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Recent disease events such as SARS, H1N1 and avian influenza, and
haemorrhagic fevers have focussed policy and public concern as
never before on epidemics and so-called 'emerging infectious
diseases'. Understanding and responding to these often
unpredictable events have become major challenges for local,
national and international bodies. All too often, responses can
become restricted by implicit assumptions about who or what is to
blame that may not capture the dynamics and uncertainties at play
in the multi-scale interactions of people, animals and microbes. As
a result, policies intended to forestall epidemics may fail, and
may even further threaten health, livelihoods and human rights. The
book takes a unique approach by focusing on how different
policy-makers, scientists, and local populations construct
alternative narratives-accounts of the causes and appropriate
responses to outbreaks- about epidemics at the global, national and
local level. The contrast between emergency-oriented, top-down
responses to what are perceived as potentially global outbreaks and
longer-term approaches to diseases, such as AIDS, which may now be
considered endemic, is highlighted. Case studies-on avian
influenza, SARS, obesity, H1N1 influenza, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis,
and haemorrhagic fevers-cover a broad historical, geographical and
biological range. As this book explores, it is often the most
vulnerable members of a population-the poor, the social excluded
and the already ill-who are likely to suffer most from epidemic
diseases. At the same time, they may be less likely to benefit from
responses that may be designed from a global perspective that
neglects social, ecological and political conditions on the ground.
This book aims to bring the focus back to these marginal
populations to reveal the often unintended consequences of current
policy responses to epidemics. Important implications emerge - for
how epidemics are thought about and represented; for how
surveillance and response is designed; and for whose knowledge and
perspectives should be included. Published in association with the
Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
Recent disease events such as SARS, H1N1 and avian influenza, and
haemorrhagic fevers have focussed policy and public concern as
never before on epidemics and so-called 'emerging infectious
diseases'. Understanding and responding to these often
unpredictable events have become major challenges for local,
national and international bodies. All too often, responses can
become restricted by implicit assumptions about who or what is to
blame that may not capture the dynamics and uncertainties at play
in the multi-scale interactions of people, animals and microbes. As
a result, policies intended to forestall epidemics may fail, and
may even further threaten health, livelihoods and human rights. The
book takes a unique approach by focusing on how different
policy-makers, scientists, and local populations construct
alternative narratives-accounts of the causes and appropriate
responses to outbreaks- about epidemics at the global, national and
local level. The contrast between emergency-oriented, top-down
responses to what are perceived as potentially global outbreaks and
longer-term approaches to diseases, such as AIDS, which may now be
considered endemic, is highlighted. Case studies-on avian
influenza, SARS, obesity, H1N1 influenza, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis,
and haemorrhagic fevers-cover a broad historical, geographical and
biological range. As this book explores, it is often the most
vulnerable members of a population-the poor, the social excluded
and the already ill-who are likely to suffer most from epidemic
diseases. At the same time, they may be less likely to benefit from
responses that may be designed from a global perspective that
neglects social, ecological and political conditions on the ground.
This book aims to bring the focus back to these marginal
populations to reveal the often unintended consequences of current
policy responses to epidemics. Important implications emerge - for
how epidemics are thought about and represented; for how
surveillance and response is designed; and for whose knowledge and
perspectives should be included. Published in association with the
Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
The compelling and adventurous stories of seven pioneering
scientists who were at the forefront of what we now call climate
science. From the glaciers of the Alps to the towering cumulonimbus
clouds of the Caribbean and the unexpectedly chaotic flows of the
North Atlantic, Waters of the World is a tour through 150 years of
the history of a significant but underappreciated idea: that the
Earth has a global climate system made up of interconnected parts,
constantly changing on all scales of both time and space. A
prerequisite for the discovery of global warming and climate
change, this idea was forged by scientists studying water in its
myriad forms. This is their story. Linking the history of the
planet with the lives of those who studied it, Sarah Dry follows
the remarkable scientists who summited volcanic peaks to peer
through an atmosphere's worth of water vapor, cored mile-thick ice
sheets to uncover the Earth's ancient climate history, and flew
inside storm clouds to understand how small changes in energy can
produce both massive storms and the general circulation of the
Earth's atmosphere. Each toiled on his or her own corner of the
planetary puzzle. Gradually, their cumulative discoveries coalesced
into a unified working theory of our planet's climate. We now call
this field climate science, and in recent years it has provoked
great passions, anxieties, and warnings. But no less than the
object of its study, the science of water and climate is--and
always has been--evolving. By revealing the complexity of this
history, Waters of the World delivers a better understanding of our
planet's climate at a time when we need it the most.
