Science Observed, Essays on science, scientists and science studies, essays about scientists.3/29/2017 The mid-1960s saw the start of a project that, along with other similar research, was to teach us a great deal about the chimpanzee mind. This was Project Washoe good website to write my paper, conceived by Trixie and Allen Gardner who purchased an infant chimpanzee and began to teach her the signs of ASL, the American Sign Language used by the deaf. When news of Washoe's accomplishments first hit the scientific community it immediately provoked a storm of bitter protest. It implied that chimpanzees were capable of mastering a human language, and this, in turn, indicated mental powers of generalization, abstraction, concept formation, and an ability to understand and use abstract symbols. And so, with new incentive, psychologists began to test the mental abilities of chimpanzees in a variety of ways. Again and again the results confirmed that their minds are uncannily like our own. Of all the facts to emerge from my years of research on the chimpanzees at Gombe, it is their humanlike behaviors that most fascinate people: their tool-using and tool-making abilities; the close supportive bonds among family members, which can persist throughout a lifetime of 50 or more years; and their complex social interactions—the cooperation, the altruism, and the expression of emotions like joy and sadness. It is our recognition of these intellectual and emotional similarities between chimpanzees and ourselves that has, more than anything else, blurred the line, once thought so sharp, between human beings and other animals. Through observations of chimpanzees, people's attitudes toward nonhuman animals has definitely begun to change. In fact, the winds of change are blowing. There is finally, in our society, a growing concern for the plight of nonhuman animals. This changed attitude, among scientists and nonscientists alike, has unquestionably come about because chimps are so like us. Today, ethological thinking and methodology has softened global warming greenhouse effect essay, and it is generally recognized that the old, parsimonious explanations of complex behavior were inappropriate. The study of animal mentation is fashionable business plan writer, and the examination of animal emotions is commonplace. This is without doubt due, in large part, to the information that came in from long-term field studies conducted during the 1960s. All of these careful observations, made in the natural habitat, helped to show that the societies and behavior of animals are far more complex than previously supposed by scientists. In light of the new information, overly simplistic explanations were generally abandoned, leading to a changed and expanded understanding of our fellow animals on Earth. As in Darwin's time, it is again fashionable to speak of and study the animal mind. This change came about gradually, and was, at least in part, due to the information collected during careful studies of animal societies in the field. As these observations became widely known, it was impossible to brush aside the complexities of social behavior that were revealed in species after species. A succession of experiments clearly proved that many intellectual abilities that had been thought unique to humans were actually present in nonhumans—particularly in the nonhuman primates and especially in chimpanzees—although in a less highly developed form. 823 words 990 words 1080 words Science and Students: The World of Tomorrow - Everyone says this generation is the future, the people and the citizens of tomorrow’s society. Except if this generation is not educated to grow and progress with the planet and learn how to help it, there will be no “next generation”; the earth simply will not be able to sustain our life forms. This is why science education is important to the future of our lives and our planet. Where if not for the innovation of science and its cures, we would still be living in the Dark Ages where the simple flu would have killed a family, and smallpox and other diseases caused epidemics and panics. [tags: Science Education ] An Uphill Battle on Science and Religion - In the summer of 2008, the state of Louisiana passed a controversial bill, dubbed “LouisianaScience Education Act”. High school student Zack Kopplin was a sophomore who eventually launched a campaign to repeal the law. (Allman) The bill in question allows supplementary textbook to be used in the school as well as “help students understand, analyze, critique, and review scientific theories in an objective manner. ” (ncse) of course this only applies to controversial topics like the theory of evolution, Abiogenesis, global warming, and cloning (ncse). [tags: Science Education Act, Lousiana, Bill] The Importance of Critical Thinking in Science - Critical thinking is a very important concept in regards to science bibliography online, especially since science and the concepts therein have been fluctuating from the time of their origins. As stated in Kirst-Ashman’s book; Critical thinking is the careful scrutiny of what is stated as true or what appears to be true and the resulting expression of an opinion