Battleground: Science and Technology [2 Volumes] (Battleground)

Table of Contents:

Guide to Related Topics

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Entries

Agriculture

Alien Abductions

Art and Science

Artificial Intelligence

Asymmetric Warfare

Autism

Biodiesel

Biotechnology

Brain Sciences

Cancer

Censorship

Chaos Theory

Chemical and Biological Warfare

Cloning

Coal

Cold Fusion

Computers

Creationism and Evolutionism

Culture and Science

Death and Dying

Drugs

Drugs and Direct-to-Consumer Advertising

Drug Testing

Ecology

Education and Science

Epidemics and Pandemics

Ethics of Clinical Trials

Eugenics

Fossil Fuels

Gaia Hypothesis

Gene Patenting

Genetically Modified Organisms

Genetic Engineering

Geothermal Energy

Globalization

Global Warming

Green Building Design

Healing Touch

Health and Medicine

Health Care

HIV/AIDS

Human Genome Project

Immunology

Indigenous Knowledge

Influenza

Information Technology

Intellectual Property

Internet

Mad Cow Disease

Mathematics and Science

Math Wars

Medical Ethics

Medical Marijuana

Memory

Mind

Missile Defense

Nanotechnology

Nature vs. Nurture

Nuclear Power

Nuclear Warfare

Obesity

Objectivity

Off-Label Drug Use

Organic Food

Parapsychology

Pesticides

Pluto

Precautionary Principle

Privacy

Prostheses and Implants

Psychiatry

Quarks

Religion and Science

Reproductive Technology

Research Ethics

Robots

Science Wars

Scientific Method

Search Engines

Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence

Sex and Gender

Sexuality

Social Robotics

Social Sciences

Software

Space

Space Tourism

Space Travel

Stem Cell Research

Sustainability

Technology

Technology and Progress

Tobacco

UFOs

Unified Field Theory

Urban Warfare

Vaccines

Video Games

Virtual Reality

Warfare

Waste Management

Water

Wind Energy

Yeti

Bibliography

About the Editors and Contributors

Index

The modern world is filled with debate and controversy, and science and technology--the most characteristic features of the modern world--are not immune. Science and technology are implicated in many if not all of the issues, troubles, and problems students are likely to come across in their classes and in their everyday lives. Science and technology serve as a primary pathway to understanding front page headlines on everything from war to AIDS, and from oil exploration to global warming. Battleground: Science and Technology examines the most hot-button issues involving science and technology and provides a balanced assessment of the arguments on all sides of the often strident debates.

The approximately 100 issues examined in Battleground: Science and Technology include topics in the brain sciences, including the controversies over the cause of autism and the reliability of memory, as well as the debates over parapsychology; debates surrounding information technology, such as only privacy, the impact of video games on social behavior, and the advent of virtual reality; the complexity over drugs and medications, such as the testing of the efficacy of medications, the war on recreational drugs, and the costs of pharmaceutical research; and hot-button topics that are constantly in the news, such as evolution and creationism, DNA testing, stem-cell research, and genetically modified organisms.

Each entry provides a list of accessible resources useful for further research.

Sal Restivo is Professor of Sociology, Science Studies, and Information Technology at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Special Lecture Professor at Northeastern University in Shenyang, China, the former Hixon/Riggs Professor of Science, Technology, and Society at Harvey Mudd College, and a former Special Professor at Nottingham University in England. He is a founding member and former president of the Society for Social Studies of Science.

Peter H. Denton is an instructor in Technical Communications and Ethics at Red River College in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Associate Professor in the Department of History at the Royal Military College of Canada.

"This collection of essays by various authors, wide ranging in their backgrounds and qualifications and covering a wide expanse of topics, goes beyond the scope of most encyclopedia-type volumes....This resource will prove useful to teachers and students. It summarizes in one compact place many of the aspects of issues around which some controversy swirls. These essays, especially the lengthier ones, can serve as starting points for more elaborate and in-depth investigation of topics. This text offers instant access (through the table of contents) to information that can lead in many directions for more investigations. It's a worthwhile addition to a classroom resource bank for information on the implications of scientific and technological applications to society."

NSTA Recommends

"This is the seventh in the publisher's Battleground series exploring today's controversial topics. The

editors of this entry approach science and technology as they relate to culture and society. However,

'science and technology' is a much broader subject than those treated in other Battleground titles, and that

makes the coverage here seem less focused. Topics range from the really broad, such as Social sciences, to

the very specific, such as Green building design. In between are subjects as varied as Censorship, Coal,

and Healing touch. The contributors have a range of backgrounds and experience, some not directly related to their topics. Some of their contributions are philosophic discussions of the assigned topics, while others give more

prosaic accounts of the history of their topics and the pros and cons. There is a good index, and crossreferences

are provided for each entry. Each entry also includes a selection of further readings, the currency of which varies. The reading level varies from article to article as well, but overall this would probably be best suited for a college-level audience looking for brief introductions. It's hard to know how libraries will use this title, since the treatment is so broad that it is likely to be overlooked by a patron doing research on a specific topic."

Booklist

"Examples of subjects tackled by the volumes include alien abductions, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, chaos theory, drugs and direct-to-consumer advertising, the Gaia hypothesis, genetically modified organisms, green building design, information technology, intellectual property, medical marijuana, parapsychology, quarks, reproductive technology, research ethics, the scientific method, urban warfare, virtual reality, waste management, and wind energy. The entries are written in a style accessible to beginning undergraduates and up."

SciTech Book News

"Battleground: Science & Technology offers a basic introduction and overview to the topics addressed...This set is most appropriate for high school libraries, public libraries, and community college library that have a need for introductory material on the topics presented."

ARBA

"Battleground Science and Technology, which also includes a substantial bibliography and an index, would be an appropriate acquisition for public and academic libraries."

Catholic Library World

The modern world is filled with debate and controversy, and science and technology--the most characteristic features of the modern world--are not immune. Science and technology are implicated in many if not all of the issues, troubles, and problems students are likely to come across in their classes and in their everyday lives. Science and technology serve as a primary pathway to understanding front page headlines on everything from war to AIDS, and from oil exploration to global warming. Battleground: Science and Technology examines the most hot-button issues involving science and technology and provides a balanced assessment of the arguments on all sides of the often strident debates.

The approximately 100 issues examined in Battleground: Science and Technology include topics in the brain sciences, including the controversies over the cause of autism and the reliability of memory, as well as the debates over parapsychology; debates surrounding information technology, such as only privacy, the impact of video games on social behavior, and the advent of virtual reality; the complexity over drugs and medications, such as the testing of the efficacy of medications, the war on recreational drugs, and the costs of pharmaceutical research; and hot-button topics that are constantly in the news, such as evolution and creationism, DNA testing, stem-cell research, and genetically modified organisms.

Each entry provides a list of accessible resources useful for further research.

Review Citations:

• Booklist 05/01/2009 pg. 95 (EAN 9780313341649, Hardcover)
• Scitech Book News 03/01/2009 pg. 13 (EAN 9780313341649, Hardcover)