Everyday Practice Of Science (Shortlisted For Royal Society

Description: Scientific facts can be so complicated that only specialists in a field fully appreciate the details, but the nature of everyday practice that gives rise to these facts should be understandable by everyone interested in science. This book describes how scientists bring their own interests and passions to their work, illustrates the dynamics between researchers and the research community, and emphasizes a contextual understanding of science in place of the linear model found in textbooks with its singular focus on "scientific method." Everyday Practice of Science also introduces readers to issues about science and society. Practice requires value judgments: What should be done? Who should do it? Who should pay for it? How much? Balancing scientific opportunities with societal needs depends on appreciating both the promises and the ambiguities of science. Understanding practice informs discussions about how to manage research integrity, conflict of interest, and the challenge of modern genetics to human research ethics. Society cannot have the benefits of research without the risks. The last chapter contrasts the practices of science and religion as reflective of two different types of faith and describes a holistic framework within which they dynamically interact.

Review: [...] an absolute gem. As a welcome antidote to the wiz-bang, techno-babble world of TV forensic dramas, Frederick Grinnell offers a real-life look at the scientific process. Laboratory News [Grinnell] does a lot of serious thinking aloud about big themes in science: discovery and credibility and integrity and (perhaps all the more pointedly because he is an academic biologist who works in Dallas, Texas, among the biblical fundamentalists) the nature of faith. Out of the perfectly self-effacing prose, very good things emerge, including a sense of the writer as a warm, fair-minded and thoughtful human being with a finely tuned sense of propriety. He chooses beautiful and apposite quotations from Francis Collins, Albert Einstein and the painter Joan Miro in half a page, and punctiliously includes the references. Tim Radford, guardian.co.uk

Contents: Preface ; Part I- SCIENCE ; 1. Practicing science: An overview ; 2. Discovery: Learning new things about the world ; 3. Credibility: Validating discovery claims ; Part II-SCIENCE and SOCIETY ; 4. Integrity: From science policy to responsible conduct of research ; 5. Informed consent and risk: Intersection of human research and genetics ; 6. Faith: More than one way to practice the world ; Afterword ; References

Prizes: Shortlisted for Royal Society Prize for Science Books: General Prize 2010.

Author Biography:
Frederick Grinnell is Professor of Cell Biology and founder of the Program in Ethics in Science and Medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas. He is the author of The Scientific Attitude.