Today another show trial of a critic of Islam has been going on. No, not in Saudi Arabia. In Austria. Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff is being prosecuted for hate speech for describing Islam and Sharia law in public lectures. Reporters from the …

On the 4th of January 2006, the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (better known to his countrymen as ‘Arik’) suffered a massive stroke at his vast Sycamore Ranch. He was placed under induced coma from which he never recovered consciousnes…

by Julian Savulescu Paije Richardson's dreams of a new life were crushed tonight as the public voted him from the X Factor final rounds. On Dec 9, the fate of another young hopeful will be decided by the people’s choice. But this time i…

by Anders Sandberg The pope approves of the use of condoms to fight AIDS: according to an upcoming book he says it is acceptable when the intention is to reduce the risk of infection. While he still views abstinence as the proper way of fig…

Steve Clarke  Scott Atran’s Talking to The Enemy (HarperCollins: New York, 2010) has recently been published. This is a big, sprawling and very readable book which has much that is important to say about religious behaviour and the ro…

Lots of people believe in psychic powers, but there has never been any convincing evidence for their existence.  Though there are many anecdotes attesting to their existence (below I will say something about why we ought not to be imp…

By Julian Savulescu Reneuron has today announced the first transfer of stem cells in the UK to treat stroke. This follows quickly from Geron’s recent trial in spinal cord injury. This is a historic moment which may be viewed in the same way…

by Julian Savulescu Teresa Lewis died on the 24th of September after being a lethal injection at the Greensville Correctional Centre in Virginia. The 41-year-old was convicted of plotting to kill her husband, Julian Lewis, and her stepson, …

Further to Julian’s article about Giving What We Can, an important part of helping people as much as possible is to find out which charities do the most good for a certain amount of money. This has been in the news recently with this articl…

Who will rid us of these turbulent reductionists? They are very difficult to cull. The one gene = one protein idea is dead. But some of its offspring, which include the notion that there is a gene for immensely complex, plainly multifactori…