Philosophy & Ethics

Salon has an interview with Stuart Kauffman, a biologist who has written multiple fascinating books about complex systems. Kauffman has a new book, Reinventing the Sacred, in which he argues that we…

Brian Swimme is fond of saying, "Four billion years ago, the earth was molten rock and now it sings opera."  In their 1992 book "The Universe Story," Swimme and Thomas Berry attempted to bridge…

As the party season approaches, a timely reminder of the issues surrounding the binge drinking culture are again highlighted by research into 'young people and alcohol' a team lead by Professor…

There is a serious side of Taoism which advocates becoming like a child. "Why do the enlightened seem filled with light and happiness like children? Why do they sometimes even look and talk like…

A group of French research students is launching an online register to flag up scientific papers that have been tainted by fraud and other types of scientific misconduct. Claire Ribrault, a PhD…

Women's magazines such as The Oprah Magazine and Cosmopolitan portray cosmetic surgery as a physically risky but overall worthwhile option for enhancing physical appearance but a University of…

Public confidence in the honesty of scientists is being harmed by a small minority of researchers who behave badly, heard attendees of a meeting in Madrid on 17-18 November that was organized by the…

Would you insist someone change if they are left-handed?   90% of the world is right-handed.  Short?  That's relative but the average height for an American man is under 5'10".  …

Many people may not know that this past weekend marked the 400th anniversary of John Milton’s birth (he was born on December 9th, 1608). “But Milton remains incredibly relevant to us today,” says…

When it comes to the world of the very, very small — nanotechnology — we may have a big problem: Nano and its capacity to alter the fundamentals of nature could be failing the moral litmus test of…