Taking responsibility, making irresponsibility: Controversies in human gene editing

In current discussions, human germline editing is often called ‘irresponsible’. Looking at the international summits on human gene editing held in 2015 and in 2018 and the announcement by He Jiankui of the birth of two gene-edited babies in November 2018, this article analyses how ‘irresponsible’ research was the result of various (dis)qualifications and demarcations. Against a background of discussions of responsibility, an individual scientist was singled out, his experiments were scrutinized for their soundness, legality and safety and ethical and moral stances were questioned. These are features of a process that I call ‘irresponsibilization’. This irresponsibilization of research is entangled with calls for further action: Irresponsible research like that of He Jiankui should be contained, the veracity of knowledge claims needs to be confirmed, and institutions and decision-makers are called to act. The controversy turned ‘irresponsible’ into an active category, and rendered explicit its political, institutional and practical ramifications.

In defense of decentralized research data management

Decentralized research data management (dRDM) systems handle digital research objects across participating nodes without critically relying on central services. We present four perspectives in defense of dRDM, illustrating that, in contrast to centralized or federated research data management solutions, a dRDM system based on heterogeneous but interoperable components can offer a sustainable, resilient, inclusive, and adaptive infrastructure for scientific stakeholders: An individual scientist or laboratory, a research institute, a domain data archive or cloud computing platform, and a collaborative multisite consortium. All perspectives share the use of a common, self-contained, portable data structure as an abstraction from current technology and service choices. In conjunction, the four perspectives review how varying requirements of independent scientific stakeholders can be addressed by a scalable, uniform dRDM solution and present a working system as an exemplary implementation.

SCIENTIST AS RESEARCHER AND PERSONALITY

The identity of the scientist is regarded as a complex self-organizing system, through which implements its creative potential. The main functions of the system are disclosed in the dynamics of metaphysic cognitive structures of the kernel. In the structure of the individual scientist allocated base and disposition levels, through the elements which link cognitive kernel of personality with the socio-cultural sphere.

The effect of collaboration with top-funded scholars on scientific production

The theoretical model developed in this article predicts that collaboration with top-funded scientists positively affects the number of scientific publications of an individual scientist. Having combined data on funding and publication of Quebec scientists, this article empirically tests the theoretical predictions. This article examines numerous definitions of top-funded scientists as those in the top 10 per cent, or top 5 per cent in terms of total funding, funding from the public sector, and funding from the private sector. The results show that collaborating with such top-funded scientists has a positive effect on a scientist’s number of publications, hence confirming our theoretical predictions.

Взаимодействие науки и власти: наука на службе у власти?

Взаимоотношения науки как важнейшего интеллектуального ресурса и власти являются необходимым звеном политического развития и модернизации общества. На современном этапе выделяются такие формы власти, как биовласть, власть стандартов и инфраструктур, нетократия и др. В статье рассматривается вопрос о том, как наука соотносится с новыми формами власти и как ее достижения могут использоваться властными структурами для контроля над жизнью человека и общества. Автор доказывает необходимость моральной оценки деятельности как властных структур, так и отдельного ученого для преодоления кризиса доверия к современной науке и выстраивания деятельностных отношений на благо человечества. Ключевые слова: наука, власть, биовласть, стандарты, нетократия, кризис ответственности, дегуманизация The relationship between science as the most important intellectual resource and power structures is a necessary link in the political development and modernization of society. At the present stage, we can identify such forms of power as biopower, the power of standards and infrastructures, netocracy, etc. The article seeks to answer the question of how science relates to these new forms of power and how its achievements can be used by power structures to control the life of a person and society. The author proves the need for a moral assessment of the activities of both power structures and individual scientist in order to overcome the credibility crisis of modern science and build activity relationships for the benefit of humanity. Keywords: science, government, biopower, standards, netocracy, crisis of responsibility, dehumanization

A reform of science

Open Science concerns both the individual scientist, science in general and the access to knowledge all over the world. And the reform of science concerns libraries. Meet Jon Tennant – the only Englishman who doesn’t drink tea.

Hubert H. G. Savenije Receives 2017 International Award

Hubert H. G. Savenije received the 2017 International Award at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting Honors Ceremony, held on 13 December 2017 in New Orleans, La. The award honors “an individual scientist, group, or a small team for making an outstanding contribution to furthering the Earth and space sciences and using science for the benefit of society in developing nations.”