Which to choose, burial or cremation?We should not allow cremation to drive cemeteries out of existence and to hide death from usMon Jan 15 2018 - 14:16
The problem with mollycoddling university studentsHigher education is to broaden horizons, not to simply embrace a homogenous view of the worldThu Dec 21 2017 - 00:00
Why we believe what we want to believeMany people have a deep-seated and powerful emotional need to support their favourite ideology or worldviewTue Dec 19 2017 - 12:26
Dedicated followers of fissionNational Children’s Science Centre is aimed at stimulating children’s natural curiosity and encouraging them to explore and discoverThu Nov 30 2017 - 14:30
How best to persuade people who do not accept scientific consensusSince emotion plays a large part in motivating those who reject the consensus, then science communicators should also use emotion in making their caseThu Nov 9 2017 - 16:44
Self-driving cars will overtake human drivers in no timeWilliam Reville: As software improves, the supremacy of such vehicles will become clearThu Nov 2 2017 - 06:00
Learning the truth of educationSchools are viewed as instruments of social engineering as much as institutions for the transmission of knowledgeThu Oct 12 2017 - 17:42
Plunging sperm counts provoke alarmScientist warns continued sperm count decline in men ‘may lead to human extinction’Tue Sep 26 2017 - 15:13
Is the current effort to combat climate change a utopian project?Why the changes to human behaviour necessary to ease climate change will have to be directed by governmentThu Sep 14 2017 - 11:27
Equal opportunities for female academics requires social and structural changeA formula must be devised to ensure women are not handicapped in the promotion stakes because of time devoted to having and raising childrenFri Sep 1 2017 - 11:09
Democracy in danger – what to doWilliam Reville: Why politicians should increasingly justify policies on moral rather than economic or electoral groundsThu Aug 17 2017 - 01:00
The penis story that didn’t stand upWilliam Reville: Reputable social science journal fell for paper ‘deliberately constructed to be complete, comical nonsense’Fri Jul 21 2017 - 11:30
Why does the death of a pet matter to us so much?We were unprepared for the level of grief that struck us after Milo diedThu Jul 20 2017 - 15:14
Obedience to authority: most of us would follow orders to do terrible thingsAlarming findings by Prof Stanley Milgram of Yale University have since been confirmed in many studiesFri Jun 30 2017 - 10:54
The Nazis believed in medical ethics. But they were a twisted, depraved versionNotions of ethnic purity and exclusion are still with us. We must remain vigilantThu Jun 15 2017 - 05:00
Does torture work? Trump says yes, but science says noMore than 80 per cent endorse torture if they are personally close to the victimsThu Jun 1 2017 - 12:47
Reaching for the starsThe Breakthrough Starshot programme is the brainchild of Yuri Milner, Russian-born Silicon Valley billionaire-physicistThu May 18 2017 - 01:00
Winning the battle against AnorexiaWilliam Reville: Although anorexia has the highest mortality rate of any mental illness, the statistics are encouragingThu May 4 2017 - 06:00
Public's grasp of basic scientific facts is shakyA push to dispel suspicions of things such as pesticides has had little effectThu Apr 20 2017 - 16:39
The biggest question: why is there something rather than nothing?Some physicists claim the universe sprang spontaneously out of nothing at all about 13.5 billion years agoThu Apr 6 2017 - 16:29
Fears of robots stealing our jobs are misplacedIt was feared ATMs would displace bank tellers. However, deployment of ATMs reduces bank running costs, allowing banks to open more branchesThu Mar 16 2017 - 01:00
'Exercise alone has little effect on weight. You must reduce your food intake'William Reville: Studies show hunter-gatherers burn no more calories a day than sedentary office workersThu Mar 2 2017 - 12:00
Bring back rote learning, predictive text means lazy brainsWe need to combat technology-induced lazy brain syndrome caused by texting and calculatorsThu Feb 2 2017 - 01:00
Let’s talk about the link between immigration and low reproduction ratesHow did we lose the will to replace ourselves and, knowing the demographic consequences of losing that will, can we reclaim it?Thu Jan 19 2017 - 01:00
Where did Earth’s water come from?William Reville: The discovery of vast reservoirs of water deep within the Earth is an example of the power of science to excite wonderThu Jan 5 2017 - 01:00
