Matters of Life & Death

This week we look at developments prompted by the war in Ukraine, which has seen the humble drone take a leading role on the frontline. Both sides, and global powers watching on with interest, are now investing in building battle drones which can fly...

A landmark court case in the UK recently saw five radical climate activists jailed for up to five years for their role in organising the blocking of a major motorway to protest against fossil fuels. The sentences have been criticised by many, includi...

A recent Netflix documentary, The Man With A 1000 Kids, has shone a light on the often under-discussed topic of sperm donation. It exposes a Dutch man as a prolific and deceptive sperm donor who compulsively fathers children around the world via dona...

In recent weeks we have discussed how to keep modern technology at arms-length (smartphones in the home) and our excitement at how humans may be about to untap God’s blessing in creation through technology (the solar energy revolution). Today we ask...

Even sober-minded experts are getting excited about solar power. Respectable estimates suggest the price of energy derived from sunlight will continue to drop spectacularly as the number of panels installed worldwide continues to explode exponentiall...

The controversial hacker and activist (and maybe journalist?) Julian Assange was suddenly freed for five years in a British jail last month, after he reached a surprise deal with the US authorities over classified military files he published online m...

Despite reams of research debunking the myth and countless examples of pioneering Christian researchers, many people still believe intuitively that somehow science and religion are in constant conflict. There are even those within the church who, per...

Tim’s been away this last week on holiday so we’re bringing you an episode from the Matters of Life and Death vault today. There is a looming ‘demographic timebomb’ – a growing mass of elderly and increasingly chronically ill people in many developed...

This week we interview the writer Andy Crouch on a question which has been everywhere in recent months: are smartphones damaging our children? A growing number of writers and thinkers are arguing that our digital technology, most notably social media...

In the first half of this episode we explore new research into public opinion around polygenic embryo screening. This technology allows people undergoing IVF to see what genes each potential embryo has and then choose to reimplant the one with the ‘b...

We in the UK have been startled by the sudden announcement from the prime minister that our general election, due at the end of the year, would actually be held in six weeks’ time in early July. In this episode we reflect on why Christians are so pol...

Diagnosis rates for autism have been steadily rising for decades now, and as the condition has become more prevalent there has been a growing debate within the community and wider society about what autism is. Some prefer to talk about neurodiversity...

Science fiction has long been fascinated by the idea of humans becoming friends with computers. And the dream of an always-on digital companion you can talk to day or night is closer than ever before, thanks to advances in AI software in recent years...

What would contact with intelligent aliens mean for humanity? Will doctors ever be able to cure depression with a drug? Can we bestow personhood on animals? Nick Spencer, senior fellow at the religion and society think tank Theos, is the author of t...

A new law has been proposed in the Scottish Parliament which would allow terminally ill people to request doctors assist them in committing suicide. This is the latest push in a growing campaign across the UK and more widely in the Western world to l...