Kyle Powys Whyte (MSU) and Robert Crease (Stony Brook): Trust, Expertise and the Philosophy of Science. You might as well be a Raelian: Sibling statistics, software secrecy and study shortcuts all show why scientific authority derives from transparency. If I ruled the world: Why don’t we put scientists in charge of everything? Surely they’d do a better job than politicians. From Seed, history — not to mention differing languages, cultures, and values — can make peace difficult to achieve; science is a common ground upon which nations can collaborate to improve our world; emerging global challenges demand rapid responses from the scientific community — this can only be achieved through a reformation of the culture and practice of science and its relation to the wider world; and the scientific paper has long been the unit of scientific knowledge — now, with print media lapsing into obsolescence, the internet is poised to transform science publishing and science itself. Are scientists addicted to using metaphorical imagery at the cost of misleading the public and themselves? Measuring the fog of prose: Marc Abrahams on the needless use of long words, and other problems that obscure scientific writing. Does all scientific work deserve public attention? A review of Escape from the Ivory Tower: A Guide to Making Your Science Matter by Nancy Baron, and Explaining Research: How to Reach Key Audiences to Advance Your Work by Dennis Meredith. A review of The Commodification of Academic Research: Science and the Modern University.
