RESUMOS

 Resumos dos artigos interessantes que chegam nas newsletters.

Revista Brasileira de História da Ciência, Rio de Janeiro, v. 13, n. 2, p. 201-211, jul |dez 2020

Ciência para o grande público na imprensa brasileira: o caso das colunas científicas do Jornal A Manhã

LUIZ MORS CABRAL

RESUMO Este artigo analisa a trajetória das colunas de divulgação científica publicadas no Jornal carioca A Manhã, de 1941 a 1949, mapeando seus temas, identificando seus autores, e analisando a importância e os desdobramentos desse espaço para a divulgação científica brasileira.

Palavras-chave divulgação científica – jornais – Brasil

March 15 2021

Universality of citation distributions- a new understanding 

Michael Golosovsky 

Quantitative Science Studies 1–27.

https://doi.org/10.1162/qss_a_00127 PD

Universality of scaled citation distributions was claimed a decade ago (F. Radicchi, S. Fortunato, and C. Castellano, PNAS, 105(45), 17268 (2008)) but its theoretical justification has been lacking so far. Here, we study citation distributions for three disciplines- Physics, Economics, and Mathematics- and assess them using our explanatory model of citation dynamics. The model posits that the citation count of a paper is determined by its fitness- the attribute, which, for most papers, is set at the moment of publication. In addition, the papers’ citation count is related to the process by which the knowledge about this paper propagates in the scientific community. Our measurements indicate that the fitness distribution for different disciplines is nearly identical and can be approximated by the log-normal distribution, while the viral propagation process is discipline-specific. The model explains which sets of citation distributions can be scaled and which can not. In particular, we show that the near-universal shape of the citation distributions for different disciplines and for different citation years traces its origin to the nearly universal fitness distribution, while deviations from this shape are associated with the discipline-specific citation dynamics of papers.

Citation distribution, Citation dynamics, Fitness

March 15 2021

Matthew Effects in Science and the Serial Diffusion of Ideas Testing Old Ideas with New Methods 

Rudolf Farys 

,

 

Tobias Wolbring 

Quantitative Science Studies 1–36.

https://doi.org/10.1162/qss_a_00129

The Matthew effect has become a standard concept in science studies and beyond to describe processes of cumulative advantage. Despite its wide success, a rigorous quantitative analysis for Merton’s original case for Matthew effects – the Nobel Prize – is still missing. This paper aims to fill this gap by exploring the causal effect of the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel (hereafter the Nobel Prize in Economics). Furthermore, we test another of Merton’s ideas: successful papers can draw attention to cited references leading to a serial diffusion of ideas. Based on the complete Web of Science 1900–2011, we estimate the causal effects of Nobel Prizes compared to a synthetic control group which we constructed by combining different matching techniques. We find clear evidence for a Matthew effect upon citation impacts, especially for papers published within five years before the award. Further, scholars from the focal field of the award are particularly receptive to the award signal. In contrast to that, we find no evidence that the Nobel Prize causes a serial diffusion of ideas. Papers cited by future Nobel laureates do not gain in citation impact after the award.

Matthew effect, Nobel Prize, Citations, Diffusion, Matching, Longitudinal Modeling

Correcting Misperceptions About Genetically Modified Food on Social Media: Examining the Impact of Experts, Social Media Heuristics, and the Gateway Belief Model

Leticia Bode, Emily K. Vraga, Melissa Tully

First Published December 24, 2020 

https://doi.org/10.1177/1075547020981375

We experimentally test whether expert organizations on social media can correct misperceptions of the scientific consensus on the safety of genetically modified (GM) food for human consumption, as well as what role social media cues, in the form of “likes,” play in that process. We find expert organizations highlighting scientific consensus on GM food safety reduces consensus misperceptions among the public, leading to lower GM misperceptions and boosting related consumption behaviors in line with the gateway belief model. Expert organizations’ credibility may increase as a result of correction, but popularity cues do not seem to affect misperceptions or credibility.

