-
1 month ago | 
thespectator.com | Stuart A Ritchie |John Steele Gordon |Paul Wood |Yascha Mounk
One usually likes to think that scientists know what they’re doing. Here’s something that might shake your confidence. In bio-medical research, scientists often use cell lines. These are in vitro cells, originally taken from a human or animal donor, which can be experimented on to help develop new drugs or treatments. The problem is that, according to one review, in “at least 5 percent” of studies, the scientists have totally mixed up where the cells came from.
-
1 month ago | 
thespectator.com | Lisa Haseldine |Jacob Heilbrunn |Freddy Gray |John Steele Gordon
It may be taking him longer than the 24 hours he pledged on the campaign trail, but it appears that President Donald Trump might be getting somewhere on halting the war between Russia and Ukraine: following a call lasting an hour and a half, he has persuaded Vladimir Putin to agree to a partial ceasefire in the conflict. According to the statements beginning to emerge from the Kremlin and White House, the call appears to have gone well.
-
1 month ago | 
thespectator.com | Jacob Heilbrunn |Freddy Gray |John Steele Gordon |James R. Snell
Once upon a time America practiced ping-pong diplomacy to try and improve ties with Mao’s China. Now Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are talking about organizing hockey matches in America and Russia to bolster relations. Given that the two sides would be playing in ice rinks, it would be hard to say that Russia, which has been banned from the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup ever since its invasion of Ukraine, is coming in from the cold.
-
1 month ago | 
thespectator.com | Freddy Gray |John Steele Gordon |James R. Snell |Jacob Heilbrunn
The White House’s Presidential Personnel Office is ticking off Republicans with some of its policy hires – or rejections. While President Donald Trump and Elon Musk are dead set on slashing government jobs via the Department of Government Efficiency, some in the GOP are frustrated that PPO is rejecting political appointees with apparently sterling MAGA credentials. They feel that PPO is flexing its muscles over both agency heads and Republican senators.
-
1 month ago | 
thespectator.com | Lisa Haseldine |Freddy Gray |John Steele Gordon |James R. Snell
It may be taking him longer than the 24 hours he pledged on the campaign trail, but it appears that US President Donald Trump might be getting somewhere on halting the war between Russia and Ukraine: following a call lasting an hour and a half, he has persuaded Vladimir Putin to agree to a partial ceasefire in the conflict. According to the statements beginning to emerge from the Kremlin and White House, the call appears to have gone well.
-
1 month ago | 
thespectator.com | Freddy Gray |John Steele Gordon |Ben Domenech |James R. Snell
Can you pass the MAGA moral purity test? The White House’s Presidential Personnel Office is ticking off Republicans with some of its policy hires – or rejections. Mischief, mayhem and Washington gossip from The Spectator’s intrepid beat reporter. While President Donald Trump and Elon Musk are dead set on slashing government jobs via the Department of Government Efficiency, some in the GOP are frustrated that PPO is rejecting political appointees with apparently sterling MAGA credentials.
-
1 month ago | 
thespectator.com | Ross Clark |Freddy Gray |John Steele Gordon |Alexander Larman
Donald Trump is shrinking the federal government and getting it off people’s backs. That is correct for the first half of that statement, but not for the second. On the contrary, in at least one respect, the government is going to be paying citizens even more attention in the future.
-
Oct 18, 2024 | 
thespectator.com | John Steele Gordon |Melanie McDonagh |Laura Allsop |Rod Liddle
Vice President Kamala Harris was the first presidential candidate since Walter Mondale to skip the traditional Al Smith dinner, which raises money for Catholic Charities, and former president Donald Trump would not let her forget it. He called her absence “deeply disrespectful” to Catholics, earning applause from some in the audience.
-
Oct 18, 2024 | 
thespectator.com | John Steele Gordon |Melanie McDonagh |Arash Azizi |Jonathan Miller
Technological revolutions can only change the world when the new technology becomes cheap enough for it to be widely applied. Just ask Elon Musk. The rocket age began with Germany’s V-2 in 1944, but the single-use technology was so expensive that it required state resources to utilize. Then, last Sunday, SpaceX’s Starship rocket booster, the most powerful ever launched, returned from space and was secured by its gantry for reuse.
-
Oct 18, 2024 | 
spectator.com.au | John Steele Gordon
Technological revolutions can only change the world when the new technology becomes cheap enough for it to be widely applied. Just ask Elon Musk. The rocket age began with Germany’s V-2 in 1944, but the single-use technology was so expensive that it required state resources to utilize. Then, last Sunday, SpaceX’s Starship rocket booster, the most powerful ever launched, returned from space and was secured by its gantry for reuse.
