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In 2006 a landmark article, the British Medical Journal claimed that abortions without fetal anesthetic were okay before 26 weeks of gestation, because fetuses at five and a half months can't feel pain. That was the 2006 opinion of Dr. Stuart W.G. Derbyshire, in discussions with American literary agent John Brockman, and that article came to be a basis for many abortions. Maybe a lot of M.D.s secretly wondered if that was really true, because the history of medicine is full of bad guesses that turned out to be wrong. But we know what happens if skeptics pipe up in...

On Wednesday, the March for Life announced that President Donald Trump will be the first sitting president in history to address the pro-life rally in person. The march will take place this Friday, January 24, in Washington, D.C. "We are deeply honored to welcome President Trump to the 47th annual March for Life. He will be the first president in history to attend and we are so excited for him to experience in person how passionate our marchers are about life and protecting the unborn," Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life, said in a statement on Wednesday. "From...

Adam Schiff is a man of very peculiar reasoning. Like a dolt shouting louder at a foreign-language speaker in a bid to make him 'understand,' Schiff's decided that if he just keeps speaking long enough, we will all suddenly turn into anti-Trumpsters and throw Trump from office. No kidding, he spoke for two and a half hours in his House manager introduction to the Senate impeachment court, the length of which alone was deadly to his case in the age of Twitter. Seriously, two and a half hours. Imagine listening to a dog barking for two and a half hours.... This sentiment pretty well...

The new political season in Russia began with serious transformations of the internal political configuration. President Vladimir Putin announced the preparation of constitutional amendments. After that, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev declared the dissolution of the government. Clarity of action and quick personnel shifts show that these decisions of the Russian leader were the result of long-term planning. Most Western experts agree that the main motivation is Putin’s desire to maintain power after 2024 when his presidency expires. However, after analyzing the dynamics of the country's domestic policy over the past ten years, it becomes obvious that the reasons for these...

Brexit is finally, officially happening — for real this time. The United Kingdom has passed the legislation to make the current Brexit deal with the European Union official UK law, paving the way for the country’s exit from the EU on January 31. The House of Commons — the lower, elected chamber once the source of endless Brexit drama — quietly and quickly approved the bill on January 9. The House of Lords, the unelected upper chamber, approved the legislation this week with amendments. But the House of Commons overturned the changes on Wednesday, and the House of Lords relented...

Australian fire-lighters come in six colors — yellow, black, white, blood red, dark green, and light green. All are relevant to bushfires and forest management. "Yellow" is the fire-lighter that has been with us forever. It is the yellow flash of lightning, which has always ignited the Australian bush. We're dreaming to think we can lock yellow fire out of parks, forests, and heritage areas. But good forest management can reduce the ferocity and destruction of lightning-strike fires. "Black" fire-lighters came with the first Australians. Without matches or tinder boxes, they probably captured the fire genie from a lightning fire....

Switzerland has minted a gold coin so small that a magnifying glass is needed to see each side - one of which shows Albert Einstein sticking out his tongue. State-owned Swissmint said that the 0.12-inches (2.96-millimetre) gold coin is the smallest in the world. It is similar in size to the combined thickness of two pieces of paper. The coin weighs just 1/500th of an ounce (0.063 grams) and has a nominal value of 1/4 Swiss francs (about 20p). Its weight is comparable to that of two grains of rice.

Propagators of fake news often have to be reminded of their place in the media world. CNN political analyst Joe Lockhart had a viral Tweet today. To many of the thousands who liked and retweeted him, the conversation he pretended to overhear from Senate Republicans at the impeachment trial represented their delusional hope. It was a scathing rebuke of the echo chamber the left often believes Republicans exist in to perpetuate their conservative worldview. ___________________________________________________________________ Joe Lockhart ✔ @joelockhart Overheard convo between two Republican Senators who only watch Fox News. "is this stuff real? I haven't heard any of this...

Look for the Morning Joe gang outside the Capitol's stage door, waiting to shower Adam Schiff with flowers while bellowing "bravo!" On today's show, the panel pandered to their liberal audience by waxing rhapsodic over Adam Schiff's performance yesterday in presenting the Democrat case for impeachment. "Virtuoso performance" was the show's term of the day.Get the rest of the story and view the video here.