or conclusion based on that scrutiny, and (2) the creative formulation of an opinion or conclusion when presented with a question, problem or issue, (Kist-Ashman, 2011, p. [tags: Science] Roman Engineering and Greek Science - This research paper is a study of Roman Engineering and Greek Science. This paper answers questions about Roman Engineering and Greek Science. My sources for this paper are books on the Roman Engineering and books on the Greek Science from the Harper College Library, the Arlington Heights Library and the Schaumburg Library. These sources are listed on the Works Cited page. Photocopies of the title pages of these books are included as attachments to this paper. History has it that the ancient Roman engineering and Greek science have aided a great deal in informing contemporary engineering and science. [tags: technology, mathematics, science] 1030 words Artificial Intelligence in Computer Science - An important field in computer science today is artificial intelligence. The novel approaches that computer scientists use in this field are looked to for answers to many of the problems that have not been solved through traditional approaches to software engineering thus far. One of the concepts studied and implemented for a variety of tasks in artificial intelligence today is neural networks; they have proven successful in offering an approach to some problems in the field, but they also have some failings. [tags: Computer Science] Science Fiction: Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Independence Day - The genre of what is called science fiction has been around since The Epic of Gilgamesh (earliest Sumerian text versions BCE ca. 2150-2000). The last 4000 years has evolved science fiction and combined it with all categories of genres comprising action, comedy, horror, drama, and adventure in many different ways. From chest bursting aliens, to robot assassins sent back in time science fiction has successfully captured the imagination of nearly everyone that has been introduced to it. The movies Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Independence Day are both examples of films created with the idea of advanced life existing outside the boarders of our own world. [tags: science fiction, extraterrestrial life] 965 words 2366 words 1280 words The Study of Political Science - Political science includes a wide range of topics that attempts to describe and explain the political process, politics, and the relationship among governments. As American citizens we should all be informed and be educated about all these above topics. We as citizens cannot be unconscious of our government as the government can make or break our lives. The general areas of study in political science include American government and politics, political theory, public administration, public law, comparative politics and international relations. [tags: Political science,] 1827 words 852 words Epistemology - Are science and religion in conflict? - The relationship between science and religion is a difficult one and the two sides have tested each other and debated each other in many forums. Some believe there are major differences in science and religion and that the two can never coexist while others believe that science is in fact evidence that religious views are correct. To better understand and answer the question of whether the two sides really do conflict we will look at: my view on the subject, the definitions of both science and religion, basic arguments of both sides, scientific evolution write a book report, differing religions and religious views, the compatible versus incompatible argument, how religion has influenced science and views from t. [tags: Science, Religion, Evolution] 647 words 803 words 1212 words 1492 words 785 words The Battle for Control of Political Science Education - The Battle for Control of Political Science Education Abstract Quantitative analysis, formal modeling, and other forms of hard science dominate the leading journals and research institutions of American political science. To justify a hard scientific approach to the study of politics demands elaborate philosophical argument. In particular, it demands answers to three questions: What is the character of political life (the ontological question). How and what can we know about politics (the epistemological question). [tags: Political Science Politics] Science and Religion - Science and religion have always been in conflict with one another because they each represent complete opposite ideals, science is about how nature controls how the universe works and religion is about how God controls how the universe works. In the five models on science and religion I believe that Conflict best describes the relationship between the two. Conflict tells how either science is completely right and religion is wrong or the other way around and that religion and science are completely different. [tags: Science Religion Creation ] 2054 words 2439 words Examples of Accurate Science in The Kill Order - The novel that I read for this project was The Kill Order. This novel has many examples of accurate science found in it, which makes it perfect for this