The oldest new mothers in the world

In 2006, a 63-year-old child psychiatrist became the oldest woman in Britain to have a baby. Patricia Rashbrook of Lewes gave birth to her baby by caesarian section in the Sussex County Hospital (where, incidentally, I was having my appendix taken out at about the same time). The baby was a healthy boy and was named Jay Jay.

She has received a lot of critisism for having her baby at such a late age. Jay Jay was not her first child. She already had two grown up children from her first marriage, but this was her first child with 60 year-old husband John. They travelled to the former Soviet Union to receive in vitro fertility (IVF) treatment from Italian doctor Severino Antinori. Medical ethics in Britain prevent a woman over the age of 50 from receiving IVF treatment (although it is not illegal). During the treatment a donar egg from another woman was fertilised with her husband's sperm and implanted into her womb. She was of course post-menopausal and her body was not producing eggs.

She appears to be a devoted mother, and perhaps you could argue this is all that matters. In Britain, as in many developed countries, there is a huge problem of unwanted children growing up in unloving families (or without a family at all). Is it fair for Dr. Rashbrook to be singled out purely in terms of age? On the other hand you might think that her decision was a selfish one, and Jay Jay has therefore become a commodity to satisfy his parent's needs (or their desire for publicity?).

This subject was in the news again very recently (May 2009) when 66-year-old buisness woman Elizabeth Adeney, of Lidgate, Suffolk, announced in a British newspaper that she was eight months' pregnant after undergoing IVF treatment in Ukraine. As far as I know, before that, the world's oldest new mother was Spanish woman Maria del Carmen Bousada de Lara, who gave birth to twins also aged 66. She recieved fertility treatment after lying about her age. She died of cancer a few months after the birth of her children.

The following clip was taken from British TV news at the time of the announcement of her pregnacy and features interviews with experts on pregnancy and fertility treatment:

More tips for a successful essay

Are Psychic Powers Real?

In a short documentary for British TV (and his website), arch-sceptic Richard Dawkins interviewed magician Derren Brown, to discover his thoughts and experiences in dealing with 'psychics'. Do they believe they, themselves, possess supernatural powers? Do they take advantage of the naive, or the grieving? Should the media present 'psychic events' in ways that make them appear more believable?

Evolution vs Intelligent Design

Throughout the 20th century, Christian groups resisted the theory of evolution. Many US states did not teach it until 1968 when the Supreme Court ruled that banning the teaching of evolution contravened the first amendment of the constitution of America, the separation of Church and state. It was, however, still legal to teach religion as part of science class until 1987, when mentioning a theory called 'creation science' in biology lessons was also deemed unconstitutional. This left evolution as the only theory of biological origin that science teachers were allowed to teach.

In recent years, however, Intelligent Design has gained more and more supporters, not least President George W. Bush. In 2005, he reopened the debate with his comments: "Both sides ought to be properly taught . . . so people can understand what the debate is about . . . Part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought . . . You're asking me whether or not people ought to be exposed to different ideas, and the answer is yes."

In the same year, the school board of Dover, a small farming community in western Pennsylvania, became the first in the U.S. to adopt the theory of intelligent design. The move divided the community and the town became the centre of national attention. The school board voted to teach the ninth grade biology class that there are gaps and problems with the theory of evolution and intelligent design was presented as an alternative. They proposed the use of scientific textbooks in which intelligent design was presented as scientific theory.

Bryan Rehm (who resigned his post as science teacher in Dover when intelligent design was adopted) and his wife Christy believed that this new policy was not only anti-scientific, but also religious and therefore unconstitutional. By promoting religion it was a violation of the law passed in 1987. The Rehms and nine other parents and teachers filed a law suit against the school board in the district court. This became the first legal challenge to intelligent design. After 40 days of trial, Judge John E Jones ruled against the school board, stating: "We have addressed the seminal question of whether intelligent design is science. We have concluded that it is not, and moreover that intelligent design cannot uncouple itself from its creationist, and thus religious, antecedents."

Evolutionists heralded this victory as a damning blow to the intelligent design movement. However, as history shows, law suits have little effect on the support for creationism in a country where over 50% of citizens believe that God created humans in their present form, the way the Bible describes it (perhaps you could argue this is as it should be). The controversy rumbles on, with many opponents of intelligent design (such as Prof. Richard Dawkins) simply refusing to enter into debate, to avoid being accused of admitting that true scientific disagreement actually exists. Meanwhile, in the U.S., the setting of the science curriculum remains the responisbility of individual State Education Boards. In Arkansas and Alabama biology textbooks have been required to be printed with disclaimers stating that evolution is "a controversal theory" and "a theory rather than fact". Similarly, in Georgia, sections of textbooks refering to evolution were required to be preceded by the statement "this material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully, and critically considered." Most famously, at the end of 2005, the State Education Board of Kansas approved new science education standards that called for students to learn about scientific criticisms of evolution theory.

The following documentary "A War on Science" investigates the growth of Intelligent Design and the reaction of supporters on both sides:


Watch BBC Horizon - A War on Science(Evolution vs Intelligent Design) in Entertainment  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

TOK Essay Marking Criteria

I have copied these pages from the IB TOK guide so you can see the criteria (A, B, C and D) which will be used to mark your TOK essay when you have submitted it. Please keep these criteria in mind as you write:

Another 10 tips for writing a good TOK essay

Is it Possible to believe in God and Science?