Group 76 “Terminator technology” or “suicide seeds” coin their name from the genetic use restriction technology (GURT) which caused controversy when it was used to develop plants that yield sterile seeds. Although not yet commercialised, biotech companies claim the innovation protects intellectual property and prevents the escape of modified genes. However, others are viewing this … Continue reading Terminator Seeds – They Won’t Be Back! →

Group 75 Additive manufacturing (AM) is a rapidly growing area with an 4x increase in revenue between 2010 and 2015. It has sparked massive interest and a large following, however it is not without fault and there have been calls to regulate its development and the parts it produces. The common argument for regulation of … Continue reading Group 75 →

Group 73 Genetically Modified (GM) crops have shown to provide a new path for farmers by allowing selection of the desired characteristics for their crop. This selective ability has been used to allow crops to grow in much harsher environments or to produce crops that yield more of the key component for biofuels. Production of … Continue reading Fuel The Rich Or Feed The Poor →

Group 72 In 2012 Grenfell Tower, a building of council flats in Kensington, began major renovations. In 2017 the tower caught fire, which resulted in 71 deaths. This article aims to judge whether the relevant parties in the lead up to the fire acted ethically by providing two opposing arguments. The renovation contract was won … Continue reading Grenfell Tower Disaster – Who’s To Blame? →

Group 71 Drone, also known as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) has granted the world with being prominence in its capabilities to deliver high technology surveillance while having effectiveness in mobility. All around the world, organizations, companies and governments are using drones for various purposes such as delivery, aerial photography and surveillance. Law enforcement bodies took … Continue reading Group 71 →

Group 70 In an ever increasing world of interconnectivity the modern day consumer’s personal and private information is subject to exploitation via technologies which unknowingly extract and sell user information on a daily basis. The distribution of personal data is currently a major financial resource for corporate giants Google and Facebook who dominate the digital … Continue reading Data Mining: The Greater Good Or Invasion Of Privacy? →

Group 69 Genome editing, a new technology in the medical field today, has proved its effectiveness in 2015. A doctor in United Kingdom had used a technique called Transcription Activator-like Effector Nucleases (TALENs) to treat a patient of leukemia. Genome editing works by having doctors directly treat patients by editing their DNA, and effectively ‘cut’ … Continue reading Group 69 →

Group 68 Autonomous vehicles (AV’s), once the thing of fantasies has become a thing of reality – virtually overnight. In an age of rapid advances in technology it is easy to lose sight of the essential questions; is the development of self-driving cars ethically justified? This blog will dissect and analyze the different ethical viewpoints … Continue reading A World Where Robots Are In Control →

Group 67 While many people see civilian firearms as a means of lifesaving protection or as a harmless pastime, recent tragic events bring to light the controversial nature of the gun industry, which puts lethal weapons in the hands of killers. So, is it ethical to build lethal weapons when one cannot determine how they … Continue reading Is It Ethical To Work In The Firearms Industry? →

Group 66 In 2015, hoverboards became the must-have gadget of the year. Celebrities such as Lily Allen or Mike Tyson appeared in pictures and videos riding them. They even became some of the most popular Christmas gift items worldwide for users of all ages. However, quite soon after their surge in popularity, retailers such as … Continue reading Group 66 →

Group 64 Kyrgyzstan currently controls Toktogul dam which provides a majority of its electricity demand (Poindexter, 2016). Doing so allows them to be less fossil fuel reliant on neighbouring countries, especially downstream Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. However, subsequent unstable water flow potentially places the citizens of these countries in agricultural peril, ultimately leading to starvation (Aliyeva, … Continue reading Toktogul Dam: All For One, Or One For All? →

Group 62 Every time you turn on your computer, take a picture or even drive a car you are relying on a set of metals you’ve probably never heard of. With names like Praseodymium and Lanthanum, these space age sounding elements are in many ways central to the modern world, improving tech lightness and efficiency. … Continue reading Mine Your Own Business – Rare Earth Metals In Mongolia →

