Cutting NSF Is Like Liquidating Your Finest Investment
Look closely at your mobile phone or tablet. Touch-screen technology, speech recognition, digital sound recording and the internet were all developed using […]
Big Questions Require Teams That Step Across Lines
‘Interdisciplinarity lies not above the academy, but in its very foundations,’ say the co-authors of a new report looking at this issue.
Malaria Vaccine – Great Science But What’s the Point?
Bully for the researchers who have developed a vaccine can build resistance against some instances of malaria, says Robert Dingwall. But before the WHO recommends for its adoption, he suggests a harder look at user-centered design and cost-benefit analysis may be in order.
Behavior Routinely on Biomedicine’s Back Burner
The challenge of infusing the social sciences into what are generally viewed as biomedical issues has been a long and difficult one, as the recent WHO report on Ebola demonstrates. Oddly, this lesson has been learned many times before, but keeps getting forgotten.
In Defense of Uni-disciplinarity
Interdisciplinarityfor interdisciplinarity’s sake is fraught, argues Merlin Crossley. We should build bridges linking the tops of silos rather than try to break down silos themselves.
Campaigning for Social Science: Public Sociology and ‘Public Sociologists’
The arrival of a report calling for the British government to better support social science has raised questions about the role, responses and responsibilities of a ‘public sociology.’
White House Seeks Second Slate of Social Science Experts
Pleased with its debut team of social and behavioral scientists working to make federal policy better, the White House is seeking more members for its version of a ‘nudge’ unit. The deadline to apply is April 12.
In the Anthropocene, Every Discipline Has a Role
Grappling with climate change going forward won’t be so much grappling with climate as it will be grappling with human reactions to the forces already in motion. Universities have a role to play in marshaling all their disciplines in this endeavor, says Matthew Nisbet.
Don’t Fence Me In: The Bogus Walls Between Disciplines
‘I am whoever I want to be,’ insistsCameron Neylon. ‘You don’t get to define my value. The real question is whether the filters you apply are good enough to tell when I have something to say that is useful for you to hear.’
