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Big questions over the future of humankind have traditionally given legitimacy to popular stories about science and technology. Science fiction has long been credited with the ability to anticipate how audiences are prone to interpret the promises of technological progress. The genre of science fiction and its relevance to popular culture can also be construed as an excellent tool for reading the challenges of the present. Under capitalism and socialism, the complex uses of science fiction raised big moral and political questions, while challenging notions of literary style and visual aesthetics. Two trends have long been prevalent in science fiction: the first, that of totalitarian dystopia, started with classic literature. Off and on-screen, dystopian stories reveal a Panopticon society, where the pervasiveness of technology removes any hope of individual life. The second trend is that of climate fiction: narratives that imagine a world dramatically changed by the climate breakdown show that our society can always be brought back to a pre-modern state by resource scarcity and overpopulation. Ever more, totalitarian dystopia and climate fiction prove that their readers are of particular interest nowadays: they have the onerous task of trying to make sense of a growing body of literature that now points to the difficulty of telling apart reality from simulation. Ultimately, science fiction helps audiences look into the way we like to think that humankind is facing an increasingly technological present; it does so by framing this moment in time as having been shaped by a possible future.

An authoritative introduction to ISIS—now expanded and revised to bring events up to the presentThe Islamic State stunned the world with its savagery, destructiveness, and military and recruiting successes. However, its most striking and distinctive characteristic was its capacity to build governing institutions and a theologically grounded national identity. What explains the rise of ISIS and the caliphate, and what does it portend for the future of the Middle East? In this book, one of the world's leading authorities on political Islam and jihadism sheds new light on these questions. Moving beyond journalistic accounts, Fawaz Gerges provides a clear and compelling explanation of the deeper conditions that fuel ISIS. This new edition brings the story of ISIS to the present, covering key events—from the military defeat of its territorial state to the death of its leader al-Baghdadi—and analyzing how the ongoing Syrian, Iraqi, and Saudi-Iranian conflict could lead to ISIS's revival

The pursuit of high ideals in politics is often scorned as unrealistic and, therefore, undesirable. This article considers two new ways in which this might be true. One allegation is that ideals might be so highly idealized as to be inaccessible to ordinary agents and hence incapable of guiding their actions. The other notes that the full and simultaneous implementation of all of our ideals is typically unrealistic, and that first-best ideal desiderata may well be imperfect guides to choice among second-best worlds. (British Journal of Political Science / AuD)

Pierre Curie and "His eminent collaborator Mme Curie": complementary partners -- Star scientists in a nobelist family: Ir(c)♭ne and Fr(c)♭d(c)♭ric Joliot-Curie -- Carl and Gerty Cori: a personal recollection -- John and Elizabeth Gould: ornithologists and scientific illustrators, 1829-1841 -- Dispelling the myth of the able assistant: Margaret and William Huggins at work in the Tulse Hill Observatory -- The Comstocks of Cornell: a marriage of interests -- Grace Chisholm Young and William Henry Young: a partnership of itinerant British mathematicians -- Marriage and scientific work in twentieth-century Canada: the Berkeleys in marine biology and the Hoggs in astronomy -- Unusually close companions: Frieda Cobb Blanchard and Frank Nelson Blanchard -- Kathleen and Thomas Lonsdale: forty-three years of spiritual and scientific life together -- Clanging eagles: the marriage and collaboration between two nineteenth-century physicians, Mary Putnam Jacobi and Abraham Jacobi -- "My life is a thing of the past": the Whitmans in zoology and marriage -- Albert Einstein and Mileva Mar(c)Ưc: a collaboration that failed to develop -- Sociologists in the vineyard: the careers of Helen MacGill Hughes and Everett Cherrington Hughes -- Botanical and ecological couples: a continuum of relationships -- Patterns of collaboration in turn-of-the-century astronomy: the Campbells and the Maunders -- Collaborative couples who wanted to the change the world: the social policies and personal tensions of the Russells, the Myrdals, and the Mead-Batesons

