THE 2010s were the decade in which we were reminded that science is just a method, like the rhythm method. And just like the rhythm method, it can be more or less rigorously applied, sabotaged, overrated, underrated and ignored. If you don’t treat it with respect, you may not get the optimal result, but that’s not the method’s fault…
This article was first published in The Guardian on 26 December 2019. To continue reading, click here.
IN THIS information-saturated age, what happens when the right to know comes up against the right not to know? The ease of genetic testing has brought this question to the fore. Genes, some of which contain disease-causing mutations, are shared within families, meaning the results of a test for a genetic condition inevitably affect more people than the one who consented to be tested. Two contrasting legal cases pitting these rights against each other – one in Britain, the other in Germany – stand to extend the idea of who, exactly, is a patient and to alter the way in which medicine is practised…
This article first appeared in The Economist on 28 September 2019. To continue reading, click here (paywall).