By Laurie Santos from TED Talks Science of Virtues Scholar Laurie Santos looks for the roots of human irrationality by watching the way our primate relatives make decisions. A clever series of experiments in "monkeynomics" shows that some of the silly choices we make, monkeys make too. See...

Should a " scientific " meeting attempt to address questions of faith ? If so, what's the best way to do it? by David Munger from SEED "Scientists were asking three big questions about the Faith and Science panel at the World Science Festival last month. Should the panel be funded...

By Brian Palmer from Slate "Leaving aside the question of medical ethics, did any useful science ever come out of Nazi experiments on unwilling subjects? Very little. Concentration camp doctors conducted research on vaccines, antibiotics, fertility, transplantation, and eugenics. The majority of...

From The Economist To create life is the prerogative of gods. Deep in the human psyche, whatever the rational pleadings of physics and chemistry, there exists a sense that biology is different, is more than just the sum of atoms moving about and reacting with one another, is somehow infused with a divine...

By Sean Carroll from NPR. "With that in mind, let's think about morality. What would it mean to have a science of morality? I think it would look have to look something like this: Human beings seek to maximize something we choose to call "well-being" or "utility" or "happiness"...

By Michelle Roberts from BBC News. "Brain scans could be useful as lie detectors to show if a witness lies when identifying a suspect in a crime investigation, US researchers believe. Scientists at Stanford University were able to tell when a person recognised a mug shot by reading their brain waves...

By Belinda Luscombe from Time. "In the age of hyperengaged parenting, globalization and the Internet, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has become a freighted organization. Every position statement released by the group — whether about ***-feeding, autism or obesity — sends waves of fury...

By Edwin Cartlidge from Physicsworld.com. "A statistical-physics-based model may shed light on the age-old question "how can morality take root in a world where everyone is out for themselves?" Computer simulations by an international team of scientists suggest that the answer lies in...

By BBC News "Scientists in Scotland filmed a group of chimps grooming and caressing an elderly female who died, and remaining subdued for several days afterwards. Other researchers saw females carrying around the bodies of their dead offspring. Both studies are reported in the journal Current Biology...

By Marcelo Gleiser from NPR . "Is ethics part of this core-self? I dare speculate that, yes, some people have higher ethical standards than others. They will carry such standards wherever they go, whatever they do. Can such standards be tempered by events in life, education, relationships etc.?...