-
People will behave badly if it’s not too much work…and if no one is watching
by Alexandre Erler An interesting article recently published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science concludes that people are more likely to transgress moral norms if doing so does not require an explicit action on their part. The researchers, from the University of Toronto, conducted two studies: in one of these, they asked participants whether
-
Is mathematics the Christmas present of the year?
by Anders Sandberg Is mathematics the Christmas present of the year? TheoryMine is a company that uses automatic theorem discovery and proof to generate new theorems via computer, which customers can then buy the naming rights for (for a paper describing the method, see The Theory behind TheoryMine). Is this a scam? Or does it
-
Cloudy with a Chance of Dementia
By Matthew L Baum “A test could indicate whether people in their 40s are more likely to develop dementia later in life, scientists say. But wouldn’t many of us rather not know?” reads the picture caption from a recent BBC News Magazine article .
-
Is Discounted Therapy Fair?
by David Shipley A friend of mine is a therapist. She faced the following dilemma. My friend specialises in enhancing fertility and was approached by a prospective patient who wished to become pregnant but could not afford to pay the standard fee of £45 per treatment as she was on benefits. The woman was aged
-
If you’ve done nothing wrong, you’ve got nothing to fear: Wikileaks and RIPA
Governments around the world have condemned Wikileaks recent release of US diplomatic cables, often while simultaneously denying they matter; the reactions are tellingly similar to the previous reactions from the US military simultaneously claiming the leaks were highly illegal, dangerous and irrelevant. At the same time many have defended the release as helping transparency. As
-
Our Future as Human Lobsters
On Sunday, scientists at the Harvard Dana-Farber Cancer Institute announced that they had succeeded in reversing age-related decline in mice, using genetic engineering techniques. The scientists created transgenic mice with a gene for telomerase expression that could be switched on and off with a chemical signal.
-
Advance notice: Everyday philosophy
Advance notice of a forthcoming talk at the Oxford Playhouse on the 11th February, given by Philosophy Bites author Nigel Warburton: What is philosophy? Who needs it? Writer and podcaster Nigel Warburton, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the Open University, discusses the relevance of philosophy to life today. From questions about the limits of free
-
Is it ethical to force-feed prisoners on a hunger strike?
by Alexandre Erler The question, which generated debate a few years ago in the context of the US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, is now arising again in Switzerland, where imprisoned cannabis farmer Bernard Rappaz has been on hunger strike for about three months now, in protest against a prison sentence he considers excessive. Rappaz
-
Who wants to be an abortionist?
By Lachlan de Crespigny Dr. Evan James never wavered in his determination to become an abortion provider. But he is unusual – few trainee doctors have a driving ambition to become abortionists. The U.S. has seen a 40 per cent drop in the number of doctors who perform abortions since the early 1980s. Those in
-
Opt-Out Day and Consequences
Part 2 of 2 of a series on TSA searches and Opt-Out Day The first post in this series argued that the TSA search policy violates a fundamental liberal right to sexual privacy. However, the fact that people have a reasonable claim that their rights are being violated does not ipso facto make Opt-Out day