Group 61 Autonomous vehicles are an emerging technology that are expected to reduce traffic and congestion, while increasing road safety. However, an ethical dilemma exists when coding the vehicles behaviour. In the event of an unavoidable crash that would kill either pedestrian(s) or the passenger(s) in the car, how should the car be coded to … Continue reading Group 61 →

Group 60 Air pollution has been an increasing significant issue nowadays due to the requirement of social development. Some people believed that it is time to reduce the reliance of cars and make the air pollution controllable, but there is also a voice claimed that policies like traffic restriction are useless. The following articles will … Continue reading Traffic Restriction, The BEST Or The WORST? →

Group 59 In March 2005, Amal Graafstra had implants in his hands and used it to access his home, and open car doors. 2013 saw the launch of a biohacking company “Dangerous Things” by Amal. To this date, 10,000 people are estimated to have chips implanted. Spreading like wildfire, the movement promoting the merge of … Continue reading Why Don’t You Go Hack Yourself? →

Group 58 The River Nile passes through Sudan and Egypt and into the Mediterranean Sea. The Blue Nile, one of two main tributaries to the Nile, makes up 60% of the main river and originates in Ethiopia. The country is currently constructing The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), a massive $4.16Bn project that aims to … Continue reading Too Many Dam Issues! →

Group 57 As the development of artificial intelligence and SLAM autonomous systems become extremely potential research projects for big companies. It seems that driverless vehicles will be the future of the vehicle industry if those companies enable to overcome technical challenges. However, it will conflict with the current law systems and ethical standard which needs … Continue reading Release Hands, Are We Ready Yet? →

Group 56 You might have heard of Flippy, a controversial burger-flipping robot with the sole purpose of cooking you a perfect patty. It has been successfully implemented in a Californian burger chain but was recently taken offline for being too slow. With such headlines it’s easy to overlook and even ridicule the impressive rise of … Continue reading Automation: A Tool For Progression?… Or A Recipe For Disaster? →

Group 54 The ship-breaking industry attracts fierce attention, notorious for the grievous injuries and fatalities of its workers. In nations such as Bangladesh, it has developed haphazardly. The ship-breaking yards operate with little planning and deplorable working conditions. Once sold, tankers and cargo ships are driven onto the shores; ill-equipped and often underage workers break … Continue reading Death, Destruction And Dollar Bills: The Daily Strife Of Ship-Breakers →

Group 53 On January 2018, Pablo Ross from the University of California reported that his team was able to create pig embryos with one human cell per every 100,000 pig cells (Cookson, 2018). This work has inspired more research on this area. (Davis, 2018). These advancements have the objective to grow  human organs in  animals, … Continue reading Your New Chimerical Kidney, From A Pig →

Group 52 Outlawing the sales of diesel and gasoline cars is one initiative designed to reduce air pollution levels and meet the conditions set out in the Paris agreement to reduce global emissions. Electric cars are expected to takeover, but currently account for less than 1% of global vehicle sales. So, the solution is simple: … Continue reading Electric Vehicles – The Prius We Have To Pay →

Group 51 The real problem with water is not in its abundance but rather in its usability. Persian Gulf countries experience a shortage of clean water resources. Desalination can provide it by removing the salts from seawater to make it drinkable. This however comes with consequences, the removal of salts from sea water uses immense … Continue reading Desalination: Take It With A Pinch Of Salt →

Group 50 SpaceX’s recent development, the Big Falcon Rocket (BFR), aims to revolutionise the civil aerospace industry by providing a reusable, two-stage rocket for commercial aviation, allowing passengers travel to “anywhere on Earth in under an hour”. Despite its potential, questions still surround whether we need a better connected world and if there is consumer … Continue reading A Better Connected World →

Group 49 Over the years there has been a lot of debate regarding the issue of Genetically Modified Organisms/Foods (GMO’s/GMF’s). It is one of the most contentious areas of science, where although genetic engineering is being used for medical applications such as in GM Insulin, the use of the same in the case of agriculture … Continue reading GMFs- Good Modern Foods? OR Good Murder Foods? →

