The Oxford Dictionaries 2017 Word of the Year was “youthquake,” a rather unusual choice but one that necessarily reflects Western Civilization’s obsession with “staying young.” But the choice presumably goes deeper than that, for the term is defined as meaning “a significant cultural, political, or social change arising from the actions or influence of young people.” It represents the awakening of millennials striving for change during a turbulent 12 months in 2017 across the world.

New York University professor, Jeff Sebo, reports that The Nonhuman Rights Project, since 2013, has been working on behalf of two chimpanzees, Kiko and Tommy, asking the courts to rule that Kiko and Tommy have the right to bodily liberty and to order their immediate release into a sanctuary where they can live the rest of their lives with other chimpanzees.

When one thinks of the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s through the 1970s, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968) immediately comes to mind. Born in 1929, his name was Michael at birth, but his father changed his name to Martin Luther, honoring the famous German reformer who began the Reformation. As a young boy, it was obvious that he was brilliant. He skipped two grades and passed his entrance exam to enter Morehouse College at 15.

Although one can easily apply the lessons raised by Mary Shelley?s Victor Frankenstein to gene-editing and artificial intelligence, can one also ask the same questions when it comes to the Social Media phenomenon? . . . Two-hundred years ago an anonymous novel was published: Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus. The author was Mary Shelley, who clearly posited a premise that is no longer controversial?that humans can create life with the tools provided by science.

The freezing of sperm, eggs and embryos is increasingly a common practice in fertility clinics across the United States and indeed across the world. All such procedures involve freezing in liquid nitrogen. As Pam Belluck of the New York Times reports, a change in freezing technology in recent years has made things easier.

The Gerber baby food company has chosen one-year old Lucas Warren of Dalton, Georgia as the 2018 ?Gerber Spokesbaby? for their baby products. Lucas is a child with Down syndrome. Almost everyone applauds Gerber for doing this, but, in doing so, it has perhaps unintentionally given focus to one of the cruel ironies of abortion on demand. Intentional, willful abortion is being used to eradicate a portion of the human population?Down syndrome children. Normally, most people understand genocide as ?the deliberate, systematic attempt to erase a category of people?: In this case, babies that have been diagnosed in utero with Down syndrome.

Recently Bill Gates declared that Steven Pinker?s Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism and Progress is ?My new favorite book of all time.? Steven Pinker is a Johnstone Family Professor in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University and is a passionate defender of the Enlightenment. His recent book is intended to counter the doom and gloom pessimism of the 21st century, which is inundated with terrorism, barbaric civil wars (e.g., Syria) and the paralyzing fear of nuclear war. One could summarize his thesis as, ?If you think the world is coming to an end, think again: people are living longer, healthier, freer, and happier lives, and while our problems are formidable, the solutions lie in the Enlightenment ideal of using reason and science.?

It is difficult in 2018 to know whom to trust, what is accurate and where one should go to obtain reliable information and perspective on the state of things. In an era of Facebook, Instagram and ?Google-knowledge,? the worlds of politics and Pop culture are inextricably linked, it seems. As columnist Daniel Henninger observes, ?The culture of social media?a tireless preoccupation with fleeting surface effects?has changed all media.? Years ago, cultural critic and observer Marshall McLuhan predicted (at the dawn of the TV age) that mass media would engulf everything, for, he argued, ?the medium is the message.? Our social media culture has enhanced the confusion, the absurd and the tragic in our current culture.

The home-going of Billy Graham marks a watershed in American evangelicalism. He received a number of accolades during his life, but perhaps none is more endearing than ?America?s Pastor.? He had his critics, but, for the most part, Graham was universally admired as a man of integrity who preached a consistent, simple message of the Gospel?and that is the heart of his legacy. Why was he such an important figure in American evangelicalism? By the grace of God, why was he able to consistently maintain his reputation as a man of integrity?

Since the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision 45 years ago, the pro-life (or anti-abortion) side of the debate has focused on the ethical issue that the baby growing in its mother?s womb deserves to be protected as any other human being having rights under the US Constitution.  Increasingly sophisticated technology is changing the nature of the debate.  Indeed, Emma Green in a recent issue of The Atlantic has argued that ?science is giving the pro-life movement a boost.?  In addition, columnist Michael Gerson suggests that the way the Court framed its 1973 decision created a tension between autonomy and inclusion, producing a conflict that ?will only be managed, not settled.?  Let me explain both of these observations.