Science In Society Research Articles

An ice‐free Arctic: what could it mean for European weather?

An ice‐free Arctic: what could it mean for European weather?

Capaian Aspek Kompetensi Sains Siswa SMA dengan Pembelajaran Model Problem-Based Learning dan Cooperative Learning Tipe STAD

Science literacy is an essential element of science and technology learning. The mastery of science literacy drives people being competitive and worth employed, especially in the workplace where an employee is expected to be innovative. Globally the mastery of society's science literacy of Indonesian students was still low. Science literacy consists of 4 dimensions, namely context, science competence, knowledge, and science attitude. The science competency dimension becomes important to be achieved by the students as an indicator of the achievement of science literacy. Related to improving science literacy through components of learning strategy, based on various relevant research, in SMA Negeri 1 Tanjungpinang has been conducted a study to compare the achievement of science competency with Problem-based learning and Cooperative Learning (STAD type). To test whether there is a significant difference in the average level of science competency scores between the PBL class and the CL-STAD class in SMA 1 used Mann-Whitney test which shows a significant value of 0.000 < 0.05. These results show that there is a significant difference in the average level of science competency of the students X IPA class with the implementation of the PBL and CL-STAD in SMA 1 Tanjungpinang. The achievement of science competency in PBL class is higher than the achievement in CL-STAD class based on 3 aspects, namely: identifying scientific issues, explaining scientific phenomena, and using scientific evidence.

Policy-making on science in society between Europeanization and core–periphery divide

The aim of the paper is to identify the cross-national differences and similarities in policy-making trends on science in society (SiS) based on the comparative analysis of national reports from FP7 project “Monitoring Policy and Research Activities Related to Science in Society in Europe”. Science in society in EU is characterized by two parallel processes: Europeanization and diversity of science and innovation policies. The focus of the analysis is to explore the possible indications of Europeanization as well as diversities and find elements of certain elements of core–periphery model. The focus of the analysis is to explore the existence of common issues of SiS and on the other side different policy actions and national priorities. Although the analysis reveals the presence of Europeanization process diversities and divides are still present which draws attention to a core–periphery model. While common trends can be recognized on the theoretical and contextual level mainly coming from the various processes of Europeanization, the core–periphery model is simultaneously present on the practical level of governance and policy-making.

Science Frontiers in Agronomy, Crops, and Soils

Science Frontiers in Agronomy, Crops, and Soils

Overview of research related to science in society in Europe

We have carried out a cross-sectional analysis of the information on research in the science in society (SiS) field collected by the Monitoring Policy and Research Activities on Science in Society in Europe (MASIS) project. Based on the reports set up by national correspondents in the different countries, we were able to provide a picture of the type of research being carried out in Europe under national funding. It has provided a new picture, bringing in countries that do not often appear in the mainstream literature. A typology of countries has been set up according to their activity in the area and a description of research topics is provided. A number of integrated projects, sometimes cross-national, that examine a topic from different angles appear to be particularly promising. Most available information concerned dedicated SiS research projects. Very little information was available on SiS research ‘embedded’ in projects centred on other ‘hard-science’ topics.

Capturing public unease

Nowhere has the public become more distrustful of scientists than in the UK, following some major agricultural and health scandals. But Britain's Royal Society is now trying to do something about it. Nigel Williams reports.Astronomers may feel hard done by in the funding battles but they have one crumb of comfort: the public shows considerable interest and support for their work. But researchers in many other fields, including life science areas, are often perceived in a quite different light and are increasingly losing the public's trust. This is nowhere more so than in the UK following the devastating occurrence of the BSE epidemic, foot and mouth disease, animal cloning etc.Such are the concerns about the lack of trust in scientists, the Royal Society, Britain's science academy, has set up a programme to gather systematically public opinion with a view to developing a number of key priorities on which it can take action.So with independent funding — the Society was keen not to use government funding for such a study — they arranged a series of regional workshops where members of the public were invited to come along and discuss their concerns about scientists.The results of these meetings were compiled into a number of themes which were presented at the first National Forum for Science held in London in March. Four main themes were thought to capture most of the public's concerns. First, lack of control of applied science. The public felt a lack of involvement and influence and that regulation was inadequate. Second, the need for information. Information was felt to be controlled by powerful groups and there was a lack of funding transparency. Third, communication and the media. The public found sensation-seeking reporting of complex issues confusing and frightening and that scientists often don't understand the public's needs. Finally, education and understanding. The public was not well informed about the difference between science and its application and the difficulty in understanding relative risk and probabilities.Ahead of the meeting the Royal Society also commissioned a telephone poll to identify the science-related issues causing greatest concern. The results from more than 1,000 people polled revealed that the top five issues are: biological weapons (74 per cent of respondents), global warming (70 per cent of respondents), genetic modification of food and animals (60 per cent of respondents), BSE/CJD (55 per cent of respondents) and nuclear power (53 per cent of respondents).Paul Nurse, director of the charity Cancer Research UK, and chairman of the Royal Society's Science in Society initiative who was also a panel member at the National ForumNational Forum said ‘The two big issues, biological weapons and global warming, have received a lot of media attention and are genuinely frightening issues. The other three issues, genetic modification, BSE/CJD and nuclear power, are all ones which have shaken public confidence in the scientific advice coming out of government.’ David King, the government's chief scientific adviser and panel member, said that it was important to try to recover confidence in science. ‘There's a real need to be open and transparent with the public.’Fig. 1National Forum panel: (l to r) Charles Secrett, executive director of Friends of the Earth, Margaret Beckett, agriculture secretary, Douglas Parr, chief scientist, Greenpeace, David King, chief government scientific adviser and Fay Wheldon, novelist.View Large Image | View Hi-Res Image | Download PowerPoint SlideThe poll also asked questions about the funding and reporting of science. Over half agreed that the funding of scientific research is becoming too commercialised (55 per cent) and over half again wanted more influence over the type of scientific research that is done (53 per cent). ‘Because of the high publicity given to commercially funded research especially when new venture capital is being raised, the public probably underestimate how much scientific research is actually carried out in the UK by independent university scientists,’ said Nurse.The poll also found that only 39 per cent of respondents agreed with the statement ‘the media present science in a responsible way’.‘The interests of the scientist, the press, the state and the public overlap but do not coincide. It is at the margins that trouble occurs, and where doubt and mistrust breed,’ says novelist Fay Wheldon, one of the Forum panel members.

