A mobile exhibition, German Science Train, which is organized by the Max Planck Society as part of the Year of Science 2009, takes the public on a research voyage! The idea is to show different aspects of science with an eye to the future. In 12 converted train cars, visitors can dive into different subjects: from cosmology to particle physics, nanotechnology and brain research to applied and industrial research in production, agriculture, energy, environment and mobility. The exhibition is making stops throughout Germany until December. and Luděk Svoboda.
The Czech Academy of Sciences (CAS) has contributed to the success of the Czech pavilion at the World EXPO 2015 in Milan, the motto of which is: Feeding the Planet: Energy for Life. The motto was also reflected in the nine Days of Czech Science, held in early July under the partnership of the Joint Research Centre in Ispra. Several institutes of the CAS presented results of their most recent discoveries. The Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, among others, displayed its research aimed at seeking new human medications for lifestyle diseases and showed, for instance, a human cell as a miniature “chemical plant” in which thousands of actions bring about the healthy functioning of an organism. The institute also prepared an exhibition entitled Czech Science fighting viruses, which also introduced one of the protagonists in this field, outstanding Czech scientist Antonín Holý.One of the Czech lecturers who addressed the audience both at the EXPO and in Ispra was Lenka Maletínská. She focused on the potential role of modified neuropeptides in the fight against obesity, which is also explained in the article by Lenka Maletínská and Jaroslav Kuneš in this edition. and Marina Hužvárová.
Článek ukazuje pohled na utváření novověké koncepce pokroku v dílech Bernarda Le Boviera de Fontenelle. Idea pokroku byla poprvé přesně zformulována právě ve Fontenellových pracích. Podnětem pro Fontenellovy úvahy byla intelektuální debata querelle des anciens et des modernes. Tato diskuze měla rozhodnout o nadřazenosti novověku nad antikou nebo naopak. Fontenelle se debaty účastnil a závěry, k nimž došel, dovršily jeho teorii pokroku, jíž se věnoval nejen téměř ve všech pracích, ale též ve chvalořečích., This paper presents a view of the constitution of the early modern idea of progress in works of Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle. The idea of progress was for the first time framed in Fontenelle’s works. The intellectual discussion Querelle des anciens et des modernes was the cue of Fontenelle’s considerations. This dispute had to decide the predominance of moderns under the anciens, or the anciens under the moderns. Fontenelle participated on this debate, and his conclusions had been an important part of his theory of progress proposed in his works and panegyrics., and Dagmar Zajíčková.
A relatively unknown woman named Maria Theresa Short opened a popular observatory in 1835 in Ed inburgh - a time and place where men of science and property had long failed to make a viable space for astronomy. She exhibited scientific instruments to a general public, along with a great telescope and a walk-in camera obscura that projected live views of the city and continues to delight audiences to this day. To better understand Short's accomplishments, achieved as scientific and public life became increasingly closed to women, this study explores her largely untold story, and maps some of the places of science around it. Finding local contingencies, multiple sites and practices by diverse groups, it proposes that tensions within the connections between science and spectacle and the use of popularization to promote its professionalization produced gaps that even a marginal figure like Maria Short could inhabit and exploit., Relativně neznámá žena jménem Maria Theresa Short otevřela roku 1835 v Ediburghu lidovou hvězdárnu - v době a v místě, kde mužové vědy a majetku dlouho selhávali při vytváření životaschopného proctor pro astronomii. Short vystavovala pro široké publikum vědecké nástroje a také velký dalekohled i camera obscuru, do níž šlo vejít a pozorovat živoucí dění ve městě a která poskytuje divákům zážitky dodnes. Abychom lépe porozuměli úspěchům, jichž Short dosáhla, zatímco se vědecký a veřejný život ženám výrazněji uzavíral, tato studie probádává její z větší části nevyřčený příběh a kolem něj mapuje některá z míst vědy. Na základě nalezení lokálních podmíněností, vícenásobných míst a praktik různých skupin, tato studie přichází s propozicí, že napětí vznikající ze spojení vědy a spektáklu a z užití popularizace k podpoře profesionalizace vytvářelo mezery, které mohla i marginální osobnost jako Maria Short obsadit a využívat jich., and Alison Reiko Loader.
Alternative futures oriented to contemporary global problems solutions and risk management are related to citizens´ability to learn how to become global (cosmopolitan) citizens. Important conditions for that should be analyzed within the processes and conditions shaped by globalization of media and communication. This learning has not been institutionalize so far (as in the education), and it is a result of rather indirect social interaciton. Individuals are embedded into complex network of the global information flows and, at the same time, they are members of their national and local communities. Cosmopolitan individual is a virtual member of a global community. Social analysis with ethical reflection should study with more attention global media as one of the key globalizing actors shaping the public space of communication with the power to farm and deform cosmopolitan participation. and Oleg Suša.
The article argues that the development of genetic technologies has to be critically evaluated from a socio-political economy perspective to establish if, on balance, the benefits of such technologies outweigh their costs and risks. The article illustrates how the current governance of these technoloiges can be seen as "undemocratic" because corporate interests dominate the direcitions in which the technologies are going. When aligned with the underlying socioeconomic power structures globally, these technologies create a situation where the development of science and technology fail to be about the common good. The article begins with a brief overview of neo-liberal globalization. It examines key global institutional arrangements including the World Bank, the Intermnational Monetary Fund, itnernational patenting laws and fee trade agreements. It is argued that in their convergence with the biosciences, these are antithetical to democracy, instead entrensching the interests of corporations, rich elites and rich countries. Finally, some suggestions for reforming the global political economy are presented. and Del Weston.