2004
Private Choice or Public Health
Jan 19th
Dr Martin Schweigger
The MMR debate is a mix of scientific argument, accusation, personality clashes, media intervention, patient power, public policies and universal mistrust. Will this controversy be repeated again and again as the public/private debate develops in medicine?
Mars, Red or Dead?
Feb 9th
Oliver Morton
Mars continues to surprise us. Almost every day new information and pictures make space scientists revise their ideas - whether about the possibility of life on other planets or the relevance to the history of the Earth and the development of the solar system. An update on the latest from the Red Planet.
Trust, Scepticism and Cynicism in Science
Mar 2nd
Kieron O'Hara
Science is particularly reliant on trust. Disasters such as the BSE crisis have led to a collapse in confidence; now scientific opinion about the MMR vaccine or GM foods is ignored or lost in the noise. Many commentators now advocate the precautionary principle, the idea that innovation should not be introduced unless it can be shown that it is safe and risk-free. Is this a sensible, sceptical line about scientists who overestimate their capabilities, and who are in hock to commercial interests? Or has public disquiet gone beyond scepticism towards self-defeating cynicism? Is science a juggernaut out of control - or has a Luddite spirit returned to hold back human progress? In whose interests are scientists - and their critics - acting?
The Physics of Society
Apr 20th
Philip Ball
Are there laws of nature that guide human affairs? Is there anything inevitable about the ways humans behave and organise themselves? Have we complete freedom in creating our societies, or are we trapped by 'human nature'? How much of society can be described by physics?
Darwin and Politics
May 17th
Greg Radick
Was Darwin completely free from cultural and political influences, or was he a creature of his time? Engels suggested that the theory of evolution was a conjuring trick. All Darwin had done was use Malthus' population theory and mix it with the capitalist doctrine of competition. He then applied it to Nature and called it evolution. In the light of historical research has this criticism any validity today? And could it be applied to other scientific ideas? Can science be separated from politics?
The Future of Alchemy
Jul 6th
David Knight
To many people alchemy is seen as the fruitless search for the philosopher's stone, a crude and misguided attempt to mix religion, science and magic. But was alchemy a series of delusions and confidence tricks, or were alchemists struggling with some of the ideas that still trouble us today - the difference between nature and artifice, the search for a theory of everything, and the synthesis of life itself?
Medicines Out Of Control
Oct 18th
Charles Medawar
The question of how scientific research is funded, monitored, published and then used is at the heart of the current debate about the antidepressant Seroxat. As far as the patient is concerned, is the pharmaceutical research objective? Is all of it published? Is it properly monitored? Are the warnings in the packet complete and truthful? Is the regulatory body independent and efficient? Or is the medical profession in the pocket of the big pharmaceutical companies?
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