The Waring Worlds of H. G. Wells: The Entangled Histories of Education, Sociobiology, Post-genomics, and Science Fiction

Drawing on H. G. Wells’ visionary texts, social critique, and revolutionary insights, this chapter revisits and recontextualizes questions raised by Wells almost a century ago around the adequacy of science education curricula to grapple with the still unfolding Anthropocene. Exploring the technological advances in molecular biology that have occurred over the last twenty years, which have instigated an epistemological turn toward what many science studies scholars are calling the post-genomic era, this chapter situates current education research and policy debates within the post-genomic era through new research in the field of sociobiology. Conversely, drawing on the fundamental reconceptualization of inheritance that underlies genomic research in the post-genomic era, this chapter argues for a similar reconceptualization of intelligence, educational attainment, cognition, and learning. The chapter concludes by exploring the potential of a transnational and transknowledge extended synthesis within education, one that encourages critical examination of the impact of globalization, nationalism, and capitalism on science education and works to imagine how science education can be reformed, reimagined, and reconfigured to contribute to the radical actualization of a just, equitable, and sustainable world.

Patients’ Experiences of Emergency Hospital Care Following Self-Harm: Systematic Review and Thematic Synthesis of Qualitative Research

Rates of hospital presentation for self-harm have increased in recent years, and although clinical practice guidelines on clinical provision prioritize positive patient experiences, the quality of provision remains variable. This systematic review provides an updated and extended synthesis of qualitative research on the following: (a) patients’ experiences of treatment following presentation to hospital; and (b) patients’ perceptions of the impact of treatment on recurrent self-harm and/or suicidal ideation, and future help-seeking. Twenty-six studies were identified for inclusion in the final synthesis. Three meta-themes emerged: (a) individuals undertake extensive identity work when presenting with self-harm, navigating the process of becoming a patient, and negotiating the type of patient they want to be; (b) care ranges from gentle to hostile, with care at admission and discharge being particularly disorientating; and (c) negative experiences of clinical treatment may increase future self-harm. Emerging research gaps include the need for further theoretically informed qualitative research in this area.

Changing views of evolution and their consequences for psychology. From the Modern Synthesis to the Extended Synthesis, and beyond

Reductionist viewpoints have been increasingly replaced by complex systems viewpoints in biological theory and methodology since the turn of the millennium. This tendency has also been reflected in thinking about evolution. Just as the defining evolutionary synthesis of the 20th century - the Modern Synthesis - was born out of the integration of the most up-to-date knowledge of the times, so does a recently emerging new synthesis build on most recent genetic-epigenetic, genomic, eco-devo-evolutionary findings. The "Extended Synthesis" (Pigliucci & Müller, 2010) builds on current understanding of genes, heredity, and multiple evolutionary processes. In this framework, an extended interpretation is offered based on the integration of evolutionary and ecosystem-level processes into the explanation of evolution. In this paper, we aim to review the paths leading to the Extended Synthesis. We aim to present a historically embedded, concise overview of the major issues and developments related to the changing perspectives. The final point of the discussion eventually raises the question: How does psychology relate to the extended view of evolution?

Plant Evolutionary Ecology in the Age of the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis

Plant ecology is increasingly turning to evolutionary questions, just as evolutionary biology pushes out of the strictures of the Modern Synthesis into what some regard as an “Extended Evolutionary Synthesis.” As plant ecology becomes increasingly evolutionary, it is essential to ask how aspects of the Extended Synthesis might impinge on plant ecological theory and practice. I examine the contribution of plant evolutionary ecology to niche construction theory, as well as the potential for developmental systems theory and genes-as-followers adaptive evolution, all important post-Modern Synthesis themes, in providing novel perspectives for plant evolutionary ecology. I also examine ways that overcoming dichotomies such as “genetic vs. plastic” and “constraint vs. adaptation” provide fertile opportunities for plant evolutionary ecologists. Along the same lines, outgrowing vague concepts such as “stress” and replacing them with more precise terminology in all cases provides vastly increased causal clarity. As a result, the synthetic path that plant ecologists are blazing, becoming more evolutionary every year, bodes extremely well for the field, with vast potential for expansion into important scientific territory.

Replacement of Chromium by Non-Toxic Metals in Lewis-Acid MOFs: Assessment of Stability as Glucose Conversion Catalysts

The metal–organic framework MIL-101(Cr) is known as a solid–acid catalyst for the solution conversion of biomass-derived glucose to 5-hydroxymethyl furfural (5-HMF). We study the substitution of Cr3+ by Fe3+ and Sc3+ in the MIL-101 structure in order to prepare more environmentally benign catalysts. MIL-101(Fe) can be prepared, and the inclusion of Sc is possible at low levels (10% of Fe replaced). On extended synthesis times the polymorphic MIL-88B structure instead forms.Increasing the amount of Sc also only yields MIL-88B, even at short crystallisation times. The MIL-88B structure is unstable under hydrothermal conditions, but in dimethylsulfoxide solvent, it provides 5-HMF from glucose as the major product. The optimum material is a bimetallic (Fe,Sc) form of MIL-88B, which provides ~70% conversion of glucose with 35% selectivity towards 5-HMF after 3 hours at 140 °C: this offers high conversion compared to other heterogeneous catalysts reported in the same solvent.

Evolutionary biology today and the call for an extended synthesis

Evolutionary theory has been extended almost continually since the evolutionary synthesis (ES), but except for the much greater importance afforded genetic drift, the principal tenets of the ES have been strongly supported. Adaptations are attributable to the sorting of genetic variation by natural selection, which remains the only known cause of increase in fitness. Mutations are not adaptively directed, but as principal authors of the ES recognized, the material (structural) bases of biochemistry and development affect the variety of phenotypic variations that arise by mutation and recombination. Against this historical background, I analyse major propositions in the movement for an ‘extended evolutionary synthesis’. ‘Niche construction' is a new label for a wide variety of well-known phenomena, many of which have been extensively studied, but (as with every topic in evolutionary biology) some aspects may have been understudied. There is no reason to consider it a neglected ‘process’ of evolution. The proposition that phenotypic plasticity may engender new adaptive phenotypes that are later genetically assimilated or accommodated is theoretically plausible; it may be most likely when the new phenotype is not truly novel, but is instead a slight extension of a reaction norm already shaped by natural selection in similar environments. However, evolution in new environments often compensates for maladaptive plastic phenotypic responses. The union of population genetic theory with mechanistic understanding of developmental processes enables more complete understanding by joining ultimate and proximate causation; but the latter does not replace or invalidate the former. Newly discovered molecular phenomena have been easily accommodated in the past by elaborating orthodox evolutionary theory, and it appears that the same holds today for phenomena such as epigenetic inheritance. In several of these areas, empirical evidence is needed to evaluate enthusiastic speculation. Evolutionary theory will continue to be extended, but there is no sign that it requires emendation.