Pig Lungs May Soon Save Human Lives

Here’s some news about which only animal rights believers will be upset: Scientists have developed a technique for maintaining pig lungs that could permit them to be used in human transplantation within five years. From the story:Scientists in Melbourne, Australia, used a ventilator and pump . . . . Continue Reading »

Crash Blossoms

Take a noun that can be misconstrued as a verb (or vice versa), mix it into an ambiguous headline, and you have yourself a recipe for a crash blossom : In their quest for concision, writers of newspaper headlines are, like Robert Browning, inveterate sweepers away of little words, and the dust they . . . . Continue Reading »

HeLa’s Immortal Cells

Dwight Gardner reviews The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks , a new nonfiction book that explores the curious and disturbing intersection of race, poverty, bioethics, and medical progress: The woman who provides this book its title, Henrietta Lacks, was a poor and largely illiterate Virginia . . . . Continue Reading »

Faith: Its More Than a Feeling

Where is the Christian to look for assurance of God’s love? Many Christians think, and are encouraged by their church’s practices, to think that our assurance of God’s love for us and our status and standing before God is to be based on our emotional reactions and feelings. This is . . . . Continue Reading »

Why Lawmakers Need a Common Ethical Framework

The great British natural-law philosopher John Haldane made a good case earlier this week on the BBC’s world service broadcast that to make public policy regarding controversial issues like assisted suicide, genetic engineering, and embryo manipulation, lawmakers need a common ethical . . . . Continue Reading »

M: Greatest Movie Cast of All Time?

Jody Bottum quoted Peter Lorre’s harrowing speec h at the end of Fritz Lang’s classic crime movie M , yesterday. Lorre’s performance is stunning, but the other leads are no less interesting. The role of The Safecracker, the master criminal who leads the underworld’s pursuit . . . . Continue Reading »