project. It is a novel that I would recommend to any avid science fiction reader. The novel The Kill Order was written by James Dashner, and is the prequel to the Maze Runner trilogy. It was published in the year 2012. In this novel, the main character Mark is surviving in a post-apocalyptic world. The earth has been hit by solar flares topic for process analysis essay, frying almost anything electronic and killing anyone who was not underground or otherwise protected. [tags: science fiction, james dashner, maze runner] 1494 words Science, Development and Humanity - Science, Development and Humanity ABSTRACT: The formation of a new scientific picture of the world is connected with the necessity of subjectivity. This subjectivity posits no limits for the scientific aspects of cognitive processes, but embraces a comprehensive world of spiritual activity. To choose the most effective model of social behavior, it is important to have an adequate knowledge of reality (i.e. the objective regularities of the surrounding world). Modern science reflects the vagueness of reality and, in consequence, the impossibility of using classical approaches. [tags: Science Scientific Papers] Public Attituted To Science - This essay will evaluate some questions and the quantitative data in Public Attitude to Science (PAS) 2011 with regard to the secondary analysis of the issue of science activities such as science festival, public meeting and debate in science. My research questions are mainly that: To what extent, are people interested in science activities. What makes people attend science activities. In this respect, this essay will focus on the Q17-19 in PAS 2011 (See Appendix A) research papers topics in marketing, which are relate to popularity of scientific and non-scientific activities. [tags: governmental study, science policy] The Mysteries of Science - The Mysteries of Science Introduction As I write this essay, I am over whelmed by what human beings can accomplish given time and space. As I look through my window, planes are flying over smoke that lazily ascends from the industries beneath them; vehicles fill every available space along the streets as the news report another successful rocket launch on its mission to the Mars. If only the views of the unborn mind could be trusted, I would have been born centuries earlier. In the current world that is driven by fear over global climate changes, global warming, global economic recession, global terrorism amidst a host of many other global concerns, I may not help but burry my head in the pe. [tags: Science] Advancement of Technology and Science and its Influence on Science Fiction Novels - Advancement of Technology and Science and its Influence on Science Fiction Novels The rapid pace of technology and the advancement of scientific understanding in the past one hundred years are at the backbone for the distinctly twentieth century genre -- science fiction. Such rapid advancement in these fields of technology have opened up literally worlds of possibilities for the future. One hundred years ago the possibility of simply flying from city to city may have seemed nothing more than a distant futuristic dream to most. [tags: Technology Science Literature Essays] History Is Not An Exact Science - Some define History as science due to its approach on analysing facts and the use of all resources in the aim of finding an answer while others claim it is merely an artistic study of the ages. J.B Bury claimed “History is a science, no more and no less”, in a time just after dramatic changes had been made to the approach of analgising History as he represented many people in the Victorian generation and their want in a more factual basis of history. Throughout the nineteenth century we saw calls from the people for a more accurate understanding of the past. [tags: History vs Science] 2347 words 1461 words Themes in Science Fiction - Over the many years of English literature and various forms of media, the ideals of the times and of the creators of these works have changed; some drastically, some possibly not as much. The genre of science fiction is no exception. Take, for example, two of the most widely-known science fiction novels in the history of English literature: The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds, written in the late 1800s in Victorian England by H.G. Wells—novels which, quite arguably, revolutionized the science fiction genre—and their modern theatrical counterparts. [tags: science fiction, persuasive] Critical Issues in Social Science - There are a profuse amount of Global Issues that I wanted to cover throughout this paper however; I’ve narrowed it down to one of the most critical issues in the world. People in our society tend to only care about what affects them directly and often ignore those critical issues which influence us all, indirectly. The topic I will be discussing is death, which is a serious matter alone, but death of over twenty-four thousand children (under 5 yrs of age) every day is much more severe (UNICEF, 2008). [tags: Social Science] Behavioral Science and Dentistry - As pointed out by many [1-4], orthodontic treatment involves much more than the knowledge