is recent theoretical progress in biogerontology. We had better investigate the ethical aspects of considerable human lifespan extension now, before this extension has become genuinely practicable, or before large sums of money have been spent on it. We shall see, first, that these apparently technical, biomedical questions cannot be discussed without considering ethics and values, and, second, that this investigation inevitably demands that we try to conceptualise something of what ageing itself and being human is about