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How the world's media dealt with human cloning Severino Antinori must be the most famous gynaecologist in the world. His plan to start human cloning by November has been universally [...]

Cot death confusion: explaining the unexplainable Ever since solicitor Sally Clark was convicted in November 1999 of murdering two of her children, she has maintained her innocence. In the face [...]

Demon Drink: George Cruikshank's 'The Worship of Bacchus' in Focus Tate Britain, Millbank, London SW1, until 2 December 2001 Firstly, we are told that one or two glasses of red [...]

Diabetes It is perhaps not surprising that such a massive and difficult topic as diabetes, the subject of an editorial (p 1375), a paper (p 1389), and a book review [...]

How drug companies use opinion leaders We all know that there is no such thing as a flee drugs company lunch, but, what the hell, the food's good, those marketing [...]

A magazine that was at the centre of a row over the media and eating disorders earlier this month claims that it is sending up our image obsessed culture In [...]

Adolescents and health In many ways, the internet seems made for teenagers. It allows them to shop, chat to their friends, catch up on the latest pop, sport, and fashion [...]

Health inequalities What a difference a digit makes. For a newborn baby in New York City, a one digit difference in zip code can be a matter of life and [...]

How the media report medical errors On the front page of London's Evening Standard of 14 February the face of 3 year old Najiyah Hussain, beside the headline 'She was [...]

Animal research If you wanted to visit the site of Huntingdon Life Sciences (www.huntingdon.com), the company at the centre of the current animal rights protests and featured in the documentary [...]

In retrospect, it is easy to see that the latest cluster of cases displayed the tell tale signs. Yes, there was rapid onset, yes, there was a certain feverishness, yes, [...]

Drugs for Alzheimer's disease Searching on the internal for impartial professional information about drugs to treat Alzheimer's disease, indeed any drugs, can be tricky. Key in 'Alzheimer's,' and you are [...]

Horizon 'The Valley of Life or Death; BBC 2, 16 November at 9 pm It was 14 years ago that the government urged us not to die of ignorance. Its [...]

AIDS: the Global Killer, Channel 4, 27 November at 11 05 pm It was 14 years ago that the government urged us not to die of ignorance. Its warnings about [...]

Downsizing The internet is generally regarded as a democratic medium, a marketplace of information open to anyone with a mouse and a modem. It is surprising, then, that sites about [...]

A government sexual health advertising campaign has given a new meaning to the traditional romantic Valentine's Day's message. In place of slushy slogans describing the pain of Cupid's dart are [...]

Few doctors have had as great an impact on British medicine as Harold Shipman. When he and his colleagues qualified from Leeds Medical School in 1970, none of them would [...]

Living organ donation Two letters in this week's BMJ present conflicting views of living liver donation (p 1287). In arguing in favour of donation, Roger Williams says that there is [...]

Rating: *** BBC 2, 28 October at 8pm Presenter Dan Cruickshank has an infectious, donnish enthusiasm and joie de vivre that television producers obviously believe lends popular appeal to subjects […]

Rating: ** This exhibition claims to explore the downside to our ever-increasing levels of pill consumption. It purports to ask whether our dependence on prescription medicines could lead to a […]

How many people have to die from a disease or condition before it merits a news story on the BBC? The answer, says a new report published this week, is [...]

Panorama: Fiddling the Figures BBC 1, 29 June at 10 15 pm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/ 3013062.stm Rating: *** From education to health care, almost no area of the United Kingdom's public services [...]

SARS art As we have pointed out in previous columns, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is very much an epidemic of the internet age (http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/326/7395/937/a and http://bmj.com/cgi/ content/full/326/7399/1152-a). But information [...]

The media love a maverick. That's one reason why a figure such as Dr Andrew Wakefield, who challenged established thinking over the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, has received [...]

What do drug companies do when the law prevents them from advertising prescription only medicines directly to the public? One answer might be that they instead advertise the disease, be [...]

Severe acute respiratory syndrome Information about severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) changes every day. The internet, with its capacity for immediacy and global reach, is therefore a good source of [...]

Sue Cameron Simon & Schuster, 17.99 £, pp 259 ISBN 0 684 85130 X Rating: **** Frank Cunningham was an 18 year old mechanic in Manchester when he crushed his [...]

Traffic congestion The introduction of congestion charging on the streets of central London, the subject of an editorial in this week's BMJ (p 345), has already polarised public opinion. And [...]

Prime minister Tony Blair may be responsible for a lot of things, but the importation of killer plagues does not sound like one of them. However, one British tabloid Sunday [...]

BBC 2, 26 November at 9 pm Rating: **** Medicine can be a bit like magic. Who better then to employ to investigate research results that make no scientific sense [...]

A film by Michael Moore UK release date: 15 November Rating: **** In this darkly humorous feature-length documentary, campaigning journalist and filmmaker Michael Moore sets out to ask why Americans [...]

There has long been a tendency to blame the mass 'media, particularly tabloid newspapers, for public attitudes to and understanding of matters of scientific controversy, such as the MMR (measles, [...]

ITV1, 9 July at 9 pm Rating: *** It's a brave screenwriter who attempts to create a drama out of something as recent and horrific as the Shipman killings. The [...]

Francis Fukuyama knows how to make an impact. In 1989, he famously declared that history was at an end, arguing that with the fall of communism 'the major alternatives to [...]

The measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine may not be as great a bogeyman as recent media coverage suggests. Research by the market research organisation MORI shows that people worry more […]

Roy Porter, the greatest medical historian of his generation, whose obituary appears in this week's BMJ (p 680), reminded 'the medical profession of the richness and relevance of its history.' [...]

Venomous creatures Britain has less than its fair share of venomous creatures. The only poisonous snake is the adder, and while its bites can cause painful swelling and fever, they [...]

Who won the war of Rose's head? Both Tory and Labour politicians feel that they have scored vital points in what has perhaps been the most crucial recent battle over [...]

Oxygen By Carl Djerassi and Roald Hoffman Riverside Studios, London W14, until 1 December (www.riversidestudios.co.uk) Rating: ** Is science about advancing human knowledge or enhancing the reputation of scientists? How [...]

At a secret location in the home counties of England, 15000 cannabis plants are being grown quite legally. They are being bred from strains whose names--Hindu Kush, Skunk, Northern Lights, [...]

Bioterrorism On the internet, anthrax is big business. The New York Times reported that anthrax news was creating a 'marketing opportunity' on the internet and that anyone who typed 'anthrax' [...]