This monograph seeks to show the level of involvement of the German academic world with Nazi postulates. Reading the articles, we can deduce that renowned scientists participated in the policies of the Third Reich, fully integrated within Nazi ideology, which resulted in the death and forced displacement of millions of people. This active and often even enthusiastic participation should motivate a deeper reflection on how educated minds of exceptional scientific value were abducted by the Nazi postulates, warning us against the resurgence of totalitarian and far-right movements in the world and thus redoubling our efforts to combat them from the very first moment.
{"title":"Science and Nazism. The unconfessed collaboration of scientists with National Socialism","authors":"M. Domínguez","doi":"10.7203/METODE.10.16468","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7203/METODE.10.16468","url":null,"abstract":"This monograph seeks to show the level of involvement of the German academic world with Nazi postulates. Reading the articles, we can deduce that renowned scientists participated in the policies of the Third Reich, fully integrated within Nazi ideology, which resulted in the death and forced displacement of millions of people. This active and often even enthusiastic participation should motivate a deeper reflection on how educated minds of exceptional scientific value were abducted by the Nazi postulates, warning us against the resurgence of totalitarian and far-right movements in the world and thus redoubling our efforts to combat them from the very first moment.","PeriodicalId":41648,"journal":{"name":"Metode Science Studies Journal","volume":"1 1","pages":"126-127"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2020-01-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43231081","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Exploring Nazism and its relationship with science and scientists is undoubtedly one of the most interesting research lines for historians studying Germany, scientists, and the elites. Indeed, for a long time «Nazi science» was considered the work of a minority of sages on the edge of madness and perversion, committed to political atrocities, without it affecting the rest of the German scientific landscape. But these assertions were brought down by numerous studies. On the one hand, only a negligible part of scientists refused to work for Nazi Germany: less than 1 % of university graduates resigned after the Machtergreifung , meaning that 99 % of university professors continued working in Nazified institutions. Anthropologists, physicians, historians, sociologists, linguists, and geographers benefited from research programmes that turned their disciplines into «legitimising sciences», i.e., «combatant sciences». The more or less certified commitment of many prominent scientific figures, such as the psychiatrist Johann Asperger or the physicist Werner Heisenberg, is not that surprising when we contextualise it with the broader history of elites. The scientific field was no exception in 1930s Germany: 1990s social history proved that the elites’ adherence to the National Socialist party and the Nazi racial determinism was connected to the great appeal of Nazi ideology’s appeasing belief system, but also to the existence of elitist organisations that allowed these specific circles to find a place for entre-soi socialisation and self-preservation. This is one of the great paradoxes of 1990s historiography. After mercilessly but fairly responding to the problems in Hannah Arendt’s work regarding Nazi «totalitarianism», social historiography tended to quietly confirm that National Socialism came to power by following the electoral strategy of a popular party, but with the support of extremely well-educated militant elites. That is how the party adapted to the most significant characteristic of totalitarian regimes. In the eyes of German philosophy, this structure was considered an unprecedented alliance between the masses and the elite. Deep down, how else can we define institutions such as the SS, the Ahnenerbe, or the Sicherheitsdienst? Or the Volkswissenschaftliche Arbeitskreis (“Population Ethnoscience Work Circle”), which grouped university specialists and SS officers to study the populations of some Eastern European territories with the aim to legitimise their conquest? Nazi science is not just a collection of skulls from exterminated Jewish citizens, nor is it a group of experts condemning entire populations like the Krymchak – a Jewish ethnic group from the Caucasus –, or indulgent speeches at university ceremonies, or inhumane medical experiments like submerging Soviet officers into freezing water in concentration camps. Nazi science is equivalent to daily acceptance, to the slow and thorough penetration of resignation and the commitment to an
{"title":"Nazism, science, and utopia","authors":"Christian Ingrao","doi":"10.7203/METODE.10.16463","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7203/METODE.10.16463","url":null,"abstract":"Exploring Nazism and its relationship with science and scientists is undoubtedly one of the most interesting research lines for historians studying Germany, scientists, and the elites. Indeed, for a long time «Nazi science» was considered the work of a minority of sages on the edge of madness and perversion, committed to political atrocities, without it affecting the rest of the German scientific landscape. But these assertions were brought down by numerous studies. On the one hand, only a negligible part of scientists refused to work for Nazi Germany: less than 1 % of university graduates resigned after the Machtergreifung , meaning that 99 % of university professors continued working in Nazified institutions. Anthropologists, physicians, historians, sociologists, linguists, and geographers benefited from research programmes that turned their disciplines into «legitimising sciences», i.e., «combatant sciences». The more or less certified commitment of many prominent scientific figures, such as the psychiatrist Johann Asperger or the physicist Werner Heisenberg, is not that surprising when we contextualise it with the broader history of elites. The scientific field was no exception in 1930s Germany: 1990s social history proved that the elites’ adherence to the National Socialist