Babies born with DNA from three people hailed as breakthrough – but questions remain: Ten years after the UK became the first country to legalise mitochondrial donation, the first results from the use of these high-profile reproductive technologies – designed to prevent passing on genetic disorders – have finally been published. So far, eight children …
Encyclopedia Britannica once published a catalogue of humanity’s ‘102 Great Ideas’ – and it created more questions than answers: Shutterstock In its January 26 1948 issue, Life magazine published a feature showcasing the “102 Great Ideas” of western civilisation. The project was the brainchild of Mortimer Adler, a professor of philosophy and law at the …
What’s the truth behind the ‘shoplifting epidemic’? Six key questions answered: Is it really true that shoplifting is out of control? Shutterstock/Lightspring According to media reports, in 2023 the UK experienced an unprecedented wave of shoplifting. The theory goes that the cost of living crisis and poor police responses are driving a crime wave. Is …
Who counts as a refugee? Four questions to understand current migration debates: Ajdin Kamber/Shutterstock The number of refugees worldwide has been increasing since 2012. At the end of 2022, there were 35.3 million refugees globally. While some politicians have suggested that the UK is being overwhelmed by refugees, 76% of the world’s refugees are hosted …
Gaza war: reporting from the frontline of conflict has always raised hard ethical questions: The BBC's veteran foreign correspondent Jeremy Bowen reporting from Syria, 2014 Twitter Who would want to be a journalist covering the conflict in Gaza? It seems that every day a new accusation of bias surfaces on social media. Live reporting is …
Cardinal Newman: pro-slavery views of prominent 19th-century cleric raise questions about his educational legacy: One of the comforting stories the British told themselves in the 19th and 20th centuries was that they were implacably opposed to slavery. Britons had decided “that the disgrace of slavery should not be suffered to remain part of our national …
Cautious welcome: World Bank and IMF return to Africa, but questions remain: The annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) are due to take place in Marrakech, Morocco, in mid-October. The city and country are still reeling from a devastating earthquake in early September. Hosting these meetings on the African continent …
Marina Abramovi? retrospective celebrates the grand dame of performance art – but questions the genre’s future: In 1974, Marina Abramovi? performed a career-defining work at a small experimental gallery in Naples, Italy. The Serbian artist stood naked next to a table on which she had arranged 72 objects associated with pleasure and pain. They included …
Trump on trial: experts answer key legal and political questions about what could happen next: Former US president Donald Trump outside a New York court on April 4 2023. Lev Radin/Shutterstock Donald Trump has notoriously become the only former US president to face a criminal indictment — much less four. Opinions on the prosecutions, predictably, …
AI-narrated audiobooks are here – and they raise some serious ethical questions: Dean Drobot/Shutterstock Meet Madison and Jackson, the AI narrators or “digital voices” soon to be reading some of the audiobooks on Apple Books. They sound nothing like Siri or Alexa or the voice telling you about the unexpected item in the bagging area …
Tory MP’s historic family links to slavery raise questions about Britain’s position on reparations: “Reparations have been paid for other wrongs and obviously far more quickly, far more speedily than reparations for what I consider the greatest atrocity and crime in the history of mankind: transatlantic chattel slavery.” So noted the eminent Jamaican international jurist …
UK’s first successful womb transplant – key questions answered: Helena Nechaeva/Shutterstock The news that the first successful UK womb transplant has been performed at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford has been greeted as the “dawn of a new era” in reproductive medicine. The recipient is a 34-year-old woman born without a womb, and the donor …
Do heat pumps work in the UK’s climate? An expert answers your low-carbon heating questions: WathanyuSowong/Shutterstock Retrofitting every house in the UK to net zero standard by 2050 will require replacing all gas boilers, mostly with heat pumps. The target rate is 600,000 a year by 2028 – but in 2022, fewer than 60,000 heat …
Microsoft and Activision: the big questions that will decide whether the US billion deal goes ahead: Microsoft’s proposed US$ 68 billion (£52 billion) acquisition of video game maker Activision Blizzard should be allowed to go ahead, according to a US federal judge. After five days of gruelling testimony, Judge Jacqueline Corley ruled the merger is …
Nato: Vilnius summit will reflect fresh sense of purpose over Ukraine war — but hard questions remain over membership issues: The US president, Joe Biden, struck a bullish note during a recent meeting at the White House with Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, declaring: “The allies have never been more united.” Russia’s invasion of Ukraine …
Cinq questions pour les pays africains qui souhaitent mettre en place des systèmes de santé résistant au climat: Le Soudan du Sud est en proie à des inondations depuis quatre ans. Son système de santé, comme ceux d'autres pays africains, devra s'adapter au changement climatique. SIMON MAINA/AFP via Getty Images Les événements climatiques dévastateurs semblent …
Five questions for African countries that want to build climate-resilient health systems: South Sudan has been beset by floods for the past four years. Its health system, like those in other African countries, will have to adapt to climate change. SIMON MAINA/AFP via Getty Images Every day seems to bring a new headline about a …
Theory of everything: how progress in physics depends on asking the right questions: Calabi-Yau manifold: a proposed structure of extra dimensions of space in string theory. vchal/Shutterstock When I began my undergraduate physics degree (around 20 years ago), “What is the theory of everything?” was a question that I heard often. It was used as …