Search

This paper considers the role of the Academy of Sciences in the formation and development of space physiology. Academicians M.V. Keldysh, N.M. Sisakian, L.A. Orbeli, V.N. Chernigovsky, A.V. Lebedinsky, V.V. Parin, O.G. Gazenko, A.I. Grigoryev, and other famous Russian scientists made a significant contribution to research in the field of space life sciences. Their active participation in studies allowed manned spaceflights to be carried out. The accumulated experience of traditional physiology made it possible to solve the fundamental problems of new scientific areas related to the presence of man in space. The Institute of Biomedical Problems, which in its activities has always relied on cooperation with many institutes of the Academy of Sciences, has made a significant contribution to the development of space physiology and related sciences, which made our country one of the leaders in manned astronautics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The life sciences are increasingly being called on to produce 'socially robust' knowledge that honors the social contract between science and society. This has resulted in the emergence of a number of 'broad social issues' that reflect the ethical tensions in these social contracts. These issues are framed in a variety of ways around the world, evidenced by differences in regulations addressing them. It is important to question whether these variations are simply regulatory variations or in fact reflect a contextual approach to ethics that brings into question the existence of a system of 'global scientific ethics'. Nonetheless, within ethics education for scientists these broad social issues are often presented using this scheme of global ethics due to legacies of science ethics pedagogy. This paper suggests this may present barriers to fostering international discourse between communities of scientists, and may cause difficulties in harmonizing (and transporting) national regulations for the governance of these issues. Reinterpreting these variations according to how the content of ethical principles is attributed by communities is proposed as crucial for developing a robust international discourse. To illustrate this, the paper offers some empirical fieldwork data that considers how the concept of dual-use (as a broad social issue) was discussed within African and UK laboratories. Demonstrating that African scientists reshaped the concept of dual-use according to their own research environmental pressures and ascribed alternative content to the principles that underpin it, suggests that the limitations of a 'global scientific ethics' system for these issues cannot be ignored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the infamous case of Hwang Woo Suk, the South-Korean national hero and once celebrated pioneer of stem cell research. After briefly discussing the evolution of his publication and research scandal in Science, I will attempt to outline the main reactions that emerged within scientific and bioethical discourses on the problem of research misconduct in contemporary biosciences. What were the ethical lapses in his research? What kind of research misconduct has been identified? How this kind of misconduct affects scientific integrity? How to avoid it? Focusing on these questions, the paper interprets the Hwang’s case as a case study that might shed light on the worst aspects of highstakes global science. This case presents a group of problems that might endanger scientific integrity and public trust. Regulatory oversight, ethical requirements and institutional safeguards are often viewed by the scientific community as merely decelerating scientific progress and causing delays in the application of treatments. The Hwang’s case represents how unimpeded progress works in contemporary science. Thus, the case might shed light on the often neglected benefits of “the social control of science”. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding potential genetic factors in disease or development of personalised e-Health solutions require scientists to access a multitude of data and compute resources across the Internet from functional genomics resources through to epidemiological studies. The Grid paradigm provides a compelling model whereby seamless access to these resources can be achieved. However, the acceptance of Grid technologies in this domain by researchers and resource owners must satisfy particular constraints from this community — two of the most critical of these constraints being advanced security and usability. In this paper we show how the Internet2 Shibboleth technology combined with advanced authorisation infrastructures can help address these constraints. We demonstrate the viability of this approach through a selection of case studies across the complete life science spectrum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A sound epistemological foundation for biological inquiry comes, in part, from application of valid statistical procedures. This tenet is widely appreciated by scientists studying the new realm of high-dimensional biology, or 'omic' research, which involves multiplicity at unprecedented scales. Many papers aimed at the high-dimensional biology community describe the development or application of statistical techniques. The validity of many of these is questionable, and a shared understanding about the epistemological foundations of the statistical methods themselves seems to be lacking. Here we offer a framework in which the epistemological foundation of proposed statistical methods can be evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the 90th birthday celebration of Academician, Igor S. Magura who was born on November 22, 1928. Topics discussed include his educational and professional qualifications, career development and his research papers and his biggest encirclement is to detect the deterministic behavior of neuronal systems from stochastic noise.

The article reports on the inquiry of a research team led by Tae Kook Kim of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in Taejon on two articles published in "Science and Nature Chemical Biology" on imaging living cells. Tae Kook Kim reported a new method for imaging living cells that used magnetized nanoparticles. KAIST's investigation is still going but has released some preliminary findings that the scientific truth of the papers was in question. The journal's editor said that the KAIST investigation team told him that the authors wanted to pull back the paper as soon as possible.

The article offers information to biologists who wish to submit their papers to the journal "Nature." The journal aspires to publish papers that are not only interesting and thought-provoking, but reproducible and useful. To be published, materials and reagents need to be carefully described and readily available to interested scientists.

The article presents excerpts of research papers published in previous issues of the journal "Nature." An article published in the March 23, 1905 issue of the journal discussed the contents of the book "Die Kalahari." Another article published in the March 26, 1955 issue of the journal presented the views of scientist J.R. Oppenheimer on issues related to communication.

Discusses the importance of publishing research papers. Challenges faced by the researcher in publishing the research; Need to convince peer reviewers of the contribution of the research to the collective knowledge; Achievement of a researcher if his or her work get published.