The success of TV conjuror Derren Brown tells of our vulnerability to the magic of pseudo-scientific explanation. While researching the brilliant comic novel, How to Forget, the author joined the ranks of the conjurors and came away with a degree of healthy dis-illusion
How much progress can be made in tackling climate change without a global deal?
The author prepares to attend the UN Climate Change Summit, COP17, in Durban, and wonders if there is any solution to this particular version of the Prisoner's Dilemma
To mark one hundred years of aerial bombing, we publish this detailed account of the path that led us from bombing cities, forests and target boxes to putting 'warheads on foreheads' in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Derek Gregory argues that our understanding of bombing has been dominated by political
Imagine that the world is governed by concentric circles or spheres of power, with the most powerful one on the outside. Today the innermost circle is a neglected biosphere. We have to turn the paradigm inside out. The biosphere must come first.
Prison is failing those incarcerated who suffer from mental health problems. This personal story is one harrowing example.
‘Signature targets’ are ghostly traces of the ‘target signatures’ that once animated the electronic battlefield. Commentators have often drawn comparisons between the wars in Vietnam and in Afghanistan, but if Vietnam was a ‘quagmire’ then the air wars over Afghanistan-Pakistan threaten to create
The dismantling of a powerful nuclear bomb closes a chapter of the cold war. But the choices and responsibilities embedded in the story of the B53 make this a 21st-century story too.
Five leading children’s doctors present case studies to illuminate the Bill’s likely impact on child health in England.
A public consultation is underway on the construction of an underground dump for 70 tonnes of nuclear waste in West Cumbria. Has the decision already been taken during cozy chats in private rooms?
Professor Savage drafted the 'Good Medical Practice' guidelines. Here, she argues that the Coalition's health reforms will prevent doctors in England from fulfilling their duties to their patients.
'David' suffered child abuse, and developed a disorder that led him to kill a man who for him symbolised his abusers. He was labelled DSPD and must prove he is a 'reduced risk' before his release. But how can he, when DSPD is not a medical diagnosis, but a political construct?
