Philosophy & Ethics

Organ Donations: Making Them Opt-Out Might Lead To More Availability

In the future, new organs will be created from a patient's own stem cells and they will require no waiting lists, no immunosuppressive drugs, and no stickers on drivers licenses making people available for organ donations. Currently, organ transplant ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 24 2014 - 11:01am

Something New On The Illusion Of Time

Look at a fan rotating its blades. Now look somewhat to the side of it. It seems to rotate slower now. Now shift your gaze slowly back toward the center of the fan. The fan seems to pick up speed. There are not just two appearances of its speed, one fast ...

Article - Sascha Vongehr - Oct 3 2014 - 5:39pm

When Are Randomized Controlled Trials Unethical? When Disease Gets News Coverage

It is difficult for pharmaceutical companies to have good public relations in an immediate news and social media world- no matter how many trials are done, people can still have adverse effects or even suffer real harm- and social media detractors can just ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 10 2014 - 3:09pm

To Tweet Or Not To Tweet: Academic Freedom And Social Media

Should academics be disciplined by their universities for things said over Twitter? Credit: Opensource.com / Flickr, CC BY-SA By Janna Thompson, La Trobe University Academic freedom has been put in the spotlight with two universities recently coming down ...

Article - The Conversation - Oct 15 2014 - 6:30pm

We Don't Know If God Exists, But We Should Keep Asking

There are many different conceptions of God, and endless questions. Credit: Waiting For The Word, CC BY-NC-SA By Graham Oppy, Monash University Disputes about the existence of God — like most disputes about religion, politics, and sex — almost always gene ...

Article - The Conversation - Oct 18 2014 - 8:00am

Most Published Medical Research Is False- But It Can Be Better

In 2005, John Ioannidis wrote a paper in PLOS Medicine showing that most published research findings are false.  ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 21 2014 - 3:48pm

When It Comes To Ebola, How Much Risk Is Too Much?

How much risk can health workers be asked to take on? Mike Segar/Reuters By Catherine Womack, Bridgewater State University Taking care of sick people has always involved personal risk. From plague to tuberculosis to smallpox to SARS, health-care workers h ...

Article - The Conversation - Oct 27 2014 - 8:37am

Will The Ethical Social Scientists Please Stand Up?

Old fashioned scandals meet new-fangled complexity. Andy Dean Photography By Mark Israel, University of Western Australia ...

Article - The Conversation - Nov 5 2014 - 3:01pm

It's On The Way: Is Your Religion Ready To Meet ET?

Proof of life beyond earth is coming. Stargazing image via Shutterstock By David A. Weintraub, Vanderbilt University ...

Article - The Conversation - Nov 9 2014 - 9:00am

Fabricating And Plagiarizing: When Researchers Lie

Research undertaken on beagles and the contraceptive pill in the 1970s was found to be fabricated- there never were any beagles. Flickr/ Understanding Animal Research, CC BY-SA By Mark Israel, University of Western Australia There are a few things you mig ...

Article - The Conversation - Aug 30 2015 - 11:02am