The Eighteenth International AIDS Conference is currently underway in Vienna, and one of the issues that has been under discussion is how to reduce HIV transmission within the various at-risk groups. One such group is the prison population,…

As an elite sportsperson you’ve almost no opportunity to defend yourself against the prevailing key-players in the sports-industry system, especially in the case of doping. Otherwise you’re going to risk your career or even your status as a…

At Harvard Medical School someone is screaming, reports the Boston Globe. ‘Death!’, he shrieks, ‘Why after all these years have you not appeared?’ He begs for euthanasia, tormented by his pain. Medical students listen to him. His lines were…

A powerful BBC documentary, “Between Life and Death”, screened this evening on BBC One. The documentary (which can be viewed online for the next week in the UK) examined the life and death decisions made for critically ill patients with sev…

Genetic tests at birth, designer babies, synthetic life and resurrected mammoths. In the final part of this series, Richard Dawkins talks to Craig Venter and other leading scientists about the potential powers of genome science in the futur…

Elite athletes are a kind of mirror for society, but simultaneously a role model for the young generation. According to the general opinion, being the one looking-up to implies a certain level of moral behaviour. Therefore cheating by abusi…

by Bridget Williams Who has the right to decide when life prolonging treatment should be withdrawn? Should doctors have the right to refuse to use costly and scarce resources to continue to treat a permanently unconscious, dying man? Is the…

by Tony Coady Israel’s decision to institute an inquiry into the military misadventure with the flotilla attempting to break its blockade of Gaza and its subsequent partial relaxation of restrictions on aid to Gaza represent grudging conces…

by Dominic Wilkinson Quads, Quins, Sexts, Septs, even Octs! High order multiple pregnancies such as the Suleman octuplets in California generate enormous media attention. However, they also raise some unique ethical questions. In the second…

Robot companions are being used in Japan and the the US for elderly patients in nursing homes. They take advantage of our innate tendency to develop affection for things that are cute and appear to respond positively to us. Paro is a robot …