Group 48 June 2017 marked the date where the horrifying news of skyscraper tower blazed in fire had sparked the attention of most people primarily to those who invested in the high-rise building – Grenfell Tower. The foreseen disaster had engulfed with it 80 innocent lives. A cladding method for insulation, a main cause for … Continue reading Grenfell Fell To The Ground →

Group 47 The UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle), often known as a drone, represents a kind of aircraft with no pilot aboard. Nowadays, the applications of drones have many different sectors. And it is widely discussed whether it is beneficial or harmful to us. MILITARY USE OF UAV The unmanned aerial vehicle has wide applications in … Continue reading GOOD or BAD – The Judgement Of UAV →

Group 46 Love Canal was used as a disposal site by Hooker Chemical Corp for more than 200 different hazardous chemical wastes. In 1953, Hooker sold it to Niagara Falls Board of Education (BoE) to get rid of the virtual wasteland. The land was developed despite of the buried chemicals beneath. Leaching of chemicals was … Continue reading Where Is The Love For Love Canal? →

Group 45 When you watched a scene with self-driving car in action movies, have you ever feel impressed that you wish it exist in real life? Yes, driverless car has now become a reality. Tesla, Google, and Uber are among the pioneers that are willing to invest in this technology. Some believe that driverless cars … Continue reading Let’s Gear Up For The Driverless Future! →

Group 44 Nissan began producing its Sentra line of cars in 1982, selling them under different names globally since 1982. A crash test between the 2015 Mexican variant (Tsuru) and the 2014 American variant was conducted, with the Tsuru being found to be vastly inferior due to its lack of airbags, anti-lock brakes and stability … Continue reading The Emerging Disparity In Car Safety Regulations Between Countries →

Group 43 In a future of fully autonomous vehicles, a controlled environment where all the major traffic is maintained by Artificial Intelligence (AI), a lot of people’s life will be made simpler and safer. How true is it? Currently autonomous vehicles are being researched by car manufacturers as well as programmers like Tesla which have … Continue reading Autonomous Car, Is It A Blessing Or Curse? →

Group 41 Pierre de Courbetin, the father of modern Olympics postulated a concept known as Olympism, “a philosophy of life, … blending sport with culture and education, seeking to create a way of life based on the joy of effort, the educational value of good example, social responsibility and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles”. … Continue reading The Torch That Burns The Bearer →

Group 40 The creation of genetically identical copy of human is Human cloning. It is further theoretically divided into two: therapeutic cloning and reproductive cloning.  Cloning of cells for the treatment of diseases is therapeutic cloning whereas producing an artificial clone of a human is reproductive cloning. Reproductive cloning and its possibility has raised various … Continue reading Reproductive Cloning →

Group 39 Since Henry Ford hypothesized the creation of a ‘combination airplane and motorcar’ in 1940, film-makers and fanatics have endorsed the idea and turned it into a futuristic parody, longing for the development of such a vehicle. About 80 years on, the technological advancements in electrical power, navigation and autonomous systems make the development … Continue reading Ready For Take-Off… In A Flying Taxi? →

Group 38 In 2011, the ‘slide’ in global crude oil value has left a trail of impairment in its wake particularly to Malaysia economy. However, the government insists on pushing the industry forward by instilling large portions of its budget to dominate the oil and gas hub in Asia Pacific Energy. Should these budgets go … Continue reading How Does Oil And Gas Shape The Future Of Malaysia? →

Group 37 In 2005, Mr. Patterson was infected with a super bacterium which is called Acinetobacter baumannii that is difficult to be cured. The most powerful antibiotics Polymyxin E was used while it failed. His wife Strathdee, an infectious disease expert, decided to use Phage therapy to cure her husband. With help of Naval medical … Continue reading Doctor’s Duties To Save Lives →

