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.
Tato studie se zabývá dvěma spřízněnými jevy odehrávajícími se ve vědeckém prostředí. Jedná se o fenomén frustrace ve vědecké praxi a s ním spojenou touhu po rozpoznání vlastního výzkumu vědeckou komunitou a ná- sledně o otázku uznání od akademického společenství. Zmíněné fenomény jsou přitom úzce propojeny s ústředním tématem fi losofi e a sociologie vědy: kdo rozhoduje, co bude předmětem vědeckého bádání? Předkládaná studie nejprve představuje Mertonův mýtus o okamžitém rozpoznání vědeckého objevu a následně prostřednictvím exkurzu do oblasti ekonomie a na příkladech z vědecké praxe (zejména na životech Karla Poppera a Michaela Faradaye) poukazuje na jeho neplatnost. V závěru textu jsou společně s jejich dekonstrukcí navrhnuta možná řešení popsaných problémů. Text je také kritickým návratem ke dvěma studiím Josepha Agassiho, žáka Karla R. Poppera a tvrdošíjného zastánce kritického racionalismu, neboť právě Agassi ve svých dílech rozebírá dopady vědeckého vyloučení a neochoty naslouchat., This study deals with two related phenomena that take place in scientific environment. The first one under review is the frustration in scientific practice which is closely associated with the desire for recognition of our own research by the scientific community. Both of these phenomena are strongly tied to the problematic aspect of recognition given by the academic community. The aforementioned occurrences are yet closely linked with the central theme of philosophy and sociology of science: who decides what will be subjected to the scientific inquiry? The article deals with Merton’s myth of immediate recognition in scientific discovery and for its deep analysis uses the excursion into economic field. Text further points out on malfunction of the described Mertonian myth in contemporary science by the use of examples from scientific practice (mainly from the lives of Karl Popper and Michael Faraday). Final argument proposes solutions to described problems together with their deconstruction. The text also represents a critical review of two studies by Joseph Agassi, a stubborn supporter of critical rationalism. Because it was Agassi, a loyal disciple of Karl Popper, who discussed in detail the implications of scientific exclusion and unwillingness to listen., and Ondřej Sloup.
The work of a research team led by Professor Jaroslav Doležel at the Institute of Experimental Botany AS CR has contributed to an article in the journal Science. The International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium published a draft sequence of the bread wheat genome in the journal. The genetic blueprint of the wheat genome was obtained using the chromosome-based strategy developed by Professor Doležel’s team. The chromosome-based draft provides new insight into the structure, organization, and evolution of the large, complex genome of the world’s most widely grown cereal crop. The genetic blueprint is an invaluable resource to plant science researchers and breeders. For the first time, they have at their disposal a set of tools enabling them to rapidly locate specific genes on individual wheat chromosomes throughout the genome. and Jaroslav Doležel.
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.