and experience required for biomechanical movement of teeth. A successful clinical outcome with a satisfied patient also requires inherent and acquired psychosocial knowledge and interpersonal skills essential for managing the interactions among patients, clinicians, office staff, and other health professional colleagues. With few exceptions, the training of orthodontists in principles of human behavior is generally limited to a pablum of psychology or possibly psychiatry. [tags: Medical Science] African American Contributions in Science - African American Contributions in Science Throughout American history many African Americans have been overlooked in the field of science. Some powerful minds and great inventors haven’t been re-introduced to new generations. African Americans have contributed a great deal to the advancements of our country and one of the major fields they have made contributions to is in the field of science. Many successful African Americans have been overshadowed by their Caucasian counterparts. More of our children should be aware of these great historians. [tags: Science African Americans Scientists Essays] Are you pro or against medical science? - Are you pro or against medical science. There is a fragile line between obsessiveness and curiosity, when it comes to medical science. As we can see in Mary Shelley's " Frankenstein" Victor is completely obsessed with his idea of creating a monster even though at the end he abandons it. This article is clearly a description of what science should not be. On the contrary Emily Martin's "The body at war " is an obvious example of true science " Martin's analysis reveals that the most powerful metaphor associated with the immune system are those of war and battle and she reflects on the ways in which these war scenes are populated by identities that are gendered, raced and classed"(286). [tags: Science Medicine Essays] 4838 words Communication Science vs. Semiotics - Communication Science vs. Semiotics Marcel Danesi says that "communication theorists generally focus more on the study of message-making as a process, whereas semioticians center their attention more on what a message means and on how it creates meaning" (Messages and Meanings: An Introduction to Semiotics, 1994). He implies that both communication science and semiotics are systematic studies of signs. Interestingly, Danesi comments that semiotics studies signification first and communication second. [tags: Communication Science] 980 words 3146 words 1400 words Science will Never Reveal all the Secrets in the Universe - Science is the effort to discover and increase human understanding of how physical reality works. Through various experiments, many scientific theories have been established and every day new theories are developed. Old theories are replaced by new ones, which are more accurate. For example, years ago, the earth was considered to be flat, then spherical, and now ellipsoid. Who knows what theory will come next - cubical or pyramidal earth. Just like a baby turns into an adult in a few years, the same way science has also progressed and according to me it is still in its teenage. [tags: science example topics of expository essays,] 1907 words Conflicts of Law and Science - Introduction Forensics is directly defined as something “used in the court of law” (Komar, Buikstra, 2008, p.44). Although forensics is defined in this manner, there is an ever-growing conflict between the needs of the law (e.g. the criminal justice system) and the capabilities of particular fields in forensics, specifically forensic science. Forensic science is currently at the forefront of importance in assisting law enforcement in solving crimes; yet it is a field that is constantly altering and advancing in procedures and mechanisms e.g. the technological advancements that have added to the aptitude of forensics and also established a ‘new’ field within forensics (Murphy 2007). [tags: Forensic Science, Law Enforcement] 1387 words 1799 words Using Science to Understand God - In this day, there continues to be a great deal of hostility promoted from the pulpits, the media, and visible scientists around the world in the area of science and religion. Some preachers suggest to their congregations that science is evil and opposed to morality and belief in God. Some visible scientists suggest that religion is an out-of-date mythological belief system that opposes progress and enslaves people to a lifestyle that brings them harm. The media seems to take delight in vilifying religion and promoting the inconsistencies of those who claim to be religious. [tags: Science and religion] 880 words 1252 words
