Controversies in Science and Technology: From Sustainability to Surveillance, Volume 4

Daniel Lee Kleinman · Karen A. Cloud-Hansen · Jo Handelsman

ago 2014 · Oxford University Press

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When it comes to any current scientific debate, there are more than two sides to every story. Controversies in Science and Technology, Volume 4 analyzes controversial topics in science and technology-infrastructure, ecosystem management, food security, and plastics and health-from multiple points of view. The editors have compiled thought-provoking essays from a variety of experts from academia and beyond, creating a volume that addresses many of the issues surrounding these scientific debates. Part I of the volume discusses infrastructure, and the real meaning behind the term in today's society. Essays address the central issues that motivate current discussion about infrastructure, including writing on the vulnerability to disasters. Part II, titled "Food Policy," will focus on the challenges of feeding an ever-growing world and the costs of not doing so. Part III features essays on chemicals and environmental health, and works to define "safety" as it relates to today's scientific community. The book's final section examines ecosystem management. In the end, Kleinman, Cloud-Hansen, and Handelsman provide a multifaceted volume that will be appropriate for anyone hoping to understand arguments surrounding several of today's most important scientific controversies.

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DANIEL LEE KLEINMAN is Associate Dean for Social Studies in the Graduate School at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he is also a professor in the Department of Community and Environmental Sociology. Kleinman is the author of three books, including Impure Cultures: University Biology and the World of Commerce. KAREN A. CLOUD-HANSEN is a freelance editor specializing in biomedical publications. Dr. Cloud-Hansen earned a PhD in microbiology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where her work focused on mechanisms of microbial pathogenesis and environmental reservoirs of antibiotic resistance genes. JO HANDELSMAN is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor in the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology at Yale University. She is one of the pioneers of functional metagenomics, an approach to accessing the genetic potential of unculturable bacteria in environmental samples for discovery of novel microbial products. In addition to her research program, Handelsman is also known internationally for her efforts to improve science education and increase the participation of women and minorities in science at the university level. She was President of the American Society for Microbiology in 2013-2014.