A 21-year-old college student was attacked outside a bar and fell to the ground, hitting his head. He died ten days later. He had no wife, no children, and no fiancé. Should he now become a father?... Read full article

Knowledge is power, but is owning it responsible? That’s one of the questions at the core of a recent federal lawsuit challenging the right of a company to patent—in effect to own—human genes.... Read full article

Two new legal commandments – Thou shalt not smoke in thy apartment and Thou shalt inform authorities of anyone who does – have made the town of Belmont, California, home to America’s most restrictive secondhand smoking law. How far should government go in determining what you can do in the privacy of your home?... Read full article

One single mother. 8 newborn octuplets. 14 total offspring. 15 minutes of fame. Thousands of people have expressed outrage at Nadya Suleman, America’s most well-known mother. But should the usually private matter of reproduction be the subject of such public debate?... Read full article

Scientists mapped the human genome to help the human race. Now parents can map Johnny’s genome to help him win his own race—or football and soccer games—by searching for a gene that supposedly predicts exceptional abilities in sports. Mouth swab to identify gene: $149. Identification of future sports-great while still in diapers: priceless?... Read full article

When an athlete uses performance enhancement drugs, he or she is likely to be called unethical and dishonest. When a student or professor uses brain enhancement drugs, he or she is likely to be called smart and focused, but is chemically boosting your brain for an unfair advantage the same as chemically boosting your body for an edge? That’s the question at the center of a new debate about drugs and cheating.... Read full article

Motherhood—achieving it and surviving it—is a perennially popular topic of blog discussions. But rarely does one comment continue to draw responses years after first being posted, like the following one has from a woman who wanted to undergo IVF fertility treatments as a matter of convenience.... Read full article

If you choose not to have your child vaccinated against measles, mumps, chicken pox, and other infectious diseases, does your responsibility end there? It is a debate that continues as the trend for not vaccinating children increases.... Read full article