Research recently published in Nature suggests that the drug rapamycin may have the potential to extend human life span by decades: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8139816.stm If the life is of ‘positive’ value, it might seem obvious that…

Here's an interesting snippet But there's also the fact that Google is stuffed full of people who just love to experiment on its users. For instance, Google Mail uses a very slightly different blue for links than the main search pag…

Part of the debate "The NHS should not treat self-inflicted illness" Opposer: Charles FosterClosing Statement The criterion 'self-inflicted' is unworkable in practice. One simply does not know in many cases whether a parti…

Part of the debate "The NHS should not treat self-inflicted illness"Proposer: Dr Mark Sheehan Closing Statement What is most difficult about topics such as this one is that there are clear intuitions on both sides. These intuition…

Part of the debate "The NHS should not treat self-inflicted illness" Opposer: Charles FosterUpdate 2 Dr. Sheehan has fairly and inevitably surrendered. The motion as it stands is wholly unarguable. But he contends that there are s…

by David Edmonds   Here are some of the relevant facts about a landmark legal ruling last week – involving a dispute that illustrates an irresolvable tension within multi-culturalism.    JFS is a Jewish ‘faith school’ in N…

When the ethical implication of some scientific or technological advance are debated, it is common for someone to remark that it’s a waste of time to debate whether this technology should be pursued—it will be developed anyway, won’t it, an…

Part of the debate "The NHS should not treat self-inflicted injuries" Proposer: Dr Mark SheehanUpdate 2 As Foster suggests we must be clear about the motion. So what might it mean to 'not treat self-inflicted illness'? If …

The UK health media is currently focused on two natural threats to public health: one from swine flu, and the other from the heatwave currently affecting the country. Both flu epidemics and heatwaves frequently cause many deaths. For exampl…

A public health expert has warned yesterday against the idea of swine-flu parties, arguing that it may undermine the fight against the emerging pandemic. But others, including James Delingpole in the Telegraph have embraced the idea, hoping…