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PubMed2000

The politics of certainty: conceptions of science in an age of uncertainty.

The prestige of science, derived from its claims to certainty, has adversely affected the humanities. There is, in fact, a "politics of certainty". Our ability to predict events in a limited sphere has been idealized, engendering dangerous illusions about our power to control nature and eliminate time. In addition, the perception and propagation of science as a bearer of certainty has served to legitimate harmful forms of social, sexual, and political power. Yet, as Ilya Prigogine has argued, renewed attention to the irreducible reality of time has brought us to "the end of certainty". As we enter the age of uncertainty, there is disagreement about how science should be understood and communicated. Some scientists cling to the ideal of certainty, while others emphasize the creative potential of spontaneity, novelty, and surprise.

Cultural Diversity↗

PubMed2000

Making the audience a key participant in the science communication process.

The public communication of science and technology has become increasingly important over the last several decades. However, understanding the audience that receives this information remains the weak link in the science communication process. This essay provides a brief review of some of the issues involved, discusses results from an audience-based study, and suggests some strategies that both scientists and journalists can use to modify media coverage in ways that can help audiences better understand major public issues that involve science and technology.

Communication↗

PubMed2002

Ethics and science: educating the public.

This article looks at the public debate which took place in the first half of the twentieth century and has repercussions to the present day. It was about the ethical stance of scientists, and how science should be organized. In particular, it examines the positions taken by Professor F. Soddy, F.R.S. and Nobel Laureate, who stressed the responsibility of scientists for the uses made of their research, Professor Michael Polanyi, F.R.S., who emphasised the obligation of scientists to the truth and the essential role of morality in the organization of science, and Professor J.D. Bernal, F.R.S., who insisted that science was practiced for utilitarian reasons and should be consciously developed for the good of society.

Ethics↗

PubMed2002

Conference summary. Conflict of interest and its significance in science and medicine. Warsaw, Poland, 5-6 April, 2002.

This article summarizes the April 5-6, 2002 conference on Conflict of Interest and Its Significance in Science and Medicine. Several themes are identified and addressed, including the globalization of science, the widespread presence of conflicts, the increased interest and involvement in conflict of interest by a number of organizations, the difference between academic research and research conducted by industry, and the tension between science and medicine. At the heart of the matter lies objectivity in research and the need for transparency to ensure objectivity. Several future activities were discussed, including the need to share specific examples of how conflict has been managed, and the need for behavioral research to provide a sound empirical understanding of the best ways to provide informed consent for research subjects.

Conflict of Interest↗

PubMed2003

Non-instrumental roles of science.

Nowadays, science is treated an instrument of policy, serving the material interests of government and commerce. Traditionally, however, it also has important non-instrumental social functions, such as the creation of critical scenarios and world pictures, the stimulation of rational attitudes, and the production of enlightened practitioners and independent experts. The transition from academic to 'post-academic' science threatens the performance of these functions, which are inconsistent with strictly instrumental modes of knowledge production. In particular, expert objectivity is negated by entanglement with political and commercial interests. We cannot go back to the old academic model for science, but need to consider how to maintain its vital non-instrumental roles.

Commerce↗

PubMed1994

Institutional constraints to building social science capability in public health research: a case study from Indonesia.

The promotion of social sciences capabilities in public health research in universities frequently encounters unexpected barriers. This paper argues that, in Indonesia, historic factors and institutional structures of public health research have created constraints to success in public health research and international technical assistance. Donors are often frustrated by apparent inconsistencies between agreed intentions and the subsequent behaviour of recipient colleagues, thus resulting in poor relations and failure of collaborative links. For social sciences to be integrated into public health research, assistance is needed in graduate education, library development, computerisation, and research methodology. Contributions in these areas may be ineffectual if they are not preceded or accompanied by efforts by recipients to reform or circumvent existing institutional weaknesses. Some important barriers to the development of research capabilities in Indonesia are beyond the control of individual faculties of public health, or even universities, and are affected by regulations and budgeting procedures of the National Department of Education and Culture, or the civil service administration. There are, however, changes that can be made at faculty or university level to encourage a more productive 'research culture' and promote linkages between the social and health sciences.

Humans↗

PubMed1993

Nursing: the science and the practice.

