Society
Science and technology
From artificial intelligence to cutting-edge medical treatments, science and technology are almost incomprehensibly influential on human existence. Within this section, you will find our reporting on internationally deployed spyware and digital surveillance and how social media, and tech platforms, are impacting democracy. We also ask questions about the positive role tech could play in our lives, and for the planet.
Richard Stallman: ‘Apple has tightest digital handcuffs in history’
Hazel Healy speaks to free software’s moral compass about Anonymous, licensing and digital freedoms.
How Anonymous got political
Quinn Norton looks behind the mask of the hacker network, charting its evolution into a global activist force.
How hacktivism fights corruption
Computer programmers and campaigners have teamed up to ‘hack’ for justice, reports Transparency International’s Milena Marin.
Biofuels - the good, the bad and the ugly
From wood to algae, biofuels have been around for years. But they're not necessarily all they're cracked up to be. Danny Chivers has the low-down.
Is animal testing necessary to advance medical research?
Pro-testing activist Laurie Pycroft and Helen Marston, who heads an organization that campaigns against the use of animals, focus on the key issues. Join the debate!
Seed savers
The world’s seed markets are being gobbled up by ‘life-science’ corporations – but peasant farmers still feed the world. David Ransom reports.
Tigers or Neutrinos
A huge new scientific experiment plans to go looking for tiny particles in the middle of India’s oldest Biosphere Reserve, moving mountains of rock and earth as it goes. Tarsh Thekaekara has his doubts about what is being done in the name of pure science.
10 things you should know about tree 'offsets'
Forest and climate change campaigner *Jutta Kill* explains why planting trees is no substitute for reducing pollution.
The answer to climate change is social change
Carbon offsets are not a solution. There are no quick fixes, time to ditch the guilt and get active argues Adam Ma’anit.
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The genetics of blame
A gene for homelessness?
Is this a joke?
Not entirely, for those who subscribe to the
burgeoning new mix of science and politics called 'neurogenetic determinism',
