The lessons of Brent Spar

Article Abstract:

Several lessons may be gleaned from the controversy surrounding Shell's plan to dispose of its Brent Spar oil storage and loading platform located near the Shetland Islands. The major lesson is that it is difficult for an ordinary citizen to form a 'rational judgment' of public scientific debates due to misleading and erroneous information fed by activists to the media. The plan, which mandated the dumping of the Spar some 150 nautical miles off the Hebrides, was dropped after the environmental group Greenpeace's opposition was publicized by international media.

Political activity, Petroleum industry, Political aspects, Environmental policy, Media coverage, Ecology, Environmental movement, Environmentalism, Shell U.K. Ltd., Mass media and the environment, Greenpeace Foundation

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Lay understanding of mendelian genetics

Article Abstract:

The awareness related to mendelian genetics and inheritance is significant in terms of determining the characters and features passed from one generation to another and the mutations and medical conditions associated with genetic disorders. The public understanding regarding genetics is limited because of the inadequate explanation about the subject. The knowledge about inheritance is mostly derived from social relationships of kinship which is not based on the differences in phenotypic and genotypic characteristics.

Mendel's law, Mendel's laws, Genetics

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Genetics, eugenics and the medicalization of social behavior: lessons from the past

Article Abstract:

Genetics has become the holy grail of contemporary biology and medicine yet there have been no significant breakthroughs in research pertaining to genetic explanations for personality and social behavior. History can provide some insights as to where genetic theories of social behavior can lead. Specifically, the history of eugenics will furnish some significant parameters for the comparison to and understanding of contemporary genetic claims and suggests how existing genetic theories are being or might be used.

History, Genetic aspects, Interpersonal relations, Behavior genetics, Behavioral genetics, Eugenics

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