Bioethics
![Close-up of a cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato, pickles, red onion, and sauce in a sesame seed bun.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/6fe2d70b-4e03-4d7e-b17d-292b278e5163/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Ethics
idea
A fake-meat burger, a sex doll and a thought experiment
How is enjoying a burger, even if it’s one made of fake meat, different from enjoying a female, even if she’s a sex doll?
by Rebecca Lowe
![A wooden box filled with vintage black-and-white photographs, showing portraits and various scenes, some faded with age.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/fbfe502d-48e9-4399-83ab-b7545ce52d68/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Parenting and families
idea
I’m childfree by choice. Should I feel guilty about ending my line?
My uterus is not my ancestors’ vessel for future progeny. What’s the impact of my choice on my family’s genetic lineage?
by Starre Vartan
![An illustrated medieval courtroom with a sow and piglets on trial, people observing, and officials judging from a raised platform.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/3db4ed6d-8a10-406e-8487-eee9daab1327/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Animals
idea
If animals are persons, should they bear criminal responsibility?
Were medieval trials of animal criminals not a sign of backwardness, but in fact strangely progressive?
by Ed Simon
![Colourful brain activity scan with red, green, and purple regions, depicted against a black background.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/1b3cbc69-2055-4bd3-b0af-e860a002d3df/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Neuroscience
idea
Brain scans look stunning, but what do they actually mean?
Functional brain scans are a valuable tool but their meaning must be interpreted with caution and scepticism
by Danielle Carr
![](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/39a3a6f1-d826-4128-a94b-2ccb726c648c/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Bioethics
idea
Some medical devices don’t mean to be racist, but they are
Oppression can get built into anything, including medical devices. How do they influence us, and what can we do about them?
by Vanessa Carbonell & Shen-yi Liao
![](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/d3f749be-3709-42a7-9d46-5ffbf8c07041/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Animals
idea
My cancer scars map the pain of animals held in research labs
The scars on my body are a constant reminder of why I’ve turned from scholarship on animals to agitating for animals
by Barbara J King