In his speech to Congress last month, President Donald Trump promised to “lead humanity into space and plant the American flag on the planet Mars and even far beyond”. His claim is not serious, as Trump is far too busy …
23andMe was always junk science
About a decade ago, everyone was very excited about commercial genetic testing.
For a few quid you could get a website with some name like MyGeneHistory dot com to send you a little swab stick, which you would swizz around …
RFK’s drug-ad ban is a bipartisan win
It’s still a surreal sight: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as America’s health secretary under President Trump. The scion of a Democratic dynasty who became an anti-vaccine gadfly and seemed, in his final years, doomed to irrelevancy — a Democratic campaign …
Scepticism won’t save you
In 1939, with his native Germany under totalitarian rule, Bertolt Brecht wrote a poem. Called “In Praise of Doubt” it encourages readers to always question established orthodoxies. Brecht mocks “the thoughtless who never doubt”, and who “don’t believe in the …
Astrology’s predictable popularity
Back when I was at university, I remember relishing a meme that roasted people based on their star signs. It wasn’t exactly the cleverest gag of all time, but each zodiac sign had its own cartoon, with a list of …
How DeepSeek triggered a tech tantrum
A few days before the Lunar New Year, and barely a week into the new Trump administration, China dropped a bombshell. With most of the West completely transfixed by the promise of AI, and stock market valuations now completely tethered …
How do I kill my Microsoft Copilot?
Remember “Clippy”? This was the “virtual assistant” that popped up whenever you were using Microsoft Word back around the turn of the millennium. You’d be in your word processor, minding your own business, and when you typed the word “Dear” …
Anthony Fauci’s pardon shames America
In his inauguration speech four years ago, Joe Biden declared his determination to ‘”restore the soul of America”, later insisting that his “galvanising mission” was to show how our democratic system of government, rooted on liberal ideals of freedom and …
The truth about private health scans
Private health checks used to be the preserve of wealthy CEOs. But with NHS waiting lists stretching into years, Neko Health has stepped in for the masses. In a blaze of publicity, the Swedish company has set up a new …
Ozempic could destroy modern civilisation
Should I start taking Ozempic? I found myself pondering this question recently as I walked past a local shop I like to call the Dopamine Store.
The Dopamine Store, the first shop I pass as I turn onto my local …
Digital Phantoms: The Mysterious World of Internet Ghosts
In the vast digital landscape of the internet, strange phenomena occasionally occur that leave users questioning their own eyes. These digital apparitions, often called “internet ghosts,” are fleeting moments where content appears briefly before vanishing without a trace, leaving bewildered …
Elon Musk just wants to go to space
In 414 BC, Aristophanes’ The Birds was first performed in Athens. In this comedy, two disgruntled middle-aged men, fed up with life on Earth, convince a giant bird to create a great city in the sky. Free from the cruel …
The painful truth about assisted suicide
There is a popular image of assisted suicide: a swift, straightforward procedure, backed by the awesome authority of modern science, sure to send you off in a comfortable doze. Dignity in Dying, for instance, claim that assisted suicide can “guarantee” …
How humans became microplastic
This past summer, I spent a morning hunting for shrimp and prawns on a remote beach in Scotland. It was the kind of ritual interaction with nature that modern people have long prized: wading through tidal pools at the edge …
Forget what you know about Lucy Letby
The timing of this week’s public inquiry into “the events at the Countess of Chester Hospital”, and the growing suspicion that Lucy Letby’s convictions are unsafe, inadvertently throws up a dramatic forking of two possible worlds. In the first, the …
