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by Bridget Williams Who has the right to decide when life prolonging treatment should be withdrawn?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 …

Judy is an intelligent, articulate woman with a great sense of humor. She is also completely paralyzed on her left side. Trouble is, she doesn’t know she is. On the contrary, she knows that she isn’t. What’s going on? Self-deception? Denial…

Would relaxing the ban on doping lead to a fairer, safer sporting field with a better spectacle for audiences? Or would it distort and undermine the very nature of sporting endeavour and run contrary to the virtues that are the essence of s…

Our debate could have been polarized, between a pure libertarianism which advocates the lifting of all restrictions on performance-enhancing drugs in all sports, and a pure prohibitionism (similar to the WADA's) which rules out any use …