Nature 449. 791 (18 October 2007) doi :10.1038/449791a Nature 449. 663 (11 October 2007) doi :10.1038/449663a Enthusing and informing government members about science can have surprising and gratifying results. Occasionally science makes procedures possible that are so radical that those at the interface between science and politics are called on to define moral standards for society. Researchers and policy-makers need ways for accommodating the partiality of scientific knowledge and for acting under the inevitable uncertainty it holds. To save lives and livelihoods, natural and social scientists must work with decision-makers and politicians in the time between natural disasters as well as during them. by Robert L. Park by Steven Weinberg In light of the current, revolutionary advances in the natural sciences and in the study of consciousness, the concepts of matter, life, and mind have under-gone major changes. This paper outlines some basic aspects of these changes, taking in turn the emerging concept of matter, of life, and of human mind and consciousness. Continue. The investment of time and effort in looking ahead and planning for the future can be a very important one for science and for scientists. Because accomplishing our work takes so long in comparison with that of most other individuals in our society. Continue. IT IS A SATURDAY IN MARCH. The man wakes up slowly, reaches over and feels the windowpane, and decides it is warm enough to skip his thermal underwear. He yawns and dresses and goes out for his morning jog. When he comes back, he showers, cooks himself a scrambled egg, and settles down on the sofa with The Essays of E. B. White. Continue. Comprehensive coverage of matters such as openings, points of view, character development, structures. The latter chapter is particularly recommended. As Sabine Höhler argues, following Foucault, it is also a vessel, thus a place of confinement, of both constrained geospace and limited biospace. She argues that for roughly 20 years, centering on 1970, Spaceship Earth was emblematic of an era weighing the dream of spaceflight against concerns about the future, and especially the environment, while facing Cold War tensions, rising awareness of global inter-dependence, and the potential, good and bad, of science and technology. The Earthly spaceship had a supposedly definable carrying capacity, but might also be remade, enhanced, or even added to by visionary application of technology. Theodore Cheney. Writing Creative Nonfiction: Fiction Techniques for Crafting Great Nonfiction. Ten Speed Press, 2001. (out of print, but obtainable) If a single theme stands out among many, it is the way old experiences and established institutional habits condition responses to a novel health threat. Attitudes to earlier epidemics, and especially to more familiar sexually transmitted diseases, were obviously important, as were the authority of scientific advice, and the building of what Berridge identifies as two policy communities, first among gay men and their self-help groups, then among clinicians and scientists. Both had significant influence on government policy at the peak of concern over the disease, in 1986-87, when the best epidemiological evidence indicated that there was a real risk of a nationwide epidemic. The quasi-wartime spirit which gripped Government then, with civil servants comparing the threat to that of nuclear war, is one of the more remarkable episodes in the Thatcher years, and an instructively uncharacteristic one. Whitehall, Berridge indicates, defended a traditional liberal view of how to contain and treat the disease, in the face of much more illiberal sentiment from outside. Many people write. Quite a few write about writing. Some of them write criticism and academic analysis. Others write books or articles for writers. As with the more academic stuff, I do not think there is a core set of works which everybody must know. Rather, there is a diversity of things on offer, any of which may be useful to some people, according to taste, temperament and ambition. Epidemics provoke sober analysis and hysterical fantasy. Both can already be discerned in responses to the Zika outbreaks currently provoking anxiety around the world. A good time, perhaps to reflect on the history of AIDS as both the writers discussed here did, one to rather better effect than the other. The really sad part is that teachers and teacher educators (that I talk to) acknowledge that these Year Six tests are pretty disastrous educationally; most of them think much the same about the Maths and English tests. But hardly anyone is saying so. This is a lifetime’s work, and very enjoyable it is, too. I think it is more important in this area than others, in some ways, as popular science writers often re-use one another’s explanations, including metaphors and analogies, for crucial bits they need to get to where they want to be – especially in books. Joseph M. Williams. Style: Toward Clarity and Grace. Chicago University Press, 1990. (various updated editions since) An extremely worthwhile update on Strunk and White, with reasons for doing things in certain ways which are informed by modern linguistics. It is not about “literary” style, but about communicating clearly but still has much useful advice on emphasis, tone and rhythm. My personal favourite among style books because it makes so much sense of the way language works on the page. Some resources for non-fiction writers. It is still hard to judge how much of this was contingent. Berridge’s analysis is not focused on personalities, although she does emphasise the importance at this time of four key figures – the chief medical officer, the permanent secretary at the Department