Keywords genetically modified food, misinformation, social media, credibility, heuristics, gateway belief model

Revolutions in the head: Darwin, Malthus and Robert M. Young

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 March 2021

James A. Secord

The late 1960s witnessed a key conjunction between political activism and the history of science. Science, whether seen as a touchstone of rationality or of oppression, was fundamental to all sides in the era of the Vietnam War. This essay examines the historian Robert Maxwell Young's turn to Marxism and radical politics during this period, especially his widely cited account of the ‘common context’ of nineteenth-century biological and social theorizing, which demonstrated the centrality of Thomas Robert Malthus's writings on population for Charles Darwin's formulation of the theory of evolution by natural selection. From Young's perspective, this history was bound up with pressing contemporary issues: ideologies of class and race in neo-Darwinian evolutionary theory, the revival of Malthusian population control, and the role of science in military conflict. The aim was to provide a basis for political action – the ‘head revolution’ that would accompany radical social change. The radical force of Young's argument was blunted in subsequent decades by disciplinary developments within history of science, including the emergence of specialist Darwin studies, a focus on practice and the changing political associations of the history of ideas. Young's engaged standpoint, however, has remained influential even as historians moved from understanding science as ideology to science as work.

• Critical theory of technology and actor-network theory in the examination of techno-empowered online collaborative translation practice

  TED Talks on the Amara subtitle platform as a case study

• Author(s): Szu-Wen Kung
• Source: Babel, Volume 67, Issue 1, Apr 2021, p. 75 - 98
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.00206.kun
• • Version of Record published : 02 Apr 2021

While “turns” in translation studies have long been embracing the theoretical complexity integrated into the discussion of various translation phenomena, the theorisation of the use of technology and its impact on translation remain under-represented in scholarly literature of the field (O’Hagan 2016). This article considers the influence of technology on translation and reflects on the question as to how the interactive relationship between technology and translation may be theoretically conceptualised. Taking an approach informed by sociological theory, this article combines critical theory of technology (CTT) and actor-network theory (ANT) to examine the relationship between technology and translation, as well as the translation players involved. With the advent of Web 2.0, techno-empowered collaborative translation in the online TED Talks environment using Amara subtitling platform becomes a useful locale for discussion. Through a participant-observation approach, that is, with the author’s experience in the online translation environment, this article aims to explore how the technological elements in translation often described as “emergent property from new forms of translation practice” (Cronin 2010, 1) may offer critical insights from an epistemological perspective, especially the reciprocity between technology and its users.

Keyword(s): actor-network theory , approches sociologiques , collaborative translation , critical theory of technology , human-technology interaction , interaction homme-technologie , théorie critique de la technologie , théorie de l’acteur réseau , traduction collaborative , traduction et technologie and translation and technology

Atmospheres of science: Experiencing scientific mobility

Sarah R Davies

https://doi.org/10.1177/0306312720953520

This article uses notions of the atmospheric to engage with empirical material concerned with international mobility in science. It draws on recent conceptual work on atmospheres that frames them as allowing access to the affective qualities of everyday life and as ‘productively nebulous’: atmospheres exist between the local and the globally diffuse, the emergent and the staged, the intangible and the brutally present. Using atmospheric thinking, I devise ‘apparatuses of attunement’ to capture elusive aspects of life in science, as discussed in interviews with natural scientists about their experiences of international mobility. In particular I use ideas of the situation, atmospheric threads, and the staging of atmospheres to argue that scientists represent themselves as existing in between the particular and the general: they are never wholly at the mercy of the structures and expectations of globalized science, but are also never not in the grip of them. In closing I reflect on what this analysis reveals about the affective qualities of contemporary science, the forms of life being nurtured by the norms and expectations of research (policy), and the kinds of agency available to (these) scientists. The aim of the article is thus twofold: to demonstrate how concepts of atmospheres can be put to work in STS, and to contribute to research on international mobility in science and contemporary scientific careers.

Keywords international mobility, atmospheres, academic capitalism, affect

The imagined scientist of science governance

Heidrun Åm, Gisle Solbu, Knut H Sørensen

https://doi.org/10.1177/0306312720962573

In this article, we introduce the concept of ‘the imagined scientist’. It inverts previous discussions of the public as an imagined community with a knowledge deficit, to examine imagined scientists representing an actor (or group of actors) with deficits in knowledge or concern about social issues. We study how Norwegian science policymakers, on the one hand, and biotechnologists and nanotechnologists, on the other, articulate and engage with social responsibility. The article identifies what we call ‘deficit trouble’, when there is poor alignment of the deficits of different imagined scientists, which may lead to a stalemate in the communication between science policymakers and scientists. We argue that ‘the imagined scientist’ can function as sensitizing concept for further studies of science governance across a range of topics, bringing into view how different deficit logics operate in science policy.