party and the Nazi racial determinism was connected to the great appeal of Nazi ideology’s appeasing belief system, but also to the existence of elitist organisations that allowed these specific circles to find a place for entre-soi socialisation and self-preservation. This is one of the great paradoxes of 1990s historiography. After mercilessly but fairly responding to the problems in Hannah Arendt’s work regarding Nazi «totalitarianism», social historiography tended to quietly confirm that National Socialism came to power by following the electoral strategy of a popular party, but with the support of extremely well-educated militant elites. That is how the party adapted to the most significant characteristic of totalitarian regimes. In the eyes of German philosophy, this structure was considered an unprecedented alliance between the masses and the elite. Deep down, how else can we define institutions such as the SS, the Ahnenerbe, or the Sicherheitsdienst? Or the Volkswissenschaftliche Arbeitskreis (“Population Ethnoscience Work Circle”), which grouped university specialists and SS officers to study the populations of some Eastern European territories with the aim to legitimise their conquest? Nazi science is not just a collection of skulls from exterminated Jewish citizens, nor is it a group of experts condemning entire populations like the Krymchak – a Jewish ethnic group from the Caucasus –, or indulgent speeches at university ceremonies, or inhumane medical experiments like submerging Soviet officers into freezing water in concentration camps. Nazi science is equivalent to daily acceptance, to the slow and thorough penetration of resignation and the commitment to an","PeriodicalId":41648,"journal":{"name":"Metode Science Studies Journal","volume":"1 1","pages":"5-5"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2020-01-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41533135","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In the following pages, we propose a diachronic journey from ancient times to the present. The different authors approach history from twenty-first century lines of research, and bioanthropological and genetic heritage is the subject of the different studies, as well as the vehicle for understanding the memory of past societies. In memory of Jose Delfin Villalain Blanco, Professor of Legal Medicine of the University of Valencia
{"title":"The memory of bones. Science at the service of history","authors":"E. G. Prósper, Manuel Polo Cerdá","doi":"10.7203/METODE.10.16471","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7203/METODE.10.16471","url":null,"abstract":"In the following pages, we propose a diachronic journey from ancient times to the present. The different authors approach history from twenty-first century lines of research, and bioanthropological and genetic heritage is the subject of the different studies, as well as the vehicle for understanding the memory of past societies. \u0000In memory of Jose Delfin Villalain Blanco, Professor of Legal Medicine of the University of Valencia","PeriodicalId":41648,"journal":{"name":"Metode Science Studies Journal","volume":"1 1","pages":"75-75"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2020-01-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48558494","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
El gran aumento de la poblacion mundial previsto para este siglo obligara a incrementar la produccion agricola de forma proporcional para asegurar la alimentacion. Sin embargo, actualmente la sociedad demanda nuevos metodos de produccion mas sostenibles y respetuosos con el medio ambiente. Para poder obtener este incremento sostenible es necesario hacer uso de las nuevas herramientas biotecnologicas, como la edicion genica o la biologia sintetica, y del conocimiento generado por los investigadores durante anos. El microbioma del suelo esta emergiendo como una poderosa herramienta biotecnologica. Estos microorganismos beneficiosos promueven el crecimiento vegetal a traves del aporte de nutrientes, produccion de hormonas o metabolitos secundarios. Por ello, el uso de estos microrganismos ayudara a incrementar la produccion agricola de forma sostenible.
{"title":"Producir más alimentos de forma sostenible es posible","authors":"J. D. Del Pozo","doi":"10.7203/metode.11.15576","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.11.15576","url":null,"abstract":"El gran aumento de la poblacion mundial previsto para este siglo obligara a incrementar la produccion agricola de forma proporcional para asegurar la alimentacion. Sin embargo, actualmente la sociedad demanda nuevos metodos de produccion mas sostenibles y respetuosos con el medio ambiente. Para poder obtener este incremento sostenible es necesario hacer uso de las nuevas herramientas biotecnologicas, como la edicion genica o la biologia sintetica, y del conocimiento generado por los investigadores durante anos. El microbioma del suelo esta emergiendo como una poderosa herramienta biotecnologica. Estos microorganismos beneficiosos promueven el crecimiento vegetal a traves del aporte de nutrientes, produccion de hormonas o metabolitos secundarios. Por ello, el uso de estos microrganismos ayudara a incrementar la produccion agricola de forma sostenible.","PeriodicalId":41648,"journal":{"name":"Metode Science Studies Journal","volume":"1 1","pages":"59-65"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2020-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71306038","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
La agricultura del siglo XXI se enfrenta a grandes desafios a los que es necesario responder de forma urgente. En la ultima decada se han desarrollado nuevas tecnologias de mejora genetica que pueden contribuir a afrontar estos retos. Estas tecnologias no son solo mas precisas y eficientes, sino tambien mas sencillas y accesibles, lo que facilitara una progresiva democratizacion de la biotecnologia agraria. En este articulo analizamos el desarrollo de la agricultura del futuro bajo las premisas de una democratizacion tecnologica y una relajacion regulatoria. En este escenario cabria esperar un aumento de la diversidad de variedades y especies cultivadas, un fuerte desarrollo de cultivos biofactoria y, a mas largo plazo, la aparicion de cultivos inteligentes con capacidades aumentadas.
