Wesley J. Smith

Scientists have been working on this for nearly a decade now on making ES cells capable of being used directly in therapies. They have been stymied by three primary problems; the potential for tissue rejection (which we will not get into in this post), the cells’ propensity to form tumors . . . . Continue Reading »

Just another day at the . . . . Continue Reading »

So, a study shows that girls play less energetically than boys. Big whup and, as they say, vive la difference. But some find even this innocuous information a cause for hand wringing. From the story:Girls tend to play less energetically than boys, because they are more interested in chatting, a new . . . . Continue Reading »

Things continue to go from the strange, to the surreal. The International Endocrine Society is advocating that drugs be given to children with gender identity questions to block puberty, which is already done in some places. From the story:Transsexual children as young as 12 should be given drugs to . . . . Continue Reading »

The next time you are tempted to scoff at folk with disabilities who worry that they many people think their lives are not worth living, remember this story. Two medical technicians from the UK have been arrested for allegedly deciding that the life of a man with disabilities wasn’t . . . . Continue Reading »

Assisted suicide is not really about a “safety valve” against intractable suffering—that is just an assertion intended to soften the political ground, a cynical tactic intended to panic the public into supporting killing as an acceptable answer to human suffering. Scotland is the . . . . Continue Reading »

Which event in bioethics/human exceptionalism is most likely to happen in 2009? ( . . . . Continue Reading »

Well, this is rich: The President of Ecuador is one of the first to be on the receiving end of the ridiculous granting of “rights” to nature that he put in Ecuador’s new constitution. It seems Correa wants to open up some of the country to mining, which would increase the . . . . Continue Reading »

I am not sure why some materialists are so fervently anti human exceptionalism. I suspect they believe that by humbling us into believing our lives are no more important than that of animals, it would undermine Judeo/Christiam moral philosophy in general and theism in particular. Some too, I think, . . . . Continue Reading »

Ever wonder why print media is sinking beneath the waves? Here’s an example. The Village Voice has laid off Nat Hentoff, who has churned out thoughtful and even prescient columns there for fifty years. From the story : The troubled Village Voice laid off three employees Tuesday, including Nat . . . . Continue Reading »