“O, wonder!/How many goodly creatures are there here!/How beauteous mankind is!/O brave new world,/That has such people in't!” Shakespeare’s lines in The Tempest famously inspired Aldous Huxley’s novel Brave New World, first published in 1932. Huxley’s vision of the future has become a byword for the idea that attempts at genetic (and social) engineering are bound to go wrong. With its crude partitioning of society, by stunting human development before birth, and with its use of a drug – soma – to induce a false sense of happiness and suppress dissent, this was the opposite of a ‘beauteous’ world.
The post Genome editing’s brave new world appeared first on OUPblog.
Are we at the birth of a new culture in the western world? Are we on the verge of a new way of thinking? Both humanistic and scientific thinkers suggest as much.
The post Is neuroculture a new cultural revolution? appeared first on OUPblog.
Molecular biology continues to inform science on a daily basis and reveal what it means to be human beings as we discover our place in the universe. With the ability to engage science in ways that were unimaginable only a few decades ago, we can obtain the genetic profile of a germ, discover the roots of unicellular life and uncover the mysteries of now extinct Neanderthals.
In One Plus One Equals One, author John Archibald unmasks the wonders of biotechnology, showing readers how evolution has interacted with the subcellular components of life from the beginning to present day. With molecular biology, we can look back more than three billion years to reveal the microbial activities that underpin the development of complex life, just as we can look at the inner workings of our own cells. Take a look around and ask yourself, how much do you know about the world around us?
Your Score:
Your Ranking:
Headline image credit: HINGOLGADH. Photo by Kalpeshzala59. CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
The post The evolution of life appeared first on OUPblog.
Hello, I am Dr. Ray Johnson, the Chief Technology Officer for the Lockheed Martin Corporation.
I have a great job that allows me and the 70,000 Lockheed Martin scientists and engineers to explore and discover the wonders of science. We engineer solutions and use new technologies to protect people and improve their lives, and we constantly look for new and exciting ways to be innovative.
Technical careers rely on an educational foundation in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). My colleagues and I also rely on these technical disciplines. We are deeply concerned about the shortage of scientists and engineers here in the U.S. and about the need to reinvigorate future generations to pursue technical careers. We recognize the importance of these areas of study, and through our company’s support, we are involved in a number of initiatives to encourage students to get involved in STEM-related activities.
One initiative Lockheed Martin supports, and that I am greatly excited about, is the upcoming USA Science and Engineering Festival that will be held in Washington, D.C. from October 10-24, 2010. As the Festival Host, we hope to have a million people participate; the best part—it’s free. The event culminates with a two-day Science Expo on the National Mall featuring more than 1,000 exhibits spanning an incredible array of technical fields: aerospace, green energy, medicine, biotechnology, climatology, robotics, nanotechnology, and so many more.
The Festival will be an incredible experience for any student. We hope to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers to invest in their future and America’s future by studying science, technology, engineering, and math at their schools.