A brief outline of the significant developments of the nursing profession is given. This is followed by a description of the domain of nursing and the nature of the phenomenon studied by nurse scientists. Excellence in science and its importance in developing nursing's body of knowledge is discussed and strategies are given on how to enhance it. The paper ends by analyzing the contributions that nursing science has made on the developments in nursing research, nursing education, nursing administration and nursing practice. Strategies which the author sees as enhancing the relationship between the science and the practice of nursing are further elaborated and discussed. The author ends with a plea that more attention should be paid at present to the substance of the nursing phenomenon studied.

Education, Nursing↗

PubMed1996

Science, advocacy, human and environmental health.

Medicine and public health sciences are applied sciences. The research upon which these are based is mission-oriented and as such they are underlain by advocacy. Ecological sciences, by way of parallel, involve managing ecological systems so they can remain healthy to support productive natural processes and the human population. In any eco-system, however, renewal has associated with it naturally occurring background levels of diseases and death. These are normal in all biological systems. 'Sustainable development' has been focused on commodity-based, managed systems where the goal is to ensure that the needs of growing human populations are met, producing healthy people. This objective is deemed by the Ecological Society of America to be too narrow. Priority should rather be given to the sustainability of natural ecosystems, otherwise the biosphere that sustains all life forms is neglected. Epidemiologists concerned with the health of populations need to recognize that human health and the health of natural systems have entwined destinies. Some convictions about limits, about the role of disease, degeneration, and death in healthy, that is, stable and sustainable human ecologies, ought to be embedded into any ethics for epidemiologists.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Spacelab concept and its utilization for science.

The first part of the paper is devoted to the presentation of the Spacelab concepts, for which detailed design studies are at present being carried out by ESRO. The second part concentrates on the utilization of the Spacelab for the various fields of science, namely: (1) Atmospheric and space plasma physics, (2) Astronomy and astrophysics, (3) Material science and (4) Life sciences. The advantages of using the Spacelab for observations in these fields as compared to conventional automated satellites are highlighted.

Astronomy↗

PubMed1979

Engineering and simulation of life sciences Spacelab experiments.

The third in a series of Spacelab Mission Development tests was conducted at the Johnson (correction of Johnston) Space Center as a part of the development of Life Sciences experiments for the Space Shuttle era. The latest test was a joint effort of the Ames Research and Johnson Space Centers and utilized animals and men for study. The basic objective of this test was to evaluate the operational concepts planned for the Space Shuttle life science payloads program. A three-man crew (Mission Specialist and two Payload Specialists) conducted 26 experiments and 12 operational tests, which were selected for this 7-day mission simulation. The crew lived on board a simulated Orbiter/Spacelab mockup 24 hr a day. The Orbiter section contained the mid deck crew quarters area, complete with sleeping, galley and waste management provisions. The Spacelab was identical in geometry to the European Space Agency Spacelab design, complete with removable rack sections and stowage provisions. Communications between the crewmen and support personnel were configured and controlled as currently planned for operational shuttle flights. For this test a Science Operations Remote Center was manned at the Ames Research Center and was managed by simulated Mission Control and Payload Operation Control Centers at the Johnson Space Center. This paper presents the test objectives, description of the facilities and test program, and the results of this test.

Animals↗

PubMed1992

Testing a Mars science outpost in the Antarctic dry valleys.

Field research conducted in the Antarctic has been providing insights about the nature of Mars in the science disciplines of exobiology and geology. Located in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of southern Victoria Land (160 degrees and 164 degrees E longitude and 76 degrees 30' and 78 degrees 30' S latitude), research outposts are inhabited by teams of 4-6 scientists. We propose that the design of these outposts be expanded to enable meaningful tests of many of the systems that will be needed for the successful conduct of exploration activities on Mars. Although there are some important differences between the environment in the Antarctic dry valleys and on Mars, the many similarities and particularly the field science activities, make the dry valleys a useful terrestrial analog to conditions on Mars. Three areas have been identified for testing at a small science outpost in the dry valleys; 1) studying human factors and physiology in an isolated environment; 2) testing emerging technologies (e.g., innovative power management systems, advanced life support facilities including partial bioregenerative life support systems for water recycling and food growth, telerobotics, etc.); and 3) conducting basic scientific research that will enhance our understanding of Mars while contributing to the planning for human exploration. We suggest that an important early result of a Mars habitat program will be the experience gained by interfacing humans and their supporting technology in a remote and stressful environment.

Antarctic Regions↗

PubMed1994

Four educational programs in Space Life Sciences.

