Hi there,

This week’s theme seems to be “surprising proposals”. That’s just the way it happened as we pulled the newsletter together. Perhaps the production of bright ideas is correlated with sunspot activity or El Niño. Suggestions welcome.

You can read below for the details, but the ideas come from all different directions. After years fighting stigmatization, society needs more of it, according to one of America’s leading bioethicists – otherwise we will never beat the obesity epidemic. Ceteris paribus, a Harvard professor wants to clone a Neanderthal. Japan’s finance minister wants elderly useless eaters to hurry up and kick the bucket. And American ob/gyns are thinking of routinely screening women for “reproductive coercion”.

Cheers,