Science & Society

Post-apocalyptic Fundamentalism Leigh Brackett's The Long Tomorrow is one of many post-apocalyptic novels that envision society returned to a 19th century agrarian state. The rural settings of these novels are commonly used to explore life in a society driven by fear, fear or technology, or change, or those who are different. A society based on fear of technology is what Leigh Brackett explores here. The Long Tomorrow tells the story of a North American society that, in the wake of nuclear devastation, became essentially Mennonite, since it was the Amish and the Mennonites who were able to…

Nature is never inexplicable For 1954, we’re discussing the first vampire/zombie apocalypse in a series, Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend. This is a significant subgenre in End of the World fiction, and it reflects the nebulous boundary between horror and science fiction that has been fruitfully occupied by Wells, Lovecraft, Mary Shelley, and many others. If you’ve seen the Will Smith movie version, you know that I Am Legend combines zombie horror with a hard-headed, scientific protagonist like those we encountered in Genus Homo. I Am Legend is significant in our survey of post-apocalyptic…

As a younger, unmarried man I wanted to visit Sweden, but more for the volleyball team than for the science(1), but since I don't want to find out if there 'are other fish in the sea' these days I might instead like to go to Kosterhavet Marine National Park. If you haven't heard of it, Kosterhavet Marine National Park opened in 2009 and is Sweden's first marine park.   It's centered around the Koster Archipelago about two hours north of Gothenburg (2.5 hours south of Oslo) and 390 of its 450 square kilometers are under water.  Inside the park is the Koster-Väderö Fjord, which…

Alien Invasion and Evolutionary Succession The possibility of human extinction in End of the World sci-fi is sometimes paired with a consideration of our next evolutionary step - a concept that is less scientific than it sounds (evolution shouldn't be considered in such linear terms), but one that does make an effective fictional tool for thinking about human impermanence. Arthur C. Clarke’s majestic Childhood’s End is about the end of Homo sapiens and evolutionary succession, in a sense. In this case the end of the human species doens't occur as a result of nuclear annihilation or an…

A survey taken by the Science and Technology Facilities Council says their funded PhD students have high employment rates and above average salaries. Since 2007, STFC has funded over 250 new students each year and 200 new students each year prior to that.  The latest study provides a snapshot of the career paths of these former PhD students and an examination of long-term career outcomes after postgraduate training.  The study reveals that 97% of the respondents who gained a PhD with STFC were in full- or part-time employment and 70% were still engaged in scientific research in the…

Frustrated in dealing with the public?   You are not alone.   It may seem to researchers that the public is either stupid or intentionally ignoring evidence but it's not that one-sided, writes Chris Mooney in the Washington Post. Chris generally doesn't think a lot of the science IQ of Americans (and don't even get him started on Republicans!) but he recognizes something more scientists should (and most do here, thus the whole Science 2.0 thing) - making scientifically smarter people does not mean they will always agree with you. For example, if you are a string theory advocate, you…

Post-Holocaust Noble Savages I’ve read three 1952 post-apocalyptic novels for this series - The Long Loud Silence, and two books that are so similar that they can be dealt with in a single post: Star Man’s Son, by Andre Norton, and Vault of the Ages, by Poul Anderson. Both of these books are basically fantasy/neo-barbarian novels set hundreds of years after the North American continent has been ravaged by nuclear war. Both feature late teenage boys defying their elders and seeking out the lost knowledge of the god-like-but-fallen pre-apocalyptic ancestors, ancestors who held so much knowledge…

It's no secret we have done things our own way here - no marketing, no corporate hierarchy, no political or cultural litmus test and no requirement that you already be popular before you can join. The big net of Science 2.0 is exactly what some people in science resent about it.    ScientificBlogging is one crucial part of the Science 2.0 experiment but it's not the only part.    Therefore it can be a threat to people who regard science communication as part of their fiefdom, either corporate or perceptual.   Basically, a way for them to make money and control the…

One balmy July afternoon, when the fresh-faced optimism from having completed my PhD had seriously begun to wear off, I went to lunch with a famous scientist.  This jovial, moustached man did something to really surprise me; he told me the truth about this career path I had chosen: a life in science.  He said at the beginning of your scientific career it's like you are awarded your Captain's license and given a shiny new boat to command.  Stretched out in front of you is the potential for a long, smooth voyage, but the way is dotted with…

A new study published in the Proceedings of The National Academy of Sciences has compared the qualifications and publication histories of climate change skeptics to those of Anthropogenic global warming proponents.  Unsurprisingly, those espousing skepticism are in the minority, comprising only 2-3% of the 1,372 researchers the study looked at, and are typically less qualified than scientists who believe that human carbon emissions are the main cause of climate change.  According to the authors: "The [skeptics] group comprises only 2% of the top 50 climate researchers…