Gambling with health
The world-wide growth of the gambling industry should worry public health authorities, says The Lancet. Taking advantage of the celebration of Safer Gambling Week in...
Plato didn’t think that parents mattered. These academics don’t, either
In Book V of The Republic, Plato outlines a utopian vision for raising children. They will be taken from their mothers and raised communally by...
A painful debate: shrinking the carbon footprint of anaesthetics
If there is any profession which seems remote from the Sturm und Drang of climate change, it must be anaesthetists. After all their job is...
Bioethics writer warns of ‘public health imperialism’
After three innocent children were gunned down in three months in the American state of New Mexico, the Governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham, announced a 30-day...
How scientists mould public opinion on controversial bioethical issues
One of the puzzling features of bioethics debates is how quickly the public changes its mind about controversial issues. This is particularly evident in discussions...
The number of elderly is rising, but not the number of geriatric specialists
In 1950, 8% of the American population was 65 years old and over. In 2023, that figure is about 17%. By 2050, it is estimated...
AI is an existential threat – just not the way you think
The rise of ChatGPT and similar artificial intelligence systems has been accompanied by a sharp increase in anxiety about AI. For the past few months,...
Death knock in Ecuador
Mourners in a funeral home in Ecuador got the shock of their lives when knocking came from within the coffin. They opened it up and...
The Economist: ‘Global fertility has collapsed’
The Economist, an oracle for politicians, journalists, and economists the world over, has turned bearish on the future of humanity. The leader accompanying its latest...
WHO declares end to monkeypox public health emergency
The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared an end to the global public health emergency for monkeypox. WHO declared monkeypox a public health emergency of...
US Surgeon-General says that America has a loneliness epidemic
In addition to smoking, type 2 diabetes, obesity, opioids, and alcoholism, the US Surgeon-General, Dr Vivek Murthy, has identified another epidemic of lifestyle disease which...
Pronatalism continues to intrigue the media
The notion of pronatalism – encouraging, not discouraging, population growth– hasn’t had a good press in recent decades, especially with fears of over-population and global...