The proposed NHS Constitution was published on Monday as a part of a consultation process to shape the future direction of the NHS. Daniel Finklestein in today’s Times suggests that the new constitution is an irresponsible document. Some of…

Regardless of their views on capital punishment most people desire it to be centred on due process and fairness. But a software experiment, by showing that the likelihood of execution of people on death row can be predicted to high accuracy…

An interesting article in The New York Times describes how the way in which the brain forms memories can, over time, lead to false information from noncredible sources being reinterpreted as true. The article notes that this may explain why…

This week is Tunguska week: on June 30 1908 a large meteoroid or comet exploded with the force of 5-30 megatons above the Tunguska River in Russia. The journal Nature celebrates it with several articles about impacts, ranging from a discuss…

A recent article in The Economist reports the development of a new behavioural approach to targeted internet advertising being developed by companies such as Phorm, NebuAd and FrontPorch (see http://www.economist.com/science/tq/displaystory…

In Canada this week, an 84 year old man died after 9 months of treatment in an intensive care unit. He had severe brain damage and multi-organ failure, but his family sought a legal injunction to prevent doctors in the intensive care unit f…

GMO and climate change seem currently one of the more upsetting issues not only for environmentalists, but for the wider public as well. Carbon tax proposals like the one released by Canada’s opposition party last week (e.g Financial Times)…

It has been reported in the newspapers today that in many parts of the country smokers have been refused access to in-vitro-fertilisation treatment. This appears to be contrary to the national evidence-based guidelines for fertility treatme…

One of the greatest fears associated with organ transplantation is that the person from whom organs are taken is not really dead. That nightmare was almost realised in France last week when a French patient “came back to life” after 30 minu…

California has sent cease-and-desist letters to firms offering Web gene tests to consumers. The legal reason is that California law requires a licenced physician to order any lab tests. This follows from a similar crackdown in New York. Wir…