MSNBC’s Chris Hayes and Rachel Maddow were furious with Senators who fell asleep or left the impeachment trial early, saying they should “resign tomorrow”: Mediaite ✔ @Mediaite MSNBC's Maddow, Hayes Torch Senators for Leaving Trial, Falling Asleep: If You Can't Sit There for Eight Hours, 'Resign Tomorrow' http://mediaite.com/a/bbdeq Chris Hayes: If Senators Can't Sit for Trial, Resign MSNBC's Rachel Maddow and Chris Hayes took the lead on Wednesday night as their panel trashed members of the Senate for not giving their full attention to President Donald Trump's impeachmen mediaite.com Well, if they’re serious, that means California’s Sen. Dianne Feinstein needs...

Four patients in Scottish hospitals are being tested after showing symptoms of coronavirus. The new strain of the virus has so far killed 17 people in China and there are more than 500 confirmed cases. Prof Juergen Haas, a specialist in infectious diseases at the University of Edinburgh, said three of the suspected cases were in Edinburgh. All the patients had respiratory symptoms and had been in Wuhan, thought to be the source, in the last 14 days. Wuhan has gone into lockdown, along with another Chinese city, Huanggang. The fourth case in Scotland is thought to be in Glasgow.

On a 2-1 vote, the Ninth Circuit Court finally dismissed Juliana v. United States, the lawsuit brought on behalf of child plaintiffs demanding their constitutional right to "a climate system capable of sustaining human life." The children, and the environmentalist group Our Children's Trust that's using them as lawfare puppets, were demanding a court order compelling the U.S. government to "swiftly phase out fossil-fuel use" and develop and implement "a national plan to restore Earth's energy balance ... to stabilize the climate system." The way William Yeatman at Cato boils it down: "If the plaintiffs had their druthers a single...

The Last Navarroite Navarro County, Texas, has been central to my family. Family names were all over the place: Lee, Hugghins, Eppler, Mayo, Spurrier all sprinkled among the county's towns: Corsicana, Kerens, Chatfield, Barry, Blooming Grove and all parts in between-- Though I, along with my mother move all over tarnation in the 1950s and early 1960s with my father in his construction careen along with those family members who worked for my dad. Yet we always came back to Navarro County to visit and/or recharge. In 1966, mom and dad bought a house in Kerens to stay. As the...

eijing has today announced major Chinese New Year events will be cancelled to control the spread of the killer coronavirus. Officials in the Chinese capital have scrapped events including temple fairs – which can attract thousands of tourists. Residents have been urged to 'strengthen prevention' against the virus, which has killed 17 and potentially infected thousands. Almost 600 people have been confirmed to have the virus, with cases recorded in the US, Singapore, Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau - as well as China.

“I am a friend of Plato, and a friend of Aristotle, but truth is my greater friend.” These are words from a personal notebook of Sir Isaac Newton, written when he was around 20 years old. With these words, he was proclaiming a revolutionary decision to search beyond the boundaries of classical teachings to understand the biggest questions about the world and universe. Proverbs 25 in the Bible says it is the honor of kings to search out the things that God has concealed. In Newton’s search to understand various baffling aspects of the Creation, he proved to be regal....

Footage purporting to show a Chinese woman eating a whole bat at a fancy restaurant has gone viral as the country is ravaged by a new deadly virus believed to have come from the flying mammals. A separate trending video purports to show Cantonese-speaking diners preparing to eat soup made with the nocturnal animal. The new strain of coronavirus, which emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan last month, has killed at least 17 people, sickened more than 590 and caused the city of 11million to be in lockdown. The virus, which can cause pneumonia, is poorly understood. Scientists...

The famed Doomsday Clock has been set at 100 seconds to midnight this year, the closest it's ever been to the metaphorical point of the Earth's destruction.

Title: Elizabeth Warren pledges to fill at least half her Cabinet with women and 'non binary people' 'My administration will be committed to diversity and inclusion' Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren pledged that if she's elected in November that she will fill at least half her Cabinet with women and "non binary people," according to her Medium post Wednesday. "My administration will be committed to diversity and inclusion," the U.S. senator from Massachusetts wrote, adding that "on day one" she will "build a Cabinet and senior leadership team that reflects the full diversity of America, including having at least 50%...

The new Chinese virus which has now infected hundreds of people in at least 10 countries around the world can be spread just by coughs and sneezes from someone nearby, an expert has warned. Scientists previously thought the infection was spreading through saliva or in close contact such as when people hug, kiss or share cutlery, but they now realise it is even more contagious and spreads through the air. The revelation comes as a third city in China went into lockdown today while officials battle to stop the spread of the deadly new coronavirus that has killed 17 and...

I explore Surah 74 from The Koran, and try to account for the malleability of a book which Muslims believe is eternal.