Peter Beinart thinks so : When it comes to culture, Obama doesn’t have a public agenda; he has a public anti-agenda. He wants to remove culture from the political debate. He wants to cut our three-sided political game back down to two . . . . culture wars do end. In the 1920s, immigration, . . . . Continue Reading »
Here is an excerpt from an article on Chantal Delsol I have forthcoming in Perspectives on Political Science : In the place of true judgment or prudence, the defenders of international justice satisfy their hunger for rational certitude and analytical specificity with mere . . . . Continue Reading »
Can you imagine the banner headlines if this were an embryonic stem cell success? From the story: [Adult]Stem cells transplanted into early-phase multiple sclerosis patients stabilised, and in some cases reversed, the debilitating neurological disorder, according to a study published Friday...In . . . . Continue Reading »
When the FDA approved Geron’s application to conduct human trials of their embryonic stem cell treatment for acute spinal cord injury, some noted that it might be political, coming as it did within days of the change of the presidential guard. I wasn’t among those, but perhaps I should . . . . Continue Reading »
Another song on the Images of Christ recording is Tchaikovsky’s “Crown of Thorns,” which sets a nineteenth century American poem by Richard Henry Stoddard to music. Words and music are below, though this time sung by the choir of Wells Cathedral. When Jesus Christ was yet a child . . . . Continue Reading »
About seven weeks ago I began tracking the locales from which Secondhand Smoke is accessed. In that time,we have been visited by people interested in bioethics and human exceptionalism from 139 countries. Our newest “flag” is Ethiopia. Thanks to . . . . Continue Reading »
Recently I’ve been listening to Images of Christ , a collection of music based on the life of Christ sung by the Cambridge Singers under the direction of John Rutter. The first track on the CD is Bairstow’s “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silent.” The piece opens with haunting . . . . Continue Reading »
Great news from the uncontroversial biotech file: “Bubble Boy” disease, named after David Vetter who became famous because he had to be isolated behind plastic shields to prevent infection from a genetic disease that causes severe defects in the immune system, has been effectively . . . . Continue Reading »
Not if you’re willing to shell out 150,000 dollars and hire a team of scientists: An American couple were so distraught at the prospect of losing their pet Labrador that they decided to pay £100,000 to clone him. Edgar and Nina Otto decided to have DNA samples of their pooch Sir . . . . Continue Reading »