Keywords biotechnology, deficits, imagined scientist, nanotechnology, science policy, responsible research and innovation

The financial market of ideas: A theory of academic social media

Alessandro Delfanti

https://doi.org/10.1177/0306312720966649

Millions of scholars use academic social media to share their work and construct themselves as legitimate and productive workers. An analysis of Academia.edu updates ideas about science as a ‘marketplace of ideas’. Scholarly communication via social media is best conceptualized as a ‘financial market of ideas’ through which academic value is assigned to publications and researchers. Academic social media allow for the inclusion of scholarly objects such as preprint articles, which exceed traditional accounting systems in scholarly communication. Their functioning is based on a valorization of derived qualities, as their algorithms analyze social interactions on the platform rather than the content of scholarship. They are also oriented toward the future in their use of data analytics to predict research outcomes.

Keywords academic labor, algorithms, scholarly communication, social media, social studies of finance

Self-help for learned journals: Scientific societies and the commerce of publishing in the 1950s

Aileen Fyfe

https://doi.org/10.1177/0073275321999901

In the decades after the Second World War, learned society publishers struggled to cope with the expanding output of scientific research and the increased involvement of commercial publishers in the business of publishing research journals. Could learned society journals survive economically in the postwar world, against this competition? Or was the emergence of a sales-based commercial model of publishing – in contrast to the traditional model of subsidized journal publishing – an opportunity to transform the often-fragile finances of learned societies? But there was also an existential threat: if commercial firms could successfully publish scientific journals, were learned society publishers no longer needed? This paper investigates how British learned society publishers adjusted to the new economic realities of the postwar world, through an investigation of the activities organized by the Royal Society of London and the Nuffield Foundation, culminating in the 1963 report Self-Help for Learned Journals. It reveals the postwar decades as the time when scientific research became something to be commodified and sold to libraries, rather than circulated as part of a scholarly mission. It will be essential reading for all those campaigning to transition academic publishing – including learned society publishing – away from the sales-based model once again.

Keywords Scientific journals, scientific societies, Britain, twentieth century, commerce, open access, academic publishing, scholarly communication

Os táxons biológicos têm essências?

• Jerzy A. BrzozowskiUFSC

Palavras-chave: Essencialismo, Táxons biológicos, Nomenclatura filogenética

Resumo

Segundo uma concepção bastante popularizada na filosofia a partir do trabalho de Saul Kripke, propriedades essenciais seriam aquelas que um indivíduo ou grupo manifesta em todos mundos possíveis nos quais existe. Neste artigo, tento responder à questão de se as definições filogenéticas – um novo modelo para a taxonomia que toma corpo com o Código Internacional de Nomenclatura Filogenética (PhyloCode) – expressam propriedades essenciais dos táxons biológicos. Para tanto, analisarei a proposta de Joseph LaPorte, que argumenta em favor da leitura essencialista das definições tipológicas. Defenderei uma resposta negativa à pergunta do título, a partir de argumentos de uma reconstrução do argumento essencialista realizada por Helen Steward.

Brzozowski, J. A. (2021). Os táxons biológicos têm essências?. Revista Helius, 3(2, fasc. 1), 171-199. Recuperado de //helius.uvanet.br/index.php/helius/article/view/211

Leibniz e a Biologia: notas introdutórias

• William de Siqueira PiauíUFS
• Marcos Deyvinson DamacenaUFS

Palavras-chave: Leibniz, Biologia, História Natural, Teologia Natural, Máquinas orgânicas

Resumo

Neste artigo, pretendemos retomar alguns pontos que já tratamos em um trabalho anterior que utilizava a história da filosofia e a história da ciência para discutir as ameaças que um determinado tipo de ensino religioso representava para a ciência. Além disso, iremos atentar e aprofundar, desta vez, a visão que Leibniz tinha acerca do que hoje chamamos de Biologia. Para Leibniz, como já mencionamos em artigo anterior, a biologia era identificada como um tipo específico de ciência histórica: a história natural. Mostraremos também como Leibniz não abandona suas teses metafísicas mesmo quando trata de história natural – que já denominamos em outros trabalhos de Teologia Natural. Dito isso, nosso trabalho assumirá a forma de notas introdutórias e estará dividido nos seguintes movimentos, nota I, Fazendo o discurso sobre a vida se tornar mais racional, nota II, História natural e máquinas orgânicas e, nota III, Máquinas orgânicas com identidade moral.

