New courses in Science, Technology, and Societyhttp://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Science--Technology--and-Society/index.htm2009-11-19MIT OpenCourseWare http://ocw.mit.eduen-USContent within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/terms/terms/index.htmIf the twentieth century was the century of physics, the twenty-first promises to be the century of biology. This subject examines the cultural, political, and economic dimensions of biology in the age of genomics, biotechnological enterprise, biodiversity conservation, pharmaceutical bioprospecting, and synthetic biology. Although we examine such social concerns as bioterrorism, genetic modification, and cloning, this is not a class in bioethics, but rather an anthropological inquiry into how the substances and explanations of biology — increasingly cellular, molecular, genetic, and informatic — are changing, and with them broader ideas about the relationship between "nature" and "culture." Looking at such cultural artifacts as cell lines, biodiversity databases, and artificial life models, and using primary sources in biology, social studies of the life sciences, and literary and cinematic materials, we rephrase Erwin Schrödinger's famous 1944 question, "What Is Life?" to ask, in the early 2000s, "What Is Life Becoming?" http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Anthropology/21A-355JSpring-2009/CourseHome/index.htmHelmreich, Stefan2009-09-30T03:17:37-04:0021A.355JSTS.060Jen-USAnthropologyEvolutionary BiologyEcology, Evolution, Systematics and Population Biology, Othernarratives and metaphorsbiotechnologyintersexconstruction of identitysociology of sciencemolecular biologyracebiodiversityethicsbioprospectingeugenicsevolutionCharles Darwingeneticssynthetic biologyScience, Technology, and SocietyMIT OpenCourseWare http://ocw.mit.eduContent within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/terms/terms/index.htmThis seminar examines the history and legacy of the Cold War on American science. It explores scientists' new political roles after World War II, ranging from elite policy makers in the nuclear age to victims of domestic anti Communism. It also examines the changing institutions in which the physical sciences and social sciences were conducted during the postwar decades, investigating possible epistemic effects on forms of knowledge. The subject closes by considering the place of science in the post-Cold War era.http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Science--Technology--and-Society/STS-436Fall-2008/CourseHome/index.htmKaiser, David2009-06-19T04:25:06-04:00STS.436en-USScience, Technology, and SocietyPhysics, Generalphysicsquantum physicsmilitary-industrial complexNSANational Security AgencyCIAacademic freedomcapitalismglobalizationspace raceiron curtainSputnikdisarmamentarms raceoppenheimerHUACamerican sciencesoviet unionspyinganti-communismespionageMcCarthyismatomic energyhydrogen bombatom bombnuclear weaponsatomic bombpost-cold-war eranuclear agehistory of sciencecold warMIT OpenCourseWare http://ocw.mit.eduContent within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/terms/terms/index.htm