Four different educational programs impacting Space Life Sciences are described: the NASA/USRA Advanced Design Program, the NASA Specialized Center of Research and Training (NSCORT) Program, the Centers for the Commercial Development of Space (CCDS) Program, and the NASA Graduate Research Fellow Program. Each program makes somewhat different demands on the students engaged in them. Each program, at the University of Colorado, involves Space Life Sciences training. While the Graduate Student Research Fellow and NSCORT Programs are discipline oriented, the Advanced Design and CCDS Programs are focused on design, technologies and applications. Clearly, the "training paradigms" differ for these educational endeavors. But, these paradigms can be made to mutually facilitate enthusiasm and motivation. Discipline-oriented academic programs, ideally, must be flexible enough to accommodate the emergent cross-disciplinary needs of Space Life Sciences students. Models for such flexibility and resultant student performance levels are discussed based upon actual academic and professional records.

Biological Science Disciplines↗

PubMed1994

Life in the universe: foundation for exciting multidisciplinary science activities for middle and elementary school classes.

Young students find extra-terrestrial life one of the most intriguing of all topics. A project funded by the National Science Foundation and NASA, and administered by the SETI Institute, is underway to devise science lessons for grades 3-9 that draw upon this fascination. The lessons are designed by teachers and persons with long experience at curriculum design, tested in classrooms, revised and retested. Six guides, each containing some 6-10 science lessons, will be finished by summer, 1994. The theme Life in the Universe lends itself naturally to integrated treatment of facts and concepts from many scientific disciplines. The lessons for two completed guides span the origin of planet systems, evolution of complex life, chemical makeup of life, astronomy, spectroscopy, continental drift, mathematics and SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence). All lessons are hands-on, interesting, and successful.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1983

Social science research on medical technology: utility and limitations.

Policies could be better devised and better implemented if greater use were made of the social sciences. However, the social sciences have quite often not produced knowledge adequate to permit resolution of pressing social problems. An example of both of these statements is found in the area of policies toward medical technology. Medical technology has become a major public policy issue in most industrialized countries, primarily science research has led to general formulations as to how medical technology is developed and diffused. In addition, specific studies of medical technology have identified factors that impede of facilitate the development and diffusion of medical technology. However, few studies have been done of public policy mechanisms. Effects of formal policies have not been evaluated, and organizations developed to implement policies toward medical technologies have not been studied. Programs cannot be improved without evaluation, nor can successful approaches be diffused more widely. The development and implementation of public policy toward medical technology would profit if social scientists were to become involved in its examination.

Diffusion of Innovation↗

PubMed1990

Scientific racism: reflections on peer review, science and ideology.

The scholars who use Social Science & Medicine in their research and teaching, who publish their work in it, participate in its peer review of manuscripts, and attend its conferences belong to various nationalities, disciplines, and cultural traditions. Our common enterprise originated in and depends upon liberal democratic social institutions, and assumes their values. With all our differences and disagreements, we are committed to scientific research in a common effort to improve human health and welfare. Our professional careers are a large part of our personal lives, so that our science, our lives, and our values are a single fabric. The present lecture is a meditation on this situation based upon my own heritage, personal experience, and career in anthropology, and on the recent publication in Social Science & Medicine of an essay that attributed the epidemiology of AIDS to racial variation.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

PubMed1996

C3: information science in uniform.

This contribution explores an aspect of information science, which is little treated in the literature, but on which enormous sums of money are spent annually. This is the subject of information and the prosecution of war. What follows may be considered as a kind of tutorial on this huge, but poorly understood realm of information science applications. My objective at the workshop was to acquaint the participants with an overview of how information has been woven into the fabric of conflict. At present, information is so tightly woven with combat that the term information warfare has been coined. It may come as a surprise to think in these terms about information science.

Information Science↗

PubMed1986

Conceptual crises and the addictions: a philosophy of science perspective.

This article examines the field of addictions and suggests that it is in the midst of a conceptual crisis. As a result of its immaturity, the addiction's field evidences energy, naivete, curiosity, intensely conflicting and polarized explanations of its identity and purpose, anomalous research findings, and few "facts." From a philosophy of science perspective, these characteristics are considered as indicators of the developmental stages that are associated with the evolution of scientific disciplines. A philosophy of science perspective is applied to the history of the substance abuse field and the consequent implications examined. A discussion of normal science, language, the role of paradigms, and scientific reductionism is included.

Humans↗

PubMed2005

A wakeup call for science faculty.

By changing the way we teach the introductory science courses in our colleges and universities, we can attract many more talented students to science careers. At the same time, we will be fostering positive public attitudes about science that are critical for a successful modern society.

Curriculum↗