Novel therapies dominate American Cancer Society's 35th Annual Science Writers Seminar

SEVERAL NOVEL cancer therapies reported at the 35th Annual American Cancer Society's Science Writers Seminar are producing excitement among cancer experts, although no one is calling any of them a magic bullet, at least not yet. At the meeting in San Diego, Calif, 25 leading cancer researchers described their latest findings. Block That Signal Aberrant signal transduction has been implicated in malignant transformation, growth, and progression. This finding has led to a search for agents that can safely block the signal transduction pathways that cancer cells depend on for growth and migration to other sites in the body. One such agent is now undergoing a phase I clinical trial in patients with refractory solid tumors. Elise C. Kohn, MD, senior clinical investigator at the National Cancer Institute's Laboratory of Pathology and Medicine Branch, Bethesda, Md, says that, using an in vitro assay, she and her colleagues discovered the antimetastatic and

Neutrophil Colony—Stimulating Factor May Provide Chemotherapy 'Boost,' Protection Against Infection

THIS SUMMER, investigators expect begin multicenter phase II trials of the neutrophil colony—stimulating factor G-CSF in patients with chemotherapy-induced myelosuppression. Based on data gathered from animal studies ( J Exp Med 1987;165:941-948; Proc Natl Acad Sci USA , in press.) and ongoing phase I trials on patients with bladder cancer, the agent is expected prevent neutropenia and accelerate the recovery of peripheral blood granulocytes in such patients. The potential benefits of this treatment are twofold, said Malcolm S. Moore, PhD, professor of biology at Cornell University Medical College, New York City, speaking at the American Cancer Society's Science Writers' Seminar in San Diego. First, it should lessen the time during which a patient is susceptible life-threatening bacterial infections, thus reducing one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality in cancer therapy. Second, Moore said, it should permit clinicians to provide higher drug doses more frequently, which, presumably, will

Cancer Virus Redux

W hen the U.S. government declared its war on in 1971, viruses were considered to be among the most likely cancer-causing agents. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Bethesda, Md., had special program to screen tumor cells for the presence of virus particles, but, says current NCI head Vincent T DeVita, wasn't to be that simple. Despite expense and effort, no one was able to isolate cancer virus from human tumor cells during that initial push; there arose a lot of skepticism about viruses as cause of DeVita says today. Some researchers dropped out of the field; others shifted their emphasis to basic virology research. Out of that [shift] emerged the basic ability to isolate viruses that we didn't have in the beginning, says DeVita. We're now back in the business of finding viruses [as a] cause of he said at the recent American Cancer Society's science writers' seminar in San Diego. Researchers there described virus-cancer connections ranging from epidemiological links coincident occurrences of virus and type of cancer in given population -to direct laboratory observations of virus transforming normal cells into cancerous ones. Viruses have been fingered in liver cancer, the most common cancer in the world; cervical cancer; Burkitt's lymphoma; nasopharyngeal carcinoma; and an adult T cell leukemia. But researchers are quick to caution that though these cancers are believed to be caused by they don't spread as easily as common viruses spread -for example, with sneeze. We have not found that kind of transmission of cancer viruses, says DeVita. You need very intimate contact to spread the viruses that we know can be spread. None of it seems to be easy, thank God. Virus-associated cancers are more common in less developed nations, DeVita notes. Differences in hygiene may be one reason, he suggests, with individuals exposed at an earlier age, giving cancer viruses longer time to act. The virus-associated cancers, which tend to occur earlier in life, also wind up representing greater proportion of total cancers in these countries, possibly because people in less developed countries are more likely to die before getting the old age cancers like cancer of the urinary tract, bladder and gut wall.

Demonstration Models of Physical Processes

Two interesting models, originally designed for exhibition in the Science Museum, London, have been described by Dr. F. A. Ward (Proc. Phy&. Soc.9 Jan. 1947). The first illustrates, by an optical analogy, the principle of the Bragg X-ray spectrometer, namely, that a monochromatic beam of X-rays will be reflected by a single crystal only when the crystal is set at a particular angle to the incidenrt beam such that reflexions from successive sheet rich in atoms are in phase and so give an interference maximum. The incident beam is represented by a sheet of corrugated iron, and the crystal to be analysed by four glass plates mounted on a wooden rack. The observer looks into the glass plates, and rotates them until the virtual images of the crests of the corrugations appear to coalesce. The second model is a mechanical one illustrating the uranium chain reaction which has been utilized for the release of atomic energy. It consists of thirty units, each representing the nucleus of an atom of uranium 235 or plutonium. A unit consists of two portions held together by a catch which, when released, allows the two portions to fly apart, while at the same time projecting upwards three table-tennis balls representing neutrons. A single ‘neutron’ dropped on the catch of one of the units disintegrates this unit, and the three ejected ‘neutrons’ impinging on neighbouring units cause them to disintegrate, thus initiating the chain reaction. Both these models have been demonstrated at the Physical Society's science meetings, at the Society's Exhibition of Scientific Instruments and Apparatus, and also at the recent Royal Society conversazione, where they have aroused considerable interest.