of Health, the then minister Norman Fowler and the chairman of the cabinet committee on Aids, the deputy prime minister William Whitelaw – all working in concert. But this was only one alliance among many, in constellations which shifted in complex ways as the disease edit student papers online, and the effort to deal with it, evolved. It is charting these shifting constellations which Berridge is especially good at, and as she does so, she disposes of the possibility of any single, simple story about Aids policy in Britain. “It’s alive!” exults the near hysterical scientist at the climax of the creation scene in the 1931 film Frankenstein. And we know that his success,bringing to life a body of his own design, is the beginning of his downfall. It is the most memorable of hundreds of such scenes in plays, books and cinema and TV productions that have repeated the basic elements of Mary Shelley’s classic story, Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus. After nearly two centuries, our cultural obsession with her image of life creation shows no sign of waning. What the author called her “hideous progeny” has been transformed from a minor novel into a full-blown myth. And as we enter what many predict will be the century of biology, the Frankenstein myth looks set to come into its own. Compilation of advice from US foundation which supports journalism education. You could spend all day reading these, but then you wouldn’t be writing. PS You can also find a PDF of the post below here . This is easy to establish more recently. Medical and biological stories have long accounted for much press coverage of science. Look at a major newspaper from early this century, the San Francisco Chronicle. say, and you find front-page stories on radical surgical procedures, the possibility of choosing the sex of a baby and proposed scientific techniques for prolonging life. These show the early convergence of news values and the territory of biomedicine. Biological research and medical practice mean birth, sex and death; suffering, disease and disability. Gerald Grow. Serving the Strategic Reader – Cognitive Reading Theory and its Implications for the Teaching of Writing, 1994 They include models for the scientist whose good intentions blind him to the true nature of his enterprise: “Wealth was an inferior object; but what glory would attend the discovery if I could banish disease from the human frame and render man invulnerable to any but a violent death!” Victor proclaims. And so say all of us mortal readers. But Victor also personifies the scientist as Faustian knowledge seeker – “the world was to me a secret which I desired to divine”, he says and recalls that “none but those who have experienced them can conceive of the enticements of science” – or as a narrow materialist: “On my education my father had taken the greatest precautions that my mind should be impressed with no supernatural horrors. A churchyard was to me merely the receptacle of bodies deprived of life.” The National Foundation for Educational Research, which develops and administers the tests, has just advertised for someone to lead a team to continue “enhancing” the science tests for 11 year olds. Whoever gets the job should set themselves a little test. Can they take a long, hard look at the existing SATs for science and honestly argue that they are not educationally counter-productive? Then they should resolve to do something about it. (1998) “Classic” science writing, much of it historical. Little modern material, even for 1990s. Does stretch to Rachel Carson and Richard Dawkins, though. To explain the endurance of the appeal of Frankenstein and his creature, a good move is to try to isolate what has survived in all the renderings of the myth since 1818. The story, for all its familiarity, is still frightening, because it depicts a human enterprise that is out of control and that turns on its creator. That much carries over from earlier, including Biblical, myths about the acquisition of knowledge. But Frankenstein is about science. What is more, the science is pursued, if not always with the best of intentions, then for motives we can comprehend. In the most striking re-tellings, the myth is never a straightforward anti-science story. There is something admirable about Victor Frankenstein in the novel, about “Henry” Frankenstein in Whale’s film, even about Peter Cushing’s ruthless Baron Frankenstein in Hammer’s films, and certainly about Kenneth Branagh’s fresh-faced idealist in his misleadingly titled Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Even so, our sympathies are always torn between Frankenstein and his monster. The Frankenstein script, in its most salient forms, incorporates an ambivalence about science, method and motive that is never resolved. Now, who can give the proper names for the parts of a plant? Chances are, if you were an 11 year-old in a British school, you would raise your hand. It is one of the irredeemably dull things you just had to learn in Science. If few things reveal more about how a society really works than the threat of a new epidemic, few academic tasks can be more daunting than following what is revealed while it is