A book that criticizes alternative medicine to treat conditions that have names but no criteria is controversial - because it runs up against a supplement and alternative medicine enabled by governments that believe science can't be trusted
The UK has just recorded its second outbreak of bird flu in less than three months. At the end of November, the relatively new subtype H5N8 – which was first spotted in late 2009 in China and which has since made its way westwards as far as the Netherlands – turned up in Yorkshire.
Image: Peter Hermes FurianIn 1971 Richard Nixon declared “War on Cancer” with the signing of the National Cancer Act. Significant progress has been made in the intervening 44 years – and Europe has been at the forefront of many of the advances.But on February 4, World Cancer Day, it is worth asking whether we are winning the war on a disease which affects more than 22m people annually?First, the good news – more people are surviving cancer than are dying of the disease. The recent European Cancer Registry shows that in Europe there were almost 16m cancer survivors in 2012.
Distraught Seattle Seahawks fans after their team lost the Super Bowl. Jason Redmond/ReutersBy David G. Myers, Hope College
Learning disabilities may make life more of a challenge, but a diagnosis is not a life sentence. ShutterstockBy Sue O'Neill; Iva Strnadová, and Therese M. Cumming
The effectiveness of brain-training games depends on what outcome you're hoping to achieve. ShutterstockBy Jared Cooney Horvath, University of MelbourneOver the last decade, an ever-growing number of brain-training programs claiming to enhance learning, memory and general well-being have been developed and marketed for use in the classroom. Unfortunately, despite many years of laboratory research and classroom scrutiny, the effect of these programs on real-world learning and health remains uncertain.
A truly deep thinker must draw on both science and the humanities. Todd Martin, CC BY-NCBy Gregory Crawford, University of Notre DameThe evolution of science and engineering in the 21st century has transformed the role of these professions in profound ways that affect research, scholarship and the practice of teaching in the university setting.
The Discovery of the Child Erichthonius by Peter Paul Rubens By Helen King, The Open UniversityThe science and morality of creating a life with DNA from three different individuals is hot news. The UK parliament has voted in favor of allowing trials of mitochondrial replacement therapy (MRT), otherwise also known as three-person IVF, which would allow women with mitochondrial mutations to have healthy children.
Peter Sarsgaard stars as the psychologist Stanley Milgram in the new film "The Experimenter". BB Film ProductionsBy Kathryn Millard, Macquarie UniversityWhy have the landmark psychology experiments of the post-war era proved so enduring? Designed as dramas about human behavior, experimenters drew on theatrical techniques and tailored their results for cinema – results that, though skewed, have become embedded in the collective subconscious.
There are ways non-scientists can assess if the research underlying big claims about cancer cures stack up. Rafael Anderson Gonzales Mendoza/Flickr, CC BY-NC-SABy Nial Wheate, University of Sydney
Women – and little girls even more so – are desperate to see images and stories that don’t actively oppress them onscreen, says Olivia Murphy. Image: Nadia Mel, CC BY-SABy Olivia Murphy, University of Sydney
