Science/Technology

Contents:

Articles, Reports, Videos, Recommended Reading

Science is a continuing effort to discover and increase human knowledge and understanding through disciplined research. Using controlled methods, scientists collect observable evidence of natural or social phenomena, record measurable data relating to the observations, and analyze this information to construct theoretical explanations of how things work. The methods of scientific research include the generation of hypotheses about how phenomena work, and experimentation that tests these hypotheses under controlled conditions.

Many issues damage the relationship of science to the media and the use of science and scientific arguments by politicians. As a very broad generalisation, many politicians seek certainties and facts whilst scientists typically offer probabilities and caveats. However, politicians' ability to be heard in the mass media frequently distorts the scientific understanding by the public.

Technology: The human species' use of technology began with the conversion of natural resources into simple tools. The prehistorical discovery of the ability to control fire increased the available sources of food and the invention of the wheel helped humans in travelling in and controlling their environment. Recent technological developments, including the printing press, the telephone, and the Internet, have lessened physical barriers to communication and allowed humans to interact freely on a global scale. However, not all technology has been used for peaceful purposes; the development of weapons of ever-increasing destructive power has progressed throughout history, from clubs to nuclear weapons.

Technology has affected society and its surroundings in a number of ways. In many societies, technology has helped develop more advanced economies (including today's global economy) and has allowed the rise of a leisure class. Many technological processes produce unwanted by-products, known as pollution, and deplete natural resources, to the detriment of the Earth and its environment. Various implementations of technology influence the values of a society and new technology often raises new ethical questions.
Source wikipedia http://bit.ly/Rr8Xf

Reports:
The Woodrow Wilson International Center For Scholars Reports:
Nanotech-enabled Consumer Products Top the 1,000 Mark Public Inventory Continues to Grow
Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies Research Brief
Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies Agenda and Priorities
Nanotechnology, Synthetic Biology, & Public Opinion A Report Of Findings
Nanopool - Glass is probably the world’s most versatile new technology?
Soil Association Annual Review 2008

Videos:

Books we recommend:

A Brief History of Time By Stephen Hawking
Dr. Hawking attempts to explain a range of subjects in cosmology, including the Big Bang, black holes and light cones, to the non-specialist reader. Its main goal is to give an overview of the subject but, unusual for a popular science book, it also attempts to explain some complex mathematics. The book also simplifies matters by means of illustrations throughout the text, depicting complex models and diagrams.

The Emperor’s New Mind By Roger Penrose

Penrose presents the argument that human consciousness is non-algorithmic, and thus is not capable of being modelled by a conventional computer. He then hypothesises that quantum mechanics plays an essential role in the understanding of human consciousness. The collapse of the quantum wavefunction is seen as playing an important role in brain function. Google Books Preview

Extraterrestrial Civilisations By Isaac Asimov
Asimov estimates the probability of there being intelligent extraterrestrial civilizations within the Milky Way galaxy. This estimation is approached by progressively analyzing the requirements for life to exist. The assumption is made that any world where life could evolve would have certain similarities to Earth, such as temperature ranges and gravity sufficient for an atmosphere to exist.

Vision for 2010 - Planning for Extraordinary Change By John L. Peterson
In this timely and insightful treatise, Petersen explains how the world and its leaders must prepare for an onslaught of potential crises, such as rapid climate change, a tipping point in the global financial system, a pandemic, or a new level of sophistication among terrorists. At the same time, Petersen highlights the unbelievable breakthroughs in knowledge, mindsets, and scientific capabilities that demonstrate our extraordinary capacity not just to persevere, but to evolve. Provocative yet hopeful, A Vision for 2012 outlines an effective approach to the immense challenges - and opportunities - that lie ahead.”

The Center of the Cyclone By John C Lilly, MD
John Lilly gives a sensitive and insightful overview of his work on transcendent consciousness and its ramifications for society. The book looks at the inner life of a dedicated scientist experimenting and exploring inner space - the teeming universe of the human mind!

Janus: A Summing Up By Arthur Koestler
Koestler develops his philosophical idea of the holarchy introduced in his 1967 book, The Ghost in the Machine. The holarchy provides a coherent way of organising knowledge and nature all together. The idea of the holarchy is that everything we can think of is composed of holons (simultaneously both part and whole), so that each holon is always a constituent of a larger one and yet also contains other holons that are constituents of a lower level system within. Koestler believed that everything in a healthy system is organised this way, from the human body, to chemistry to the history of philosophy.

Prolongevity II By Albert Rosenfeld
This book provides a report on the scientific discoveries now being made about aging and dying, and their promise of an extended human lifespan, without old age.

Hot, Flat & Crowded By Thomas L Friedman
Friedman explains a new era—the Energy-Climate era—through an illuminating account of recent events. He shows how 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and the flattening of the world by the Internet (which brought 3 billion new consumers onto the world stage) have combined to bring climate and energy issues to Main Street, but not very far. Friedman sets out the clean-technology breakthroughs we, and the world, will need.

Return From Death By Margot Grey
In Return from Death, Margot Grey, a psychologist of humanistic orientation who practices psychotherapy in London, presents a report of her research into near-death experiences (NDE’s) and a discussion of their significance. The book is divided in two parts. In Part One, Grey discusses NDE phenomenology; in Part Two, she discusses after-effects of the experience. 

High Noon By J F Rischard
In this age of instant communication and biotechnology, on this ever-smaller planet, what kinds of problems have we created for ourselves? How do we tackle them in a world where the accustomed methods used by nation-states may be reaching their natural limits? In High Noon, J. F. Rischard challenges us to take a new approach to the twenty most important and urgent global problems of the twenty-first century. Rischard finds their common thread: we don't have an effective way of dealing with the problems that our increasingly crowded, interconnected world creates. Our difficulties belong to the future, but our means of solving them belong to the past.

God and the New Physics By Paul Davies
This book deals fundamentally with cosmology although throughout the text several sciences are mentioned, such as: physics, mathematics, neurology, and philosophy. It deals with a wide variety of philosophical problems, such as the nature of God, miracles, free will, time, and consciousness. Davis seeks to explain the changing roles of religion and science, and the way in which physics is giving insights into what were once considered solely religious or philosophical questions.

Why Does E = mc²? By Brian Cox & Jeff Forshaw
Professors Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw go on a journey to the frontier of twenty-first-century science to unpack Einstein's famous equation. The book is one of the most exciting and accessible explanations of the theory of relativity.