This section will deal with issues ranging from the philosophy of science, the Internet, and more.  Be sure to check out our section dedicated to the Environment.

• The Origins of Our Species
  The latest discovery of a fossil skull in Kenya, more than three million years old, once again demonstrates the complex evolution of humankind. The following article examines the evidence and sees how it fits into the ideas of human origin formulated by Frederick Engels more than 100 years ago. By Rob Sewell. (May, 2001)

• Drugs companies putting profits before millions of people's lives
  Nearly 40 South African pharmaceutical companies are taking the South African government to court in order to defend their massive profits, even if this means the death of millions of people who are HIV positive. The case opened at the Pretoria High Court on March 5th. This article examines how the profit motive of the pharmaceutical multinationals prevails over the lives of millions of people. (March 2001)

• What the human genome means to socialists
  Once every century or so great scientific breakthroughs grip the imagination of the world. With the publication of the results of the human genome project, we stand on the threshold of such a breakthrough. Science is now poised to understand the forces behind evolution, explode racial myths, change the way doctors diagnose disease, and try to help people live longer. The new approach - looking at systems of genes rather than individual genes - will transform biologists' view of the human body. Alan Woods explains how this discovery proves amongst other things that there is no scientific ground for racism or genetic determinism, and analyses the significance of this discovery from a socialist point of view. (February 16, 2001)

• Engels and Human Development
  John Pickard looks at Engels' work The Part Played by Labor in the Transition from Ape to Man in light of modern anthropologocal and paleontological evidence. His conclusion? It was way ahead of its time! In his general conclusions, Engels was fundamentally correct in spite of the lack of hard evidence available in 1876.

• Genomics - Life and Death Economics
  Science is big business, and none more so than genetics. The Human Genome Project, the deciphering of the make up of human DNA has already resulted in some startling breakthroughs. But, while our scientific understanding of life attempts to race ahead, once again we find ourselves hemmed in by the enormous waste of capitalism. In this field, as in any other, competition plus profit equals waste. By Phil Mitchinson. (April 27, 2000)

• Internet Revolution - a New Paradigm or Another Bubble?
  "It is only a matter of time before the US Internet bubble is burst, investments collapse and consumption of the masses falls back because of a loss of confidence in the 'new economy'." Michael Roberts looks at the Internet revolution, analyzes its effects on the capitalist economy and compares it with previous technological revolutions. (March 2000)

• Genetic Engineering: Who Benefits?
  Genetic engineering has come upon the world with a rush, accompanied by the usual claims of being a way of feeding the earth's poor and removing want. However these claims need to examined in the light of what has actually been done to date, and what is planned for the future. In fact the impetus for the development of genetic engineering, namely the rapid pursuit of maximum profits and further control of world agriculture runs counter to the stated aims as well as encouraging unsafe science. By Alan Durant. (March 2000)

• The Internet Revolution
  Heiko Khoo looks at the history of the internet and the relevance of issues like open source programming for socialists. (October 1999) 

• The Milennium Bomb
  Part one in a series of articles examining the relationship between technology and the struggle for socialism.  (September, 1999)

• Why We Cannot Trust the Food Industry
  Sewage-fed cows, "mad cows", dioxin contaminated chickens, hormone injected cattle, genetically modified Soya, animal carcasses used to make animal feed, contaminated mineral water and Coca-Cola. A common thread runs through all these cases: the search for the highest profits on the part of the food industry to the detriment of everybody's health.  Michele Fabbri, Italian Marxist magazine Falce Martello. (October, 1999)

• Dialectical Materialism and Modern Science Part I
  A Marxist look at such topics as the Catholic Church, logic, quantum mechanics, probability, nuclear fusion, geometry and more!

• Reason in Revolt: Marxist Philosophy and Modern Science (Dialectical Materialism)
  This book, by Ted Grant and Alan Woods published in 1995 coinciding with Engel's centenary, defends the validity of the philosophical writings of Marx and Engels using the most important scientific discoveries of the twentieth century as a proof. The book has already been published in Spanish and has also been translated into Italian, Greek, Urdu and Flemish.