Science & Technology

"Let them discover the kind of doctors that their system will now produce. Let them discover, in their operating rooms and hospital wards, that it is not safe to place their lives in the hands of a man whose life they have throttled. It is not safe, if he is…

A recent story in the New York Times draws attention to recent legislative attempts by creationists to force public schools to “teach the controversy” between evolution and creationism, and between the man-made global warming hypothesis and criticisms of it. Two recent developments have pushed the creationists to draw parallels between…

Daniel Wahl reviews Newton and the Counterfeiter: the Unknown Detective Career of the World’s Greatest Scientist, by Thomas Levenson.

David H. Mirman reviews Your Inner Fish: A Journey Into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body, by Neil Shubin.

Tells the story of a little-known scientist whose independence, innovations, and passion for his work spawned an agricultural revolution that saved hundreds of millions of people from starvation.

Shows how the establishment of private waterways, and the protection of property rights therein, would solve myriad pressing problems, from water pollution to depleting fish stocks to disputes about rights-of-way.

Shows that although veterinary and human medicine are extremely similar in terms of quality of care, the freer market for the former makes it substantially more affordable and accessible than the latter.

Identifies and concretizes various ways in which government interference in health care precludes doctors from honoring their promise to use their best judgment in treating their patients.

In my post about the contradiction between the technological sophistication of the Burj Dubai and the primitive superstition on display in the mosque at its pinnacle, I argued that this disparity is another example of the general disparity in progress between science and morality. But what accounts for this gap?…

[caption id="attachment_33190" align="alignright" width="300"] Image: Petter Palander[/caption] The beginning of the new year and decade bore witness to the opening of the world's newest tallest building: the Burj Dubai in the UAE. Like many other commentators, Landon Thomas of the New York Times noted the dire economic situation Dubai faces…