Biotechnology: the challenges and opportunities -- Law, science and the new biology -- Medical, legal and ethical conundrums at the edge of life -- Contemporary influence of genetics and eugenics in family planning -- Organ procurement and transplantation: the scope of the problem -- Eldorado and the promise of cryonic suspension -- AIDS: the private and the public dilemmas -- Noble death, rational suicide, or self-determination -- Procreational autonomy: values gone awry? -- The case of the orphan embryos -- Science, religion, and the new biology -- Epilogue: Rome speaks