Master this deck with 19 terms through effective study methods.
Imported from Quizlet
Science advances through falsification, not verification. A theory is scientific only if it is testable and refutable. Bold conjectures → attempts to refute → surviving theories are "less false." Example: Einstein's relativity was scientific because it made risky predictions (e.g., light bending).
High nicotine salts, sleek USB-like device, youth‑appealing flavors. "Safer alternative" claims without robust evidence; youth‑targeted aesthetics. Claims outpaced data; internal documents showed awareness of youth uptake. Corporate science vs. public health values.
Informed consent, autonomy. Minimize harm, maximize benefits. Fair subject selection. Privacy, data protection, vulnerable populations, risk-benefit ratio.
Attempt to "improve" human populations through selective breeding or sterilization. Assumes complex traits are simple hereditary units. Ignores environment and social determinants. Uses biased, racist assumptions as "data." Ethical failures: Coercion, discrimination, state violence.
Greenhouse effect: CO₂, CH₄ trap heat; physics established since 19th century. Evidence: Rising atmospheric CO₂ from fossil fuels (isotopic signature). Temperature rise correlates with emissions. Climate models match observed warming only when human factors included. Consensus: 97%+ of climate scientists agree on anthropogenic warming.
Geoengineering involves large‑scale technological interventions to alter the climate system. Major issues include: • Scientific uncertainty: Climate models cannot fully predict regional effects; interventions may have irreversible side effects; termination shock is a major risk. • Uneven global impacts: Some regions may cool while others face drought or flooding; raises fairness and justice concerns; global consent is difficult. • Governance gaps: No international framework exists for deployment, monitoring, or liability; unclear who controls global climate decisions; risk of unilateral action. • Moral and political risks: Moral hazard (reduced pressure to cut emissions), intergenerational ethics, legitimacy concerns, and fears of weaponization. This topic connects directly to the Collingridge dilemma, values in science, and the scientific case for climate change.
The Green Revolution introduced high‑yield crops, fertilizers, and irrigation, dramatically increasing food production and preventing famines. Its legacy includes environmental costs (runoff, monocultures), water depletion, and uneven social benefits, especially for small farmers.
Early AC was expensive, unreliable, and culturally resisted as "unnatural." As reliability improved and costs fell, AC became associated with modernity, hygiene, and productivity. Adoption increased as workplaces and homes reframed it as essential.
CRISPR is a gene‑editing tool derived from bacterial immune systems. It relies on the HGP's genomic maps to target specific sequences precisely. Applications include disease research, agriculture, and potential human germline editing.
Key issues include safety (off‑target edits), consent (future generations cannot consent to germline edits), equity (risk of genetic inequality), and governance (who decides what traits are acceptable to edit). The therapy vs. enhancement distinction is central.
Scaling requires reproducibility at industrial scale, cost‑effective materials, quality control, regulatory approval, and supply‑chain infrastructure. Many innovations fail not due to science but due to manufacturing and economic constraints.
23andMe sells consumer DNA kits and monetizes genetic data through partnerships with pharmaceutical companies. Value challenges include privacy risks, re‑identification, informed‑consent concerns, data ownership, and limits of ancestry/health prediction accuracy.
Early in a technology's development, impacts are unpredictable; once impacts are clear, the technology is hard to control. Examples include social media and AI. The dilemma highlights the need for anticipatory governance.
Mass production, electrification, global logistics, and marketing shaped the modern consumer economy. Technologies enabled cheap goods, advertising, and planned obsolescence, embedding consumption into social identity and economic growth.
Kuhn introduced paradigms, normal science, and scientific revolutions. Science progresses not purely cumulatively but through paradigm shifts when anomalies accumulate. Scientific practice is socially structured, not purely logical.
Values shape research at every stage: choosing questions, allocating funding, interpreting data, and assessing risk. Both epistemic values (accuracy, simplicity) and social values (equity, safety) influence scientific practice. Science is not value‑free
What worked: mRNA vaccines, wastewater surveillance, genomic monitoring, targeted masking. What didn't: PPE shortages, misinformation, unequal vaccine distribution, fragmented public health communication. Choose one direction depending on the exam prompt.
Cold fusion initially demonstrated several breakdowns in scientific norms and practices: Lack of peer review: Pons and Fleischmann announced their results through a press conference rather than a vetted scientific publication. This bypassed organized skepticism and communal review. Insufficient transparency: Their methods were not fully disclosed, making replication nearly impossible. Key details of the apparatus and measurements were withheld. Premature claims: Extraordinary claims ("limitless clean energy") were made without extraordinary evidence. The announcement was driven partly by competition with another lab and fear of being scooped. Media amplification: Public excitement and political pressure distorted the scientific process, creating hype before validation. Violation of Mertonian norms: Communalism: Data were not openly shared. Organized skepticism: They resisted criticism and framed skeptics as closed‑minded. Disinterestedness: Personal and institutional prestige influenced the announcement. These failures show how science can be distorted when social, institutional, and competitive pressures override methodological rigor.
Science relies on empirical testing, peer review, replication, theory‑building, and institutional norms such as communalism, universalism, disinterestedness, and organized skepticism. Social and political contexts shape scientific agendas and interpretations