Group 35 In the past few decades robotic technology has developed at an alarming rate, particularly with the growth of Artificial Intelligence. Current uses of AI technology have been mostly beneficial with examples including voice operated smartphones and early automated driving systems. However, as this technology progresses around fields such as machine learning and autonomy, … Continue reading Robot/A.I. Sentience And Legal Issues →

Group 34 Hinkley Point C, is the first nuclear power station project in England for 20 years. With an estimated cost of £20.3 billion and numerous delays to completion, this project has been surrounded by contention. Considering that this essay concerns the moral dilemma of Hinkley Point C, not nuclear power in general, from the … Continue reading Is It Ethically Correct For The Construction Of Hinkley Point C To Continue? →

Group 33 Heathrow Airport has almost 1300 incoming and outgoing flights daily with this forecast to increase in coming years. Building a third runway would help relieve pressure on the infrastructure however there is some opposition to the idea. There has been constant argument for and against if a third runway should be accepted. This … Continue reading 3rd Runway At Heathrow, Benefiting The Many At The Expense Of The Few? →

Group 32 As the industry is evolving rapidly due to technological advancement, retailers have no option but to implement automation to keep their businesses survive. There have been ongoing debates on how morally acceptable is automation in the retail industry: How much jobs should be automated? Will automation and artificial intelligence replace human? How much … Continue reading The Future Of Retail: Human vs Automation →

Group 31 Incarceration is a racial issue globally but its effects are most significant in America, where around 2 million citizens are behind bars, and a disproportionate number of these are African American. Big data analytics, AI, and machine learning have revolutionised countless industries and businesses, providing a more rigorous and powerful statistical approach to … Continue reading AI: Artificial Incarceration →

Group 30 The year is 2025. SpaceX has put a man and his dog on Mars. CO2 levels are reported stagnant. Things are good. You are weaving through traffic in your car to work and can just about eat breakfast, finish your presentation slides and practice in the next 10 minutes. It’s Friday; you’ll meet … Continue reading Look Mum, No Hands! →

Group 29 Did you talk to your toys when you were a child? We did, and how we wished they would talk back to us. Well now with a little bit of magic, we actually can. Barbie’s manufacturer – Mattel, has collaborated with ToyTalk, an application developer to create a more interactive Barbie to enhance … Continue reading Barbie – A Beauty With A Brain? →

Group 28 Imagine using you hand to make contactless payments. Imagine giving the colour-blind the ability to perceive a rainbow. Imagine a device that could vibrate your genitalia on command. It might not all be a pretty future, but for some it is the future they strive for. Welcome to the world of ‘Do It … Continue reading Biohacking: The Future of Genitalia? →

Group 27 The Three Gorges Dam is a large-scale hydropower station built and operated completely by China in 2012, located in Yiling District, Yichang, Hubei province, China. The Three Gorges Dam has brought tremendous power generation capacity and excellent flood resistance to China, but at the same time When it was completed, it inundated some … Continue reading The Three Gorges Dam, Meaningful Or Useless? →

Group 26 Their increasing appearances in pop-culture (Blade Runner, Her, Humans, Westworld), reflect our growing fascination with the role artificially intelligent, anthropomorphic robots could have in society. The sex industry is set to be an early adopter of such technology, exemplified by the digitalisation of pornography, development of sex toys into teledildonics and uses of … Continue reading The Dawn Of The Sexbots →

Group 25 Autonomous vehicles are claimed to be much safer and more efficient than conventionally operated cars, but are the manufacturers fully considering the morality of a method of transport that promotes inattentiveness, can be remotely hacked, and may decide to kill the occupants? An autonomous future In the future, legislation could mean that autonomous … Continue reading Relinquishing Our Autonomy: The Self-Driving Vehicle →

Group 24 The evolution of technology has seen robots find their way into our homes, shops and workplaces, but are our bedrooms the next step or a step too far? An ethical minefield if ever there was one, the arrival of sex robots is causing quite a stir, with so called “sex tech” now representing … Continue reading Nice Bolts, Wanna Screw? →

