TOK: Reason
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Shot to death by police in her own home
Will there be justice for Breonna Taylor? As tensions rise again in the US over the police shooting of a young black woman, some campaigners are turning their attention to reform.
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Trump election attack sparks fears of crisis
Will the president refuse to accept the election result? Trump has once again cast doubt on the legitimacy of the coming vote, increasing fears of chaos and violence across a divided USA.
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Coronavirus app finally launches in England
Will AI replace doctors? Inspired by the pandemic, scientists are creating new medical technologies at a faster rate than ever. Now, some believe that human doctors may one day be obsolete.
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Nasa announces giant step for womankind
Does a woman on the moon really matter? Nasa has announced plans for the first female lunar explorer. For some, it is a potent statement of equality, but others call it a token gesture.
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Covid: ‘The cure is worse than the disease’
Is it time we learnt to live with the virus? Governments across the world are imposing harsher restrictions to reduce further outbreaks. But some believe this will do more harm than good.
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The historic sites built with slave money
Does it matter if historical monuments have links with slavery? Some claim that we are dwelling too much on the past, but others think that we should be ashamed of our colonial history.
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The fighter who changed the world for women
Will her death also be the death of US justice? Many say Donald Trump's move to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg before the presidential election is an abuse of power.
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The super-cow v the old-fashioned plough
Was farming better 1,000 years ago? Scientists believe they have discovered how to breed “super-cows”. But others argue that agriculture was far more sustainable in medieval times.
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Row over Google zero carbon footprint claim
Can corporations solve the climate crisis? Google yesterday claimed to have compensated for all the carbon it has ever created. But critics say business cannot be trusted to save the planet.
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England’s uncivil war over the ‘rule of six’
Is the "rule of six" wrong? Critics say that people should be free to go out and take risks with their own health. But others insist that we cannot put personal freedoms ahead of saving lives.
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‘It doesn’t matter about your sexuality’
Is Strictly Come Dancing a force for good? Some see its same-sex announcement as profit-driven publicity-seeking, while others celebrate it as a positive step towards social change.
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Thousands of wildfires devastate California
Are California’s wildfires a warning to all of us? As the state fights some of the worst infernos in its history, experts argue that global warming makes them an ever greater threat.
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Meritocracy is bad for us, says top academic
Is society too focused on the idea of self-improvement? For years, politicians have promised that hard work equals success. Now one leading philosopher says the idea of merit is a myth.
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Sceptics haunted by spectre of second lockdown
Do lockdowns cause more harm than good? Without a vaccine, they might be our most effective tool for tackling Covid-19 – but some argue that shutting down society comes at too high a cost.
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Hidden secrets of the Doomsday glacier
Does our survival depend on the Thwaites Glacier? Scientists monitoring the immense sheet of Antarctic ice warn that if it melts, the effect on global sea level could be catastrophic.