How long will the human species survive on Earth?David Grinspoon’s new book highlights the self-imposed and natural threats to survivalThu Dec 8 2016 - 19:18
William Reville: Science needs to remain freePublic control could allow ideological or economic forces to distort a rational agendaThu Dec 1 2016 - 10:44
William Reville: Could our brains live forever by being uploaded to a computer?If it were possible, would it be desirableTue Nov 15 2016 - 12:00
Neanderthal wipeout: was love or war to blame?William Reville: One theory proposes that they were assimilated into modern human stock by interbreedingThu Nov 3 2016 - 01:00
Are LGBT people born that way? It’s unclearA controversial study of sexuality and gender claims to focus solely on the scientific evidenceTue Oct 18 2016 - 00:00
William Reville: Eugenics is wrong about Down syndromeHow do people with Down syndrome feel when they hear predictions of the elimination of their kind?Wed Oct 5 2016 - 14:30
Could a chimpanzee be guilty of murder?Since 95 per cent of human DNA is identical to that of a chimpanzee, do chimps have a sense of morality?Thu Sep 15 2016 - 10:27
William Reville: Copernicus might have been wrong about EarthA computer model has found Earth to be uniquely suited to life among 700 million trillion terrestrial planetsThu Sep 1 2016 - 01:00
The futility of vaginal speakers for the unbornDespite an industry around it, no research data shows that playing music to babies in the womb will boost IQThu Aug 18 2016 - 12:28
Dark energy: the repulsive force that is pulling the universe apartThree different hypotheses of dark energy predict different futures for our universeThu Aug 4 2016 - 01:00
Opposition to GM food is killing poor peopleGolden rice could save lives in developing countries, but activists continue to resist it in the face of the evidenceThu Jul 21 2016 - 11:19
Apocalypse soon? It’s more likely than you thinkThe risk of extinction in the next 100 years is 9.5 per cent – how seriously should we take this?Thu Jul 7 2016 - 16:18
William Reville: Powerful lessons on life from the HolocaustViktor Frankl studied people in concentration camps who found ways to keep going despite their dire situationThu Jun 16 2016 - 10:30
William Reville: Fraud is now the biggest enemy of scienceScientists are not required to subscribe to any universal code of ethics. This needs to changeThu Jun 2 2016 - 01:00
Why is Europe losing the will to breed?Despite Europe’s wonderful heritage, the continent is losing faith in itself, and birth rates have collapsedThu May 19 2016 - 11:27
William Reville: A dangerous censorship takes hold on campusTrigger warnings and other student-drive trends in universities will do much more harm than goodThu May 5 2016 - 10:11
William Reville: Could smoking licence sound the death knell of tobacco?We license the use of all other drugs that can be dangerous if improperly used – why not tobacco?Thu Apr 21 2016 - 08:20
William Reville: Is there life beyond Earth?Based on current understanding of how our planet formed, the answer is almost inevitably yesThu Apr 7 2016 - 10:47
William Reville: Overweight but fit is healthier than thin but unfitMeasuring a person’s body-mass index is not the most reliable way of assessing their healthMon Mar 14 2016 - 11:40
William Reville: Forgiveness is healthier than holding a grudgeResearch suggests that forgiving people can bring peace, happiness and emotional wellbeingThu Mar 3 2016 - 11:27
The future: health sensors that dissolve in the bodyImplanted devices are being developed that can feed health data to a computer and then disappearThu Feb 18 2016 - 01:00
William Reville: Activists are wrong about GM food and ChernobylWhen it comes to the safety of GM crops and the effects of the Chernobyl disaster, environmental campaigners ignore the factsThu Feb 4 2016 - 10:36
The myths about vaccination debunkedThe value of vaccination is long proven but fears still exist, leading the WHO to correct the misconceptionsThu Jan 21 2016 - 11:43
William Reville: Nuclear fusion efforts are being energised by the private sectorSerious progress is being made with nuclear fusion, which has huge potential for generating clean energyThu Jan 7 2016 - 01:00
William Reville: The hidden psychology of ChristmasOne study suggests that family and spiritual activities make people more satisfied than the material aspectsThu Dec 17 2015 - 01:00