Garrison, NY and Washington, DC, USA. The consent forms that people sign before participating in research are widely considered difficult to understand and sometimes inaccurate.

The lack of clarity was implicated in a high-profile legal settlement in April between Arizona State University (ASU) and a Native American tribe, which claimed that blood samples that its members provided for genetic research were used for purposes not stated in the consent form.

Efforts have been made to improve the forms, but how effective are they?

A study in IRB: Ethics & Human Research examined the changes over a quarter century in the accuracy and length of research consent forms used for 215 studies by one department in a major academic center. The review, by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and Columbia University, revealed two trends with potentially opposite effects on comprehensibility.

Madison, WI, USA. Exploiting the most comprehensive view of the human genome to date, scientists have discovered previously invisible genetic patterns in human DNA. Genetic abnormalities are most often discussed in terms of the differences between Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), minuscule changes in a single unit along the 3 billion that make up the entire string of human DNA.

Variation in thousands to hundreds of thousands of DNA's smallest pieces — large swaths varying in length or location or even showing up in reverse order — appeared 4,205 times in a DNA comparison from just four people.

Those structural differences popped into clear view through computer analysis of more than 500 linear feet of DNA molecules analyzed by the powerful genome mapping system developed over nearly two decades by David C. Schwartz, professor of chemistry and genetics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Washington, DC, USA. A new report from the Science and Technology Innovation Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars defines the criteria for a new technology assessment function in the United States.

The report, Reinventing Technology Assessment: A 21st Century Model, emphasizes the need to incorporate citizen-participation methods to complement expert analysis. Government policymakers, businesses, non-governmental organizations, and citizens need such analysis to capably navigate the technology-intensive world in which we now live.

The U.S. Congress set a global precedent in 1972 when it created an Office of Technology Assessment (OTA), but then reversed course in 1995 by shutting down the OTA. In the meantime, 18 European Technology Assessment agencies are flourishing.

La Jolla, CA, USA. Scientists have solved the decade-old mystery of why human embryonic stem cells are so difficult to culture in the laboratory, providing scientists with useful new techniques and moving the field closer to the day when stem cells can be used for therapeutic purposes.

The paper "... addresses a long-standing mystery," said Sheng Ding of The Scripps Research Institute. "Scientists have been puzzled by why human embryonic stem cells die at a critical step in the culture process. In addition to posing a question in fundamental biology, this created a huge technical challenge in the lab."

However, the research paper that appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) provides elegant solutions to both aspects of this problem. In the study, the team discovered two novel synthetic small molecule drugs that can be added to human stem cell culture that each individually prevent the death of these cells. The team also unravels the mechanisms by which the compounds promote stem cell survival, shedding light on a previously unknown aspect of stem cell biology.

Champaign, IL, USA. Exclusive licensing deals are a two-way safety net that fosters cooperation as new product ideas weave their way toward the marketplace, according to new research led by a business strategy expert.

Deepak Somaya of the University of Illinois says that granting sole rights to a partner is a tool to curb risk and leverage cooperation, not to corner the market when breakthrough innovations are ultimately launched. “We found that exclusive licensing is very significantly about the collaboration needed to reach the marketplace and succeed, not about dominating the marketplace,” he said.

“Past research theorized that exclusivity was largely about creating downstream monopolies to drive sales and profits.” In short, the deals link innovators with partners who are skilled in taking new products to the marketplace, according to findings that appear in the Strategic Management Journal. Those partners, in turn, develop a vested interest in success because exclusivity means no new licenses will water down earnings potential once the partner has helped the product succeed.