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This book offers a penetrating analysis of issues raised by the perennial question, "Are we special?". It brings together scholars from a variety of disciplines, from astronomy and palaeontology to philosophy and theology, to explore this question. Contributors cover a wide variety of issues, including what makes humans distinct from other animals, the possibilities of artificial life and artificial intelligence, the likelihood of life on other planets, and the role of religious behavior. A variety of religious and scientific perspectives are brought to bear on these matters. As a whole, the book addresses whether the issue of human uniqueness is one to which sciences and religions necessarily offer differing responses

In recent years, many members of the intellectual community have embraced a radical relativism regarding knowledge in general and scientific knowledge in particular, holding that Kuhn, Quine, and Feyerabend have knocked the traditional picture of scientific knowledge into a cocked hat. Is philosophy of science, or mistaken impressions of it, responsible for the rise of relativism? In this book, Laudan offers a trenchant, wide-ranging critique of cognitive relativism and a thorough introduction to major issues in the philosophy of knowledge.

Historians of science have traditionally concentrated on the achievements of scientists in Western Europe and North America. The usual assumption was that one did not need to study scientific communities outside of a few key countries because they were presumed to be analogous to (though weaker than) scientific communities in the West. In general, those who study women in science have shared this bias. This article provides examples that illustrate how cross-national research that includes less-studied areas of the world can move us beyond generalizations that are based on small samples of women scientists in relatively few countries. This article is not definitive but rather suggests ways in which transnational studies of gender and science can contribute to our knowledge of not only the position of women in science but also the significance of class and social status and the meanings attached to the scientific enterprise in different cultural contexts.

Intro -- Contents -- Preface -- Chapter 1 -- NASA Appropriations and Authorizations: A Fact Sheet* -- Chapter 2 -- Defense Science and Technology Funding* -- Abstract -- What Is Defense Science and Technology? -- Perspectives on the Roles and Value of Defense S&T -- Historical Defense S&T Funding and Recent Trends -- DOD Basic Research Funding -- DOD Basic Research Funding by Organizational Component -- Basic Research of DOD Components by Performing Sector -- Program Elements in DOD Basic Research -- Defense Research Sciences -- Army -- Navy -- Air Force -- DARPA -- University Research Initiatives -- Army -- Navy -- Air Force -- In-House Laboratory Independent Research -- Army -- Navy -- University and Industry Research Centers -- Collaborative Technology Alliances/Collaborative Research Alliances (CTAs/CRAs) -- University Centers of Excellence (COEs) -- University Affiliated Research Centers (UARCs) -- Other DOD Basic Research PEs -- Issues in Defense S&T -- What Is the Appropriate Funding Level for Defense S&T? -- Approach: Defense S&T as a Share of Total DOD Funding -- Data and Analysis -- Approach: DOD Science and Technology as a Share of DOD RDT&E -- Data and Analysis -- What Is the Appropriate Funding Level for DOD Basic Research? -- Approach: DOD Basic Research as a Share of Defense S&T -- Data and Analysis -- Conclusion -- Chapter 3 -- The National Science Foundation: FY2018 Appropriations and Funding History* -- Abstract -- Introduction -- FY2018 Budget and Appropriations Actions -- Research and Related Activities (RRA) -- Education and Human Resources (EHR) -- Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction (MREFC) -- Other Accounts and Initiatives -- Authorizations of Appropriations -- NSF Funding History -- Long-Term Funding Trends -- NSF Obligations by Account -- Policy Considerations -- Chapter 4.

This book identifies, traces, and interrogates contemporary American culture's fascination with forensic science. It looks to the many different sites, genres, and media where the forensic has become a cultural commonplace. It turns firstly to the most visible spaces where forensic science has captured the collective imagination: crime films and television programs. In contemporary screen culture, crime is increasingly framed as an area of scientific inquiry and, even more frequently, as an area of concern for female experts. One of the central concerns of this book is the gendered nature of e

Historically men have sought knowledge in a variety of ways both for its own sake and in order to increase their control over the environment. Science has increasingly made its impact on society through technical applications of scientific findings. Science has thus helped to alter social struc ture. At the same time increases in population, in social dif ferentiation, and heterogeneity have made necessary large-scale organization. The effect has been felt in the structure of science and the role and status of the scientist; for example, the individual scholar has been replaced to a considerable ex tent by the scientific organization man. Government encour agement of some areas of scientific research has expanded enormously in the United States, inevitably within a bureau cratic framework. In the process the scientist has come to be valued not for his scholarship but for his ability to provide solutions to specific problems and thus to increase national power. Bureaucracy has a price, but it is an organizational form which is understandably and functionally necessary and to which science must adapt.

