In defence of conscientious objection
Why not make clinically indicated procedures the benchmark? Photo by Hush Naidoo on Unsplash Over the last few years there has been a vigorous and fascinating debate about...
Septuagenarian mothers
Below is an article about a 73-year-old Indian woman who has just given birth to twin boys. This is a story which used to fly...
Christian hospital system in US sacks doctor over support for assisted suicide
Conflict set up between freedom of speech and freedom of religion A Christian health system in Denver has set off a firestorm of controversy by...
Mini-brains created from stem cells
Their brain waves resemble pre-term babies False color image of a slice of human brain organoid from a patient with autism spectrum disorder / Alysson...
73-year-old Indian woman gives birth to twins
“The happiest time of my life,” says her husband Mangayamma Yaramati and her husband, Sitarama Rajarao, at their baby shower A 73-year-old woman has given birth...
Brain-dead Czech woman gives birth after 117 days
Child born healthy A Czech woman has given birth 117 days after brain death. Doctors at Brno University Hospital kept the woman alive for 17...
Demography still on the political agenda
Bernie Sanders stirs up a hornets’ nest Photo by Vidar Nordli-Mathisen on Unsplash Population policy was in the headlines around the world this week. US Senator Bernie Sanders,...
Junk food will make you blind!!!!
A parable of media hype Photo by Miguel Andrade on Unsplash The headline in the sober pages of the Annals of Internal Medicine was irresistible clickbait: “Blindness Caused...
Who needs ‘moral bioenhancement’ most?
Is it realistic? Photo by Rob Curran on Unsplash “Many supporters of ’moral bioenhancement’ (MBE), the use of biomedical interventions for moral improvement, have been criticised for having...
The latest news about the ‘gay gene’
Nearly every week, it seems, you read about the discovery of a new gene explaining inexplicable behaviour -- internet addiction, obesity, voting conservative, voting liberal,...
Farewell to the ‘gay gene’ theory
Study sparks controversy even in the research instituteThere is no single “gay gene”, according to an article in Science which analyses survey responses about same-sex...
Australia’s legislative laboratory for euthanasia
After Victoria, Western Australia and Queensland? Perth, capital of Western Australia The Labor-majority Parliament of the Australian state of Victoria passed assisted dying legislation in...