Group 23 The continuously increasing obesity rate and its socioeconomic consequences have been a matter of discussion for several years. Airline companies have recently reacted to the phenomenon by applying additional charges to overweight passengers. However, several ethical questions arise. Is it moral to surcharge passengers that occupy a bigger volume? Would it be ethically … Continue reading Does Size Matter When Flying? →

Group 22 Arts are valuable, but can we afford them when STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) powers the world? Maths Powers the Economy In today’s society interacting with STEM is unavoidable. With 94% of adults in the UK using a mobile phone, STEM is not only improving our communications but is changing the way … Continue reading Art – An Unaffordable Luxury? →

Group 21 The Death of Privacy Privacy and confidentiality have always been one of the main human rights and aspirations but with the fear of the terrorism and with the digital revolution in 21st century it has become as brittle and vulnerable as we have never experienced before. Technical gadgets have become an integral part … Continue reading If You’ve Got Nothing To Hide, You’ve Got Nothing To Fear →

Group 20 Autopilot technology tends to replace human driving and leads the revolution in the foreseeable future. However, many accidents occurred due to the failure of Autopilot and brought the property and life losses. In 2016, Tesla Model-S with Autopilot on hit the trailer which was crossing the highway. The driver and autopilot system did … Continue reading Who Should Take The Liability For The Crash Caused By Autopilot →

Group 19 The technology of in-vitro fertilization (IVF) has been developed and studied for 40 years. At present, more than 4 million children are born through in-vitro fertilization, and most of the parents are unable to give birth normally. However, there is still a huge ethical controversy about the application of in vitro fertilization. Positive … Continue reading Is It Murder To Abandon An Embryo? →

Group 18 Is the engineering of machines that enforce third party ethics a problem and should it be stopped? The concept of machines making decisions for themselves seems pretty daunting. Thankfully, the robots we’re starting to see, from the Roomba™ to the autonomous car, are only programmed to make decisions within a predetermined set of … Continue reading The Robuttal: The Ethics Of Enforcing Ethics →

Group 17 In a 1940s – style hospital room, after 70 years, Captain America finally woke up with a healthy and alive body. Nowadays, this is not only a suspended animation, cryonics give us a chance to come back to life. “Cryonics is the process of preserving a whole body in the hope that resuscitation … Continue reading How Did Captain America Survive? →

Group 16 Planned obsolescence is the conscious design of products to have a restricted usable lifetime. In December 2017, Apple admitted to intentionally slowing down older iPhone models. This resulted in several lawsuits being filed against the company. According to Apple, the feature was put in place to prevent operational faults due to ageing batteries. … Continue reading Consumer Injustice →

Group 15 Fly Me to the Moon Space exploration is the investigation of celestial structures across the universe through the advancement of technology. We strive to answer fundamental questions such as “what is life?” and “how did we get here?”, but are the answers worth the money and the danger? The advantages of space travel … Continue reading Another Space Mission: Should We Plan It? →

Group 14 Recently, wind farms have been hugely popular.  Green, greener, the greenest- wind turbines are seen as the magic tool to revolutionise the power generation industry. Indeed, in 2016, it was the second highest area of renewable technology growth, in capacity. Sadly, unicorns do not exist and onshore wind farms pose multiple problems, especially … Continue reading Onshore wind farms: a breath of fresh air or an eye sore? →

Group 12 Over the last half century, the drive to reduce carbon emissions has taken center stage, affecting politics, the world economy and the direction of technological development. A multitude of competing technologies are available to wean the global economy off its addiction to carbon based fuels, including CCS. It looks to capture and store … Continue reading Is CCS Really A Clear Cut Solution For Climate Change? →

Group 13 ***ATTENTION*** ***TRIGGER WARNINGS*** In modern society, public safety and the safeguarding of children are of utmost priority. This has led to the exploration of the NHS using innovative treatments for the psychiatric disorder of paedophilia. Studies show that 2% of the UK population has strong paedophilic tendencies and the effectiveness of current treatment … Continue reading Child Sex Dolls – Worth A Trial, Or Simply Vile? →

