The Aidan Project

In this edition of Project Extra, Ran Levi explains the hugely exciting developments in gene editing, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR), which has the potential to transform human biology as we know it.  CRISPR (pronounced "crisper") is a biological gene editing system for reconfiguring DNA. The concept was discovered in 2012 by molecular biologist Professor Jennifer Doudna of the University of California, who told the BBC last year, "I never want to over-promise but I feel diseases will be cured and we want to enable clinicians and scientists to bring that to a reality." Aidan has previously recorded two full-length podcast episodes with Ran, most recently, episode 40 – 'Downloading a President', and episode 11 – 'Malicious Assured Destruction: Cold War to Cyber War'. Ran's new podcast, 'Malicious Life', has topped the iTunes charts in Israel and is available at www.malicious.life. You can tweet Aidan with your thoughts @theaidanproject.

In this edition of the Aidan Project, Aidan looks at the glorious myths and gloomy realities of the real Dunkirk, and examines how accurately Christopher Nolan's latest blockbuster addresses the bittersweet events of Operation Dynamo. Is the movie mere flag-waving or a true account of the disastrous chaos on the beaches of the French town of Dunkerque in 1940? Did the French receive fair treatment in the film? How does the script handle the German's costly halt, which allowed so many men to make it off the beaches? If you have not yet seen the film, Aidan will signpost when to press pause to avoid the film review section of this episode. Current events, history and culture merge in this edition of the Aidan Project Podcast - enjoy the episode! Referenced in this podcast is an article Aidan wrote in December 2016 - https://aidancoughlan.org/2016/12/30/dunkirk-from-spike-milligan-to-christopher-nolan/. You can Tweet Aidan @theaidanproject.

In this edition of the Aidan Project, Aidan is joined by John Ashmore, chief reporter for PoliticsHome, to discuss the latest developments in British politics. Is Theresa May on borrowed time? How relevant is Tony Blair? Plus a look at Grenfell, Brexit, terrorism, Donald Trump potentially visiting the UK, and much more. PoliticsHome describes itself as the most viewed and valued specialist online news source in Parliament. You can find the web site at www.politicshome.com. You can find John on Twitter @smashmorePH..

The United States Intelligence Community concluded with high confidence that the Russian government interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. In this edition of the Aidan Project, Aidan is joined on the line from Israel by Ran Levi, an accomplished technology expert, science author and podcaster. In this episode, Aidan and Ran discuss the Russian hacking and/or cyber-meddling, and whether this type of outside interference can be stopped or whether it will also affect the 2020 U.S. presidential election. What exactly did the Russians do? And how did they do it? This episode also takes a look at the recent ransomware attacks which counted the British National Health Service amongst its victims, Donald Trump's use of Twitter, the echo chamber mentality of social media, a possible showdown between NATO and North Korea, and much more. Born in Israel in 1975, Ran studied electrical engineering, and has worked as an electronics engineer and programmer for several high tech companies in Israel. Ran has written three books in Hebrew, 'Perpetuum Mobile', 'The Little University of Science', and 'Battle of Minds'.  You can find Ran on Twitter @ranlevi or visit his web site at www.ranlevi.com. Ran's new podcast, 'Malicious Life', has topped the iTunes charts in Israel and is available at www.malicious.life.

The name of this podcast was inspired by the influential 1975 book, Animal Liberation: A New Ethics for Our Treatment of Animals, by Peter Singer, an Australian philosopher. Singer argued that the interests of animals should be considered because of their ability to experience tangible suffering. Are we, as a society, guilty of speciesism? What is the reality of factory farming in the United Kingdom? How humane is the dairy industry? How does the UK compare to the rest of the world with respect to animal welfare? The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) state that animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, use for entertainment or abuse in any other way. In this edition of the podcast, Aidan is joined by Sonul Badiani-Hamment, Campaigns Officer for PETA UK, to discuss the reality of factory farming and the dairy industry in Britain. Aidan explores the case for and against veganism in this thought-provoking podcast. For more information on PETA UK, visit http://www.peta.org.uk/. You can support the free speech and honest debate mission of this podcast by subscribing or leaving a rating. Please enjoy this podcast and feel free to share it across the web.

Donald Trump is indeed the pro wrestling president. In this edition of the podcast, Aidan looks at President Trump and the entirely surreal manner of his presidency. We have an emerging problem now of a dangerous new normal. Trump must be the mistake, the anomaly, the Chernobyl. We must push back at Trump's vile online ranting, but not at the expense of challenging his policies. You can tweet Aidan with your thoughts @theaidanproject.

In this edition of the podcast, Aidan talks to David Greenwood, Chairman of Stop Church Child Abuse. The Catholic Church has a history of abuse cover-ups, scandals and unscrupulously moving priests between countries once abuse has taken place. What are the current attitudes emanating out of the Catholic Church in respect of child sex abuse? Furthermore, the Church of England has its own shameful story to tell, or rather, a story that requires activists such as David to tell, for the Church will not seek to do it itself. How much of a landmark moment is this review? In this Pope-Truth world, Aidan and David discuss the dogmatic silence of church leaders and the institutionalized resistance to transparency. If you were affected by any of the issues raised in this episode, you can visit http://macsas.org.uk/, e-mail [email protected], or call 08088 01 03 40.

In this edition of the Aidan Project Podcast, enjoy exclusive, previously unreleased, audio from A.C. Grayling's Q&A session, following his 'Fighting for Europe' speech, held at the University of Suffolk, England, on Tuesday, June 6, 2017. In this podcast, Grayling comments on how good a deal the United Kingdom currently has with Brussels, 'pusillanimous MP's', the lack of knowledge within the UK about the European Union, and more. Aidan would like to thank A.C. Grayling (http://acgrayling.com/), the Suffolk EU Alliance (https://www.suffolkeualliance.co.uk/) and the University of Suffolk (https://www.uos.ac.uk/) for allowing this event to be recorded. You can catch the entire A.C. Grayling speech at https://aidancoughlan.org/2017/06/06/a-c-grayling-brexit-can-be-stopped/ or via your favorite podcast app. The episode is called 'A.C. Grayling: Brexit Can Be Stopped'.

Tim Farron has announced his intention to resign as leader of the Liberal Democrats, citing unfair media coverage surrounding his Christian faith. In this podcast, Aidan argues that beliefs matter and that religion does not exempt anyone from reasonable scrutiny.

Strong and stable leadership, indeed. Theresa May can surely not long survive this debacle. The votes have been cast and the results are in. In this edition of the Aidan Project Podcast, Aidan offers his thoughts on the 2017 UK General Election. What does this result mean for the United Kingdom? What happens next? Will Nigel Farage answer the hard-line Brexit distress call and return to frontline politics? Tweet Aidan with your thoughts @theaidanproject.