Australasian Science: Australia's authority on science since 1938
Quandary
Quandary column
Acting Absolutely Beastly
By Michael Cook
Charles Foster has tried to reconnect with the animal world by living as a badger, a fox, a swift, a deer and an otter.
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Masters or Slaves of AI?
By Michael Cook
If neural lacing enables our brains to be networked, we could easily be hacked or become the tools of Google or government.
In the 19th century and for a good part of the 20th century, many people feared that humanity was destined to become lapdogs of bloated industrialists. The world would be divided between the haves and the have-nots, the capitalists and the proletariat.
The fear persists, but nowadays capitalists like Mark Zuckerberg wear hoodies and tennis shoes like the rest of us. Apart from North Korea, there is universal agreement that “to get rich is glorious”.
Global Catastrophic Risk
By Michael Cook
A report calculates that we’re more likely to die in an extinction event than in a car crash.
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Adventures on the Dark Side
By Michael Cook
Cases of sexual attraction are bound to grow as “genetic orphans” seek out their missing parents.
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A Bizarre Dilemma from Sweden
By Michael Cook
“Resignation syndrome” in refugee children and adolescents in Sweden is one of the most bizarre medical stories of the past decade.
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Royal Paternity Tested in the Modern Age
A royal paternity test in Belgium has far-reaching implications for fertility clinics.
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Will IVF Keep Us Young?
By Michael Cook
Talk of IVF as a solution for declining birth rates is a sign that governments are clutching at straws.
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This Little Piggy Went to Market
By Michael Cook
Gene editing promises to enable the safe use of pig organs to transplant into humans. Who could object to that?
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Life in the Fridge
By Michael Cook
Cryonics technologies have captured the imagination of some of the brightest minds in Silicon Valley, but what about the rest of us?
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Pinker Takes on Bioethics
By Michael Cook
Steven Pinker has attacked bioethics as “moralistic grandstanding” that restricts research. Is he right?
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