Group 11 What took Britain nearly 20 years to build a ‘new’ nuclear power station? Does the stable and sustainable energy source of nuclear outweigh the documented drawbacks? Is it ethical for future generations to live with the outcomes of this decision? The development of nuclear power will be viewed using a black and white … Continue reading How Toxic Is Your kW? →

Group 10 You are reading this article thanks to 16 of the 17 rare earth metals found in smartphones and laptops, but may not be aware of the consequences of using such metals… Rare earths are essential to modern life and the future of green technology such as wind turbines and catalytic converters. 95% of … Continue reading Shiny Metals, Dirty Consequences: The Toxic Truth Behind Rare Earth Elements In The Palm Of Your Hands →

Group 9 Child-education is a hard job, but somebody, or something has got to do it. A Japan Times article describes RoHo, a robotic care system, could be ready for full-scale implementation in 2018 (Aranca.com, 2018). The prospect of robots in childcare roles ranging from smart baby monitors to robot-tutors is basically contentious. Our Debate … Continue reading The Ethical Responsibility Of A Robot Company →

Group 7 In December 2017, Apple confirmed that they were deliberately throttling CPU on iPhones with degraded batteries, which means that the processing speed of old devices were slowed down. Although Apple clarified that the purpose of this action was to bring the best experience for customers by preventing unexpected shutting down, it was not … Continue reading Optimising or Depriving – Should Apple Throttle CPU Performance? →

Group 8 On March 11, 2011, a catastrophic earthquake happened in Japan, triggering the emergency shut down of reactors in Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. The earthquake was followed by a 15 meters tsunami some minutes later, destroying emergency generators and other facilities, and causing the reactor cores to overheat, leading to multiple hydrogen explosions and … Continue reading Fukushima Nuclear Disaster: Bad Luck Or Bad Management? →

Group 6 Everyone has heard of the rising prevalence of semi-autonomous and fully-autonomous vehicles. With the recent development that the California Department of Motor Vehicles  have approved testing for fully-autonomous vehicles (AV), questions have been raised as to the ethical robustness of this decision. So have we given enough thought to the social and ethical … Continue reading Autonomous Vehicles: The Future Of Our Roads? →

Group 5 Space travel is a hot topic of conversation, whether it’s capturing the world’s audience by putting a man on the moon, or Mr Musk trying to colonise Mars. But what value does society see from this significant financial investment? You only have to look to mainstream media to witness famine and war, so … Continue reading There’s No Space For It! →

Group 4 In July 2017, researchers reported that they had made significant progress in using CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) gene editing techniques to correct a genetic mutation linked to a heart disorder called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in human embryos. This technique is able to identify and remove defective sections of genes and then … Continue reading A CURE-ious Development →

Group 2 In recent years, Paralympic long jumpers have overtaken mainstream Olympians in world record-breaking jumps. As most, if not all, of these para-athletes take off on their prosthesis and sporting technologies advance, one question has garnered increasing attention: Do modern prosthetics bestow advantages over natural limbs and should the capabilities of prosthetic technology be … Continue reading Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger →

Group 3 February 2018 marked the successful test launch of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket, garnering media attention from across the globe. It raised questions regarding whether it is ethical for the US government to fund SpaceX founder, Elon Musk, in his efforts to progress his ambitions in space whilst there are arguably more pertinent issues … Continue reading Human Race vs Space Race →

Group 1 The two recently-discovered CPU flaws, ‘Meltdown’ and ‘Spectre’, have troubled chip-maker Intel, which is now facing 32 lawsuits. Intel was first informed of these potential architecture defects back in 1995 by the National Security Agency, but it chose to not warn the public. These faults revealed issues with the flawed processors produced in … Continue reading Intel’s Blunder: Global Digital Meltdown →