A Guardian investigation yesterday exposed two unlicensed online companies that could be breaking the law by delivering fresh sperm to customers from anonymous donors. According to fertility experts, the service puts women at risk because tests on donors for sexually transmitted infections like HIV are not as rigorous as those that would happen in conventional sperm donor clinics. But there is more to this story...
It had all the ingredients of the perfect story and the media couldn't resist it. A physicist who surfs in Maui and snowboards in Lake Tahoe hits on what he disarmingly calls an "Exceptionally Simple Theory of Everything."
Over the past 18 months, we've brought you guests from around the world of science and technology. We've spoken to everyone from Nobel prize winners to air guitar champions; from flirting experts to astronauts. Whilst they've all done amazing things, none of them can lay claim to having climbed mount Everest - and performing scientific experiments whilst they were there. At least not til now.
Last year, Time magazine took a deep breath and bravely declared us lot its collective Person of the Year, for filling YouTube with video clips and organising our social lives through FaceBook. With this year's nominations now upon us, it's refreshing to see an epigeneticist among the contenders.
A week may be a long time in politics but it seems the same is true in science funding, writes Robert Massey.
When the Government announced the results of the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR), and more specifically its impact on the UK's research councils, many scientists were reasonably upbeat about what seemed a fair settlement. They were advised that over three years, investment in scientific research would rise by between 13% and 30% depending on the field.
At the risk of being accused of needlessly throwing a boulder into a relatively calm pond, I thought it would be useful to hear readers' thoughts on homeopathy. Guardian Bad science columnist Ben Goldacre wrote a long and (I think) scientifically balanced piece today on the lack of evidence for homeopathy as anything more than placebo. It's in response to a piece earlier in the week by writer Jeanette Winterson, where she defended homeopathy.
On the latest Science Weekly podcast, we get a vision of the future by speaking with theoretical physicist Michio Kaku.
A few blogs ago I wrote about There Goes The Science Bit, where we made calls to companies whose marketing seemed to fall short of reality, writes Tom Sheldon.
Those products named last month in our publication would receive precious - and free - media attention if any of them were to make a statement showing us to be wrong in our criticisms. To date, none has.
New figures released by the EU today on animal testing reveal that the number of animals used in experiments went up by 3.2% between 2002 and 2005. UK researchers are second on the list in terms of numbers of animals used behind France.
On this week's show, the great Steven Pinker comes to the pod to tell us how our use of language reflects our inner- and outer-most thoughts.