{"title":"De agricultoras a bioingenieras: sembrando genes, cosechando moléculas.","authors":"Diego Orzáez","doi":"10.7203/metode.11.15601","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.11.15601","url":null,"abstract":"La agricultura del siglo XXI se enfrenta a grandes desafios a los que es necesario responder de forma urgente. En la ultima decada se han desarrollado nuevas tecnologias de mejora genetica que pueden contribuir a afrontar estos retos. Estas tecnologias no son solo mas precisas y eficientes, sino tambien mas sencillas y accesibles, lo que facilitara una progresiva democratizacion de la biotecnologia agraria. En este articulo analizamos el desarrollo de la agricultura del futuro bajo las premisas de una democratizacion tecnologica y una relajacion regulatoria. En este escenario cabria esperar un aumento de la diversidad de variedades y especies cultivadas, un fuerte desarrollo de cultivos biofactoria y, a mas largo plazo, la aparicion de cultivos inteligentes con capacidades aumentadas.","PeriodicalId":41648,"journal":{"name":"Metode Science Studies Journal","volume":"1 1","pages":"51-57"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2020-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71306049","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The extraordinary biodiversity of Earth is currently threatened by the destruction of natural habitats, climate change, invasive species, and overexploitation. More and more, ecologists are starting to recognise that preserving the maximum number of species is insufficient. If we want to preserve functional ecosystems for the future and continue to enjoy their benefits, we must also protect phylogenetic and functional diversity. But to do this, it is not enough to delimit protected areas, we must also learn to combine the exploitation of resources with the preservation of key elements of biodiversity that guarantee the stability and functioning of ecosystems.
{"title":"El futur de la biodiversitat al planeta Terra","authors":"D. Sol","doi":"10.7203/metode.10.14601","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.10.14601","url":null,"abstract":"The extraordinary biodiversity of Earth is currently threatened by the destruction of natural habitats, climate change, invasive species, and overexploitation. More and more, ecologists are starting to recognise that preserving the maximum number of species is insufficient. If we want to preserve functional ecosystems for the future and continue to enjoy their benefits, we must also protect phylogenetic and functional diversity. But to do this, it is not enough to delimit protected areas, we must also learn to combine the exploitation of resources with the preservation of key elements of biodiversity that guarantee the stability and functioning of ecosystems.","PeriodicalId":41648,"journal":{"name":"Metode Science Studies Journal","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2019-12-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71305640","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria currently represent one of the main public health problems and recent predictions indicate that they will soon become the world’s leading cause of death. The ill-fated journey from the introduction of antibiotics into clinical practice to the current threat of a post-antibiotic era has run its course in just a few decades. Thus, the evolution of antibiotic resistance is probably the most spectacular example of evolution of a biological system innovation that we have had the opportunity to observe in real time. This text discusses some of the evolutionary and molecular keys that have allowed bacteria to go down this path.
{"title":"Resistencia a antibióticos: esquivando balas mágicas","authors":"Á. San Millán","doi":"10.7203/metode.10.14838","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.10.14838","url":null,"abstract":"Antibiotic-resistant bacteria currently represent one of the main public health problems and recent predictions indicate that they will soon become the world’s leading cause of death. The ill-fated journey from the introduction of antibiotics into clinical practice to the current threat of a post-antibiotic era has run its course in just a few decades. Thus, the evolution of antibiotic resistance is probably the most spectacular example of evolution of a biological system innovation that we have had the opportunity to observe in real time. This text discusses some of the evolutionary and molecular keys that have allowed bacteria to go down this path.","PeriodicalId":41648,"journal":{"name":"Metode Science Studies Journal","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2019-12-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71305651","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The 1986 accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine caused the worst human-caused release of radioactive material in history. Initial forecasts considered that the area affected by radioactive contamination would be devoid of life for millennia. Three decades later, the biodiversity of the area has completely recovered and all the large mammals of Eastern Europe, as well as over 200 bird species, now live in Chernobyl. The mechanisms that allow organisms to live in this area are still the subject of study and controversy. There is currently no scientific consensus on the medium- and long-term impact of radiation on the nature of the area. Thus, basic research is required in Chernobyl to understand the effects that radioactive contamination had on biodiversity there. The area is also an excellent natural laboratory for studying eco-evolutionary processes in response to human activity.