When Isaac Newton died at 85 without a will on March 20, 1727, he
left a mass of disorganized papers-upwards of 8 million words-that
presented an immediate challenge to his heirs. Most of these
writings, on subjects ranging from secret alchemical formulas to
impassioned rejections of the Holy Trinity to notes and
calculations on his core discoveries in calculus, universal
gravitation, and optics, were summarily dismissed by his heirs as
"not fit to be printed." Rabidly heretical, alchemically obsessed,
and possibly even mad, the Newton presented in these papers
threatened to undermine not just his personal reputation but the
status of science itself. As a result, the private papers of the
world's greatest scientist remained hidden to all but a select few
for over two hundred years. In The Newton Papers, Sarah Dry
divulges the story of how this secret archive finally came to
light-and the complex and contradictory man it revealed. Covering a
broad swath of history, Dry explores who controlled Newton's
legacy, who helped uncover him, and what, finally, we know about
him today, nearly three hundred years after his death. The Newton
Papers presents the eclectic group of collectors, scholars, and
scientists who were motivated to track down and collect Newton's
private thoughts and obsessions, many of whom led extraordinary
lives themselves-from economist John Maynard Keynes to Abraham
Yahuda, a friend of Albert Einstein and key figure in the founding
of Israel. The 300-year history of the disappearance, dispersal and
eventual rediscovery of Newton's papers exposes how Newton has been
made, and re-made, at the hands of unique and idiosyncratic
individuals, reflecting the changing status of science over the
centuries. A riveting and untold story, The Newton Papers reveals a
man altogether stranger and more complicated than the genius of
legend.
When Isaac Newton died in 1727 without a will, he left behind a
wealth of papers that, when examined, gave his followers and his
family a deep sense of unease. Some of what they contained was
wildly heretical and alchemically obsessed, hinting at a Newton
altogether stranger and less palatable than the one enshrined in
Westminster Abbey as the paragon of English rationality. These
manuscripts had the potential to undermine not merely Newton's
reputation, but that of the scientific method he embodied. They
were immediately suppressed as "unfit to be printed," and, aside
from brief, troubling glimpses spread across centuries, the papers
would remain hidden from sight for more than seven generations. In
The Newton Papers, Sarah Dry illuminates the tangled history of
these private writings over the course of nearly three hundred
years, from the long span of Newton's own life into the present
day. The writings, on subjects ranging from secret alchemical
formulas to impassioned rejections of the Holy Trinity, would
eventually come to light as they moved through the hands of
relatives, collectors, and scholars. The story of their
disappearance, dispersal, and rediscovery is populated by a diverse
cast of characters who pursued and possessed the papers, from
economist John Maynard Keynes to controversial Jewish Biblical
scholar Abraham Yahuda. Dry's captivating narrative moves between
these varied personalities, depicting how, as they chased the image
of Newton through the thickets of his various obsessions, these men
became obsessed themselves with the allure of defining the "true"
Newton. Dry skillfully accounts for the ways with which Newton's
pursuers have approached his papers over centuries. Ultimately, The
Newton Papers shows how Newton has been made and re-made throughout
history by those seeking to reconcile the cosmic contradictions of
an extraordinarily complex man.
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