Science In Society 55

In this issue: From the Editors - Unintended Hazards of Geoengineering Freeing the World from GMOsSyngenta Charged for Covering up Livestock Deaths from GM CornGM Soy Linked to Illnesses in Farm PigsBehind the GM Wheat TrialBt Toxicity Confirmed: Flawed Studies Exposed Death Camp Fukushima ChernobylNuclear ShutdownChernobyl Deaths Top a Million Based on Real EvidenceTruth about FukushimaFukushima Fallout Rivals ChernobylBystander Effects Amplify Dose and Harm from Ionizing RadiationApple Pectin for RadioprotectionThe Pectin ControversyGreen Tea Compound for RadioprotectionWHO Report on Fukushima a TravestyUK’s Nuclear Illusion Physics of OrganismsLiving H2O the Dancing Rainbow WithinSuperconducting Quantum Coherent Water in Nanospace Confirmed

Science/Technoscience has moved to centre-stage in debates over change, power and justice in twenty-first century societies. This text provides a general framework for understanding, combining and applying the rich range of approaches that exist within sociology about science: in particular, the role (and limitations) of science in generating knowledge, and the relationship between scientific knowledge and social progress. Drawing on case studies from the past up until today's new genetics, this is a clear, even-handed and comprehensive introduction to the field.

This book, first published in 1981, provides a systematic assessment of the social relations of Restoration science. On the basis of a detailed analysis of the early history of the Royal Society, Professor Hunter examines the key issues concerning the role of science in late seventeenth-century England.

A History of Science in Society is a concise overview that introduces complex ideas in a non-technical fashion. Ede and Cormack trace the history of the changing place of science in society and explore the link between the pursuit of knowledge and the desire to make that knowledge useful. New topics in this edition include astronomy and mathematics in ancient Mayan society, science and technology in ancient India and China, and Islamic cartography. New "Connections" features provide in-depth exploration of the ways science and society interconnect. The text is accompanied by 55 colour maps and diagrams, and 8 colour plates highlighting key concepts and events. Essay questions, chapter timelines, a further readings section, and an index provide additional support for students. A companion reader edited by the authors, A History of Science in Society: A Reader, is also available.

Since the discovery of the structure of DNA and the birth of the genetic age, a powerful vocabulary has emerged to express science’s growing command over the matter of life. Armed with knowledge of the code that governs all living things, biology and biotechnology are poised to edit, even rewrite, the texts of life to correct nature’s mistakes. Yet, how far should the capacity to manipulate what life is at the molecular level authorize science to define what life is for? This book looks at flash points in law, politics, ethics, and culture to argue that science’s promises of perfectibility have gone too far. Science may have editorial control over the material elements of life, but it does not supersede the languages of sense-making that have helped define human values across millennia: the meanings of autonomy, integrity, and privacy; the bonds of kinship, family, and society; and the place of humans in nature.