Frezzatti Jr. , W. A. (2021). A mecânica do desenvolvimento de Roux: a insuficiência da luta pela existência de Darwin. Revista Helius, 3(2, fasc. 2), 744-787. Recuperado de //helius.uvanet.br/index.php/helius/article/view/200

Hume e a Biologia: algumas notas

• Andreh Sabino RibeiroUAB/UECE

Palavras-chave: David Hume, Filosofia da Biologia, Filosofia da Natureza, Antropologia Filosófica

Resumo

O objetivo deste artigo é identificar os vínculos mais significativos de David Hume com a Biologia. Frequentemente, isso é feito a partir de uma análise comparativa entre o filósofo escocês e Charles Darwin. Adotando uma abordagem mais ampla, ainda que sem a pretensão de ser exaustiva, levarei em conta outros aspectos da temática. Primeiramente, apresentarei brevemente a relação direta de Hume com os estudos biológicos em geral. Depois, examinarei a concepção humeana de natureza e de natureza humana, dada a pertinência desses termos para os naturalistas. Por fim, discutirei a crítica de Hume ao chamado argumento do desígnio. Defendo que pontos de contato podem ser traçados entre Hume e o darwinismo a partir de uma postura antiteleológica em comum.

Ribeiro, A. S. (2021). Hume e a Biologia: algumas notas. Revista Helius, 3(2, fasc. 1), 487-507. Recuperado de //helius.uvanet.br/index.php/helius/article/view/162

O papel dos fósseis na teoria da progressão dos animais de Lamarck

• Lilian Al-Chueyr Pereira MartinsUSP

Palavras-chave: Lamarck, Empirismo, Evolucionismo, Geologia, Século XIX

Resumo

Sabe-se que a teoria “evolutiva” de Lamarck proposta entre 1800 e 1820 teve um baixo impacto e uma mínima aceitação em sua época. Ela foi considerada especulativa e Lamarck tem sido criticado por não ter oferecido uma fundamentação empírica para vários aspectos de sua teoria. Uma das críticas feitas às teorias evolutivas na época era a ausência de formas intermediárias entre espécies fósseis e atuais. O objetivo do presente artigo é averiguar de que modo os fósseis foram utilizados para fundamentar as mudanças geológicas, a gradação dos animais ou mesmo a transformação das espécies na teoria de Lamarck. Além disso, se as críticas mencionadas acima se aplicam à sua proposta. Esta pesquisa levou à conclusão de que os estudos de Lamarck sobre os fósseis contribuíram para o seu conhecimento na época. Do ponto de vista empírico, eles forneceram fundamentação para alguns aspectos de sua teoria como as mudanças na crosta terrestre. Por outro lado, a semelhança entre formas fósseis e viventes sugeriu que as espécies poderiam ter se modificado e não se extinguido. Porém, nas obras em que apresentou sua teoria evolutiva relacionada aos animais, Lamarck praticamente não retomou essas evidências e nem as explorou detalhadamente. Ou seja, não utilizou fatos que lhe eram acessíveis, na época, e que teriam sido de grande importância para a fundamentação de sua teoria. Nesse sentido, algumas das críticas recebidas eram cabíveis.

Martins, L. A.-C. P. (2021). O papel dos fósseis na teoria da progressão dos animais de Lamarck. Revista Helius, 3(2, fasc. 1), 563-598. Recuperado de //helius.uvanet.br/index.php/helius/article/view/197

Kuhn e a biologia evolutiva de Darwin

• Robinson GuitarrariUFRRJ
• Paulo PirozelliUSP

Palavras-chave: Thomas Kuhn, Darwin, Progresso, Evolução, Desenvolvimento Científico

Resumo

Thomas Kuhn usou a teoria da evolução para discutir o desenvolvimento científico em dois momentos de sua produção filosófica: em A estrutura das revoluções científicas, de 1962 (1970a), e em alguns artigos escritos no início dos anos 1990. O objetivo deste artigo é examinar os diferentes propósitos de cada uma dessas aproximações. Entendemos que, na primeira ocasião, o apelo à teoria da evolução tem duas finalidades: mostrar a plausibilidade de uma concepção filosófica de progresso científico sem um fim prefixado; e servir como modelo para uma concepção de desenvolvimento científico. No segundo momento em que tematiza o ponto, Kuhn expande a analogia evolucionária, considerando três outras similaridades entre desenvolvimento científico e biológico: a necessidade de isolamento das comunidades científicas para o desenvolvimento da ciência; a relação mundo-teoria, que passa a ser vista como uma relação de adaptação; e a unidade de desenvolvimento, que assim como na biologia, passa a ser vista como o grupo, em vez do indivíduo.

Guitarrari, R., & Pirozelli, P. (2021). Kuhn e a biologia evolutiva de Darwin. Revista Helius, 3(2, fasc. 3), 1744-1776. Recuperado de //helius.uvanet.br/index.php/helius/article/view/182