This past April, The New York Times reported that a form of enhanced interrogation known as “waterboarding” was used on Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, confessed mastermind of the 9-11 attacks, upwards of 183 times, and that the same technique was …

Umbilical cord blood (UCB) contains haematopoietic stem cells, which can be used for the treatment of several lethal disorders, including leukaemia and several types of anaemia. Other sources of haematopoietic stem cells are bone marrow and…

In the last six months I have heard that the current economic crisis proves that free market capitalism is a failure. I have also heard that it proves that government intervention is responsible for market booms and busts. I have read that …

Part of the debate "The NHS should not treat self-inflicted illness" Opposer: Charles Foster (Barrister & teacher of medical law and ethics at Oxford. He is attached to the Ethox Centre and is an Associate Fellow of Green Temp…

Part of the debate "The NHS should not treat self-inflicted illness" Proposer: Dr Mark Sheehan (Oxford BRC Ethics Fellow at the Ethox Centre and James Martin Research Fellow in the Program on the Ethics of the New Biosciences)Open…

Moderator: Dr Paula Boddington Should the NHS treat self-inflicted illness? This question raises a plethora of different issues, about science, society, social policy, as well as philosophical questions about human nature and individual fre…

Recently the Atlantic (see here) published results of a 72-year longitudinal study, known as the Grant Study. The study, led  by psychiatrist George Vaillant, followed the lives of 268 men who entered Harvard University in the late 30…

After the Times exposed the identity of the police blogger "Night Jack" he has been disciplined by the police force. The blog (now deleted) had won the Orwell Price for political writing and often expressed critical views related …

In a recent entry on this weblog, Roger Crisp discusses the recent and controversial “Release” advertising campaign on drugs (and its slogan “Nice People Take Drugs”), and rightly highlights the need for serious and widespread debate on dru…

China has an imbalance in the sex ratio resulting from selective abortion of female fetuses. Predictions that it may result in social disharmony are eventuating sooner than expected – but the problem is different to the one that was a…