The concept of "critical science literacy" advanced by Susanna Priest is significant to how citizens approach scientific knowledge, but the concept is also relevant to undergraduate students majoring in the sciences, who are not necessarily becoming "critically literate" in their own disciplines. That is, future scientists are not learning how arguments are structured, meaning is made, and facts are agreed upon—specifically through communicative practices—both within and outside of the scientific community. This gap in the curriculum can be addressed through collaborative efforts between rhetoricians and sociologists of science. Drawing from three major disciplinary traditions—writing studies, the rhetoric of science, and science communication—this article posits that a pedagogical intervention is necessary to improve science communication with nonexpert publics. A science writing and communication course that is grounded in the rhetoric of science and that also has sociological, philosophical, and historical components can provide science students with a critical awareness of how their discipline operates in society and teach them how to become more responsible and effective communicators.

This textbook is the second part of series covering Indian history. Chapters include: Tracing Changes through a Thousand Years, New Kings and Kingdoms, The Delhi Sultans, The Mughal Empire, Rulers and Buildings, Towns, Traders and Craftspersons, Tribes, Nomads and Settled Communities, Devotional Paths to the Divine, The Making of Regional Cultures, and Eighteenth-Century Political Formations.

"Ötzi the iceman could not do without wood when he was climbing his Alpine glacier, nor could medieval cathedral-builders or today's construction companies. From time immemorial, the skill of the human hand has developed by working wood, so much so that we might say that the handling of wood is a basic element in the history of the human body. The fear of a future wood famine became a panic in the 18th century and sparked the beginnings of modern environmentalism. This book traces the cultural history of wood and offers a highly original account of the connection between the raw material and the human beings who benefit from it. Even more, it shows that wood can provide a key for a better understanding of history, of the pecularities as well as the varieties of cultures, of a co-evolution of nature and culture, and even of the rise and fall of great powers. Beginning with Stone Age hunters, it follows the twists and turns of the story through the Middle Ages and the Industrial Revolution to the global society of the twenty-first century, in which wood is undergoing a varied and unexpected renaissance. Radkau is sceptical of claims that wood is about to disappear, arguing that such claims are self-serving arguments promoted by interest groups to secure cheaper access to, and control over, wood resources. The whole forest and timber industry often strikes the outsider as a world unto itself, a hermetically sealed black box, but when we lift the lid on this box, as Radkau does here, we will be surprised by what we find within. Wide-ranging and accessible, this rich historical analysis of one of our most cherished natural resources will find a wide readership."--Publisher's website

We seek to provide an overview of the relationship between the English-language study of Taiwan & the social science disciplines, focusing primarily on political science, yet touching also on sociology, developmental studies, & economics. We identify three main periods in the evolution of Taiwan studies: (1) that from the end of WWII to the late 1970s saw the marginalization of Taiwan studies vis-a-vis China studies; (2) that of the early 1980s to the late 1990s, when, due to Taiwan's rising economic strength & democratic transition, Taiwan studies began to rise to fame, to become well-integrated with the social sciences: & (3) that since 2000, with Taiwan studies now facing both challenges & opportunities as it tries to remain integrated with the social sciences. We close with a comparison of the different research environments in both the US & Taiwan, discuss their respective roles in influencing the overall development of Taiwan studies, & suggest ways in which the social science research conducted in these two major venues for Taiwan research can be integrated more closely. 125 References. Adapted from the source document.

Die drei Paradigmenwechsel der Wissenschaftskommunikation -- Wissenschaft als Massenphänomen -- Digitalisierung der Wissenschaftskommunikation -- Zeitschriftenkrise und Open-Access-Bewegung -- Die Transformation des Publikationssystems -- Open Science und die Zukunft der Wissenschaftskommunikation. .

Sexuality is often understood to be uniquely private and intimate--something that can and should be protected from capitalism's influence. This book argues, in contrast, that the histories of capitalism and sexuality are closely intertwined. Integral to this story has been the illusion that economic and sexual practices are tied to fundamentally different realms. Focusing on the history of sex work in Britain, the book shows that capitalism has long needed the construction of artificial boundaries around sex and work in order to extract profit from sexual labor, both paid and unpaid.