{"title":"Chernobyl: de desierto nuclear a laboratorio evolutivo","authors":"Germán Orizaola","doi":"10.7203/metode.10.15682","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.10.15682","url":null,"abstract":"The 1986 accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine caused the worst human-caused release of radioactive material in history. Initial forecasts considered that the area affected by radioactive contamination would be devoid of life for millennia. Three decades later, the biodiversity of the area has completely recovered and all the large mammals of Eastern Europe, as well as over 200 bird species, now live in Chernobyl. The mechanisms that allow organisms to live in this area are still the subject of study and controversy. There is currently no scientific consensus on the medium- and long-term impact of radiation on the nature of the area. Thus, basic research is required in Chernobyl to understand the effects that radioactive contamination had on biodiversity there. The area is also an excellent natural laboratory for studying eco-evolutionary processes in response to human activity.","PeriodicalId":41648,"journal":{"name":"Metode Science Studies Journal","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2019-12-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71305702","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Understanding the evolution and function of structures in the past is key to understanding current biodiversity. This paper shows how an evolutionary perspective can help us to understand supracondylar syndrome. This pathology is caused by compression of the median nerve and/or the brachial artery in the arm and affects a significant percentage of the human population. We propose that this neuropathy is an atavism (the reappearance of an ancestral characteristic that had been lost along our evolutionary lineage) of the entepicondylar foramen: a channel present at the lower end of the humerus through which the brachial artery and the median nerve pass in some mammals. The origin of the foramen has been identified in the first tetrapods, and we propose that its original function could be linked to the evolutionary innovation of the cervical brachial plexus as well as the subsequent evolution of the entepicondylar foramen in amniotes – a group of terrestrial vertebrates that encompasses current reptiles and amphibians – and that it may be vestigial.
{"title":"Una visión evolutiva del síndrome supracondilar. Sobre atavismos y la aparición de los primeros tetrápodos","authors":"Borja Figueirido","doi":"10.7203/metode.10.15032","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.10.15032","url":null,"abstract":"Understanding the evolution and function of structures in the past is key to understanding current biodiversity. This paper shows how an evolutionary perspective can help us to understand supracondylar syndrome. This pathology is caused by compression of the median nerve and/or the brachial artery in the arm and affects a significant percentage of the human population. We propose that this neuropathy is an atavism (the reappearance of an ancestral characteristic that had been lost along our evolutionary lineage) of the entepicondylar foramen: a channel present at the lower end of the humerus through which the brachial artery and the median nerve pass in some mammals. The origin of the foramen has been identified in the first tetrapods, and we propose that its original function could be linked to the evolutionary innovation of the cervical brachial plexus as well as the subsequent evolution of the entepicondylar foramen in amniotes – a group of terrestrial vertebrates that encompasses current reptiles and amphibians – and that it may be vestigial. ","PeriodicalId":41648,"journal":{"name":"Metode Science Studies Journal","volume":"151 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2019-12-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71305687","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
When asked about cancer, most would first think of it as a devastating disease. Some might add that lifestyle (e.g., smoking) or environmental pollution has something to do with it, but also that it tends to occur in old people. Cancer is indeed one of the most common causes of death in humans, and its incidence increases with age. Yet, focusing on our own species, we tend to overlook something very elementary: cancer is not unique to humans. In fact, it is a phenomenon that unifies diverse branches of the tree of life. Exploring the diversity of ways in which different organisms cope with it can lend us novel insights on cancer. In turn, by acknowledging cancer as a selective pressure, we can better understand the evolution of the biodiversity that surrounds us.
{"title":"Diverse ways to think about cancer: What can we learn about cancer by studying it across the tree of life?","authors":"E. Erten, H. Kokko","doi":"10.7203/metode.10.14593","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.10.14593","url":null,"abstract":"When asked about cancer, most would first think of it as a devastating disease. Some might add that lifestyle (e.g., smoking) or environmental pollution has something to do with it, but also that it tends to occur in old people. Cancer is indeed one of the most common causes of death in humans, and its incidence increases with age. Yet, focusing on our own species, we tend to overlook something very elementary: cancer is not unique to humans. In fact, it is a phenomenon that unifies diverse branches of the tree of life. Exploring the diversity of ways in which different organisms cope with it can lend us novel insights on cancer. In turn, by acknowledging cancer as a selective pressure, we can better understand the evolution of the biodiversity that surrounds us.","PeriodicalId":41648,"journal":{"name":"Metode Science Studies Journal","volume":"1 1","pages":"201-205"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2019-12-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42689730","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}