In Totalitarian Science and Technology Paul Josephson considers how physicists, biologists, and engineers have fared in totalitarian regimes. Adolph Hitler and Joseph Stalin relied on scientists and engineers to build the infrastructure of their states. The military power of their regimes was largely based on the discovery of physicists and biologists. They sought to use biology to transform nature, including their citizens, with murderous effect in Nazi Germany. They expected scientists to devote themselves entirely to the goals of the state, and were intolerant of deviation from state-sponsored programs and ideology. As a result, physicists, biologists, and engineers suffered from the consequences of ideological interference in their work. Many lost their jobs; others were arrested and disappeared in prisons. In physics, this meant rejection of the theory of relativity, in biology in the USSR, the rejection of modern-day genetics.In this revised, on-line edition, Josephson also analyzes the uses of science and technology in such authoritarian regimes as the Soviet Union, National Socialist Germany, North Korea, the People's Republic of China, and Cuba. He argues that politics plays an important role in shaping research and development in all countries, but nowhere with greater risk to citizens and the environment than in closed political systems. ; https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/facultybooks/1001/thumbnail.jpg

"The idea that science is or should be value-free, and that values are or should be formed independently of science, has been under fire by philosophers of science for decades. Science and Moral Imagination directly challenges the idea that science and values cannot and should not influence each other. Matthew J. Brown argues that science and values mutually influence and implicate one another, that the influence of values on science is pervasive and must be responsibly managed, and that science can and should have an influence on our values. This interplay, he explains, must be guided by accounts of scientific inquiry and value judgment that are sensitive to the complexities of their interactions. Brown presents scientific inquiry and value judgment as types of problem-solving practices and provides a new framework for thinking about how we might ethically evaluate episodes and decisions in science, while offering guidance for scientific practitioners and institutions about how they can incorporate value judgments into their work. His framework, dubbed "the ideal of moral imagination," emphasizes the role of imagination in value judgment and the positive role that value judgment plays in science"--

Abstract
In order to produce a climate-literate society willing to take action, students must be educated on the causes, changes, impacts, and solutions of climate change. One way to ensure students are educated on climate change is to have robust science standards. However, little is known about the collective climate change standards in the United States (US). Therefore, the purpose of this study is to conduct an analysis of the US K-12 science standards to uncover where the climate change standards are located in different grade levels and the extent to which the collective US curriculum covers topics of climate change. This study was a qualitative content analysis of US K-12 climate change standards. The results show that most US climate change standards are found within the high school grade levels and the Earth and Space Science domains. All US states address topics of climate change within their standards, however general mentions of climate change were cited most often. Finally, the majority of states address both natural and anthropogenic causes of climate change. Implications for policy makers and educators are included.

In this article, we reflect upon the combination of crowd science and online teaching, which we refer to as Crowd Science infused Learning. We discuss Crowd Science infused Learning's conceptual design and its viability in sociology and related disciplines. For this purpose, our research project 'Data Traces' serves as an empirical case. In the project, we developed an online platform that provided a 45-minute teaching unit, training students in using different forms of digital data: websites, newspaper articles, and administrative register data. Afterwards, students were assigned to predefined, small-scale research tasks contributing to a real-world research project on the social relations in entrepreneurial groups. By completing the tasks, the students could apply their knowledge, gain insights, and contribute actively to an ongoing research project. This combination links students' learning experience with the collection of data for research purposes. We also implemented game elements in the platform's design to support students' motivation. After a brief outline of the Data Traces Project's chronology and key conceptual decisions, the article focuses on a critical discussion of the combination of crowd science and online teaching. Despite significant challenges, we believe that Crowd Science infused Learning is a promising approach and identify opportunities and conditions for a successful combination of crowd science and online teaching.