Tag - research

Report on Boston SftP-Sponsored Panel: Discussion on Research Ethics

On May 13, at Countway Library in Boston, a packed audience heard three panelists with various scientific backgrounds describe an ominous trend that seems to be turning scientific research into a “secular priesthood” lending its image as scientific “truth seekers” to those who would “cash in” on it.

Recombinant DNA: Does the Fault Lie Within Our Genes?

I have been doing research in bacterial genetics for the last 12 years at Harvard Medical School and I am a member of Science for the People. Over the last couple of years, we have been discussing in our laboratory how the recombinant DNA technique could make certain of our experiments much easier to do. However, as a...

Soyabeans in India

Science and scientists have been described as instruments of development. Indeed they are. But they can also be used as instruments of underdevelopment and of neocolonial exploitation. The problems of increasing the production of food in underdeveloped countries have been laid in the lap of Science and Technology. But...

Actions on XYY Research

The psychological and behavioral development of those with the extra Y chromosome (1 in 1000) is followed by a group of psychiatrists, to see if the children develop "antisocial" behavior. The study came to the attention of the Genetic Engineering Group (GEG) of Science for the People. We were opposed to this kind of...

Controlling Aggressive Behavior (or Stopping War Research)

In March 1969, a demonstration against a Dow Chemical Corporation (napalm manufacturers) recruiter led to a demand for access to the university's research files in an effort to expose suspected direct involvement of the university with the military. A group of over 100 demonstrators entered the graduate school offices...

Majority View

Newspapers and TV throughout the country blazoned reports of "disruption" at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) panel entitled "Is there a Generation Gap in Science. " Edward Teller, ''father of the H-bomb" was extensively quoted. What they did not say was that the "gap" at the panel was...

People’s Science

These perversions of science have not occurred without opposition. Several of the early atomic researchers tried unsuccessfully to prevent an A-bomb detonation over humans. In the 1950's, scientific workers and laymen combined in a movement opposed to nuclear weapons tests because of the harmful effects of radioactive...