by Alexandra Gürel

In his upcoming book, Strange Pill: Evidence, Values, and Medical Nihilism, philosopher of Jacob Stegenga charts a history of the term “magic bullet”: a drug that is both specific and effective, curing the patient without side effects. Stegenga argues that the early 20th century was a “golden age” for magic bullets, with the discovery of drugs like penicillin and insulin, and that late 20th/early 21st century medicine has not been able to deliver drugs that are nearly as effective. I propose, by interviewing Stegenga, to outline why recently discovered drugs tend to have tiny effect sizes and bad side effects (and therefore a poor cost/benefit ratio.) I will then outline proposals for how the modern medical research agenda can be restructured so that its products more closely resemble “magic bullets,” an outcome that would save the NHS money and improve the patient experience.

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by Victoria Plutshack

Smart technologies, which can communicate and share information, have been hailed as a panacea for a range of our energy problems. The possibilities for energy savings and greater energy efficiency are enormous. The first step in realizing the smart vision of the future is the humble smart meter, which is due to be universally available in British homes by 2020. However, the behavioural science behind the effects of an in-home energy meter is mixed. Pilot tests have returned a range of results, from energy savings to increased consumption and everything in between. Given that there is scientific uncertainty, how should policy makers respond? I argue that the Government must clearly prioritise its reasons for the adoption of smart meters in order to create meters that are most likely to produce a single desired result, instead of solving all the nation’s energy problems.

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by Ed Leon Klinger

Driverless cars present an unprecedented opportunity to transform the way we transport goods and people through cities and across countries, posing benefits to our collective safety, environment and economy. They also pose new risks; as cars become more connected, they become more vulnerable to malicious attacks by thieves and terrorists. This essay argues that the government should take active steps to position the UK at the forefront of autonomous vehicle technology, establishing itself as a world-leader in this rapidly approaching disruptive innovation.

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by Konstantina Georgaki, Emmanuel Giakoumakis, and Alessandro Rollo

In June 2015, the European Court of Human Rights delivered the final judgment in the Delfi case, where it upheld the decision of an Estonian court to fine a news portal for hosting anonymous defamatory comments. This controversial judgment has a chilling effect on freedom of expression in cyberspace and paves the way for a slippery slope leading to online censorship. The key policy issue is striking a balance between freedom of expression and other protected interests, including privacy, reputation and national security. This paper argues that holding Internet Service Providers (ISPs) liable for third-party content places a disproportionate burden on them and destabilises the architecture of Web 2.0 to the detriment of human rights. To this end, we argue that a new regulatory approach is necessary to address the rights of ISPs in the attempt to balance freedom of expression with new developments in the need for protection of personal data.

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by Hannah Smith

Limited water resources, weak states and ethnic tensions across Central Asia lead many analysts to believe that the region will bear witness to the world’s first war over water. Through drawing on fieldwork, this study takes the example of the geographically isolated village of Barak (a Kyrgyz exclave) to demonstrate how water resources are manipulated strategically at a local level. This has profound consequences for communities and presents clear violations of basic human rights. The internationally community must act at a micro level to ensure that water does not become another tool of war.

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