still happening. The serious contemporary historian always faces two problems endemic to the discipline, but amplified. One is the sheer volume of material, while the other is preserving enough detachment to avoid “heroes, villains and conspiracies”, as Virginia Berridge puts it. When the project is a contemporary history of Aids, these two obstacles must be even more formidable. The potential sources are limitless: thousands of scientific papers, uncounted newspaper stories, hundreds of committees and advisory groups, letters, minutes, newsletters, health education leaflets, TV advertisements. The issues posed by the disease are, and remain, deeply contentious. If you want to short-cut the process essay about my birthday party, some anthologies to browse: A wise and thoughtful guide to writing as rewriting (and revision as pleasure, not punishment). You’ll be convinced. Well worth sampling whatever kind of writing you are engaged in. This is a scholarly history with much to offer for anyone thinking about attitudes to science, technology and the future in the post World War Two era. It will also be good to have to hand while considering discussion of human life on the planet further into the 21 st century, as we come to grips with the Anthropocene and debate the merits and demerits of geoengineering as a possible response to global enrivonmental change. Do we now find ourselves aboard a spaceship that, like Neurath’s ship of scientific theory, must occasionally be repaired or even rebuilt while staying afloat all the while? Perhaps the Spaceship Earth metaphor won’t stretch quite that far, but Höhler’s book is still a convincing reminder of its enduring power. It is a pleasure, then, to see Berridge tackling them so well in her policy history, Aids in the UK. Her book is coolly written, impressively (but not, as it could so easily be, overwhelmingly) detailed, and judicious throughout. She weaves together the strands of science, medicine, policy and culture in a richly worked account of the Aids years in Britain which will interest anyone who wants to reflect on the Aids experience. Mike Sharples. How we Write: Writing as Creative Design. Routledge 1999. A bit expensive how do you write a essay outline, but an entirely general, and fresh look at the writing process – again informed by recent developments in cognitive science and psychology. Useful for the emphasis that there is no one strategy for carrying out a piece of writing. Probably save this one until you have acquired some (a lot?) of writing experience and may want to freshen your ideas about how to go about it. The book is organised around various attributes of the Ship – such as capacity, containment, circulation (internally) and storage. Each is carefully unpacked in an analysis that usefully conjoins science and technology studies and environmental history. The range of reference is wide, and the results are a rich resource for anyone seeking insight into how humans, nature, environment and planetary existence were configured in this period. It will illuminate these decades for readers who came to these questions after the 1970s and deepen the recollections of those, like me, who lived through them, and who remember the “Earthrise” photos from Apollo 8 as fresh images. Richard Dawkins. The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing. Oxford University Press, 2008 Latha Menon, ace editor of popular science for OUP had a strong hand in this as well. Commentaries by Dawkins (but no writing of his own). Instead a great selection of recent science writing, with a slight bias toward life sciences. Probably the best of these three collections. Mathematics, English and Science are set to be the only three compulsory areas in the national primary curriculum in future. Why science survives at the expense of History, Drama or Art beats me, actually. But if it means those subjects remain uncontaminated by tests, they will undoubtedly have the edge over science in interest, enthusiasm, and long-term commitment. If David Blunkett’s intention in elevating Science as one of the compulsory trio is in line with the thin rhetoric about “preparing 21st century citizens and safeguarding the nation’s future in a competitive scientific and technological world” the current state of the tests probably means he is doing exactly the wrong thing. Robert S. Boynton. The New New Journalism. Vintage Books, 2005. I began compiling this some years ago for science writers. It has been updated, and grown, since then. It might now be more accurately headed “some resources about writing that I like”. I check availability from time to time. Please let me know if there are things listed here that seem impossible to get hold of – or if you find useful writing advice that isn’t listed here. William E Blundell – The Art and Craft of Feature Writing. Signet Paperback (US) 1988. (in print) Bristol’s ever enterprising Festival of Ideas team have put together a couple of days of talks, theatre and films to mark the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (she visited Bristol, don’t you know). John Carey. The Faber Book of Science (1995)
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