Random entanglement
The task was to pick two random journals, one scientific one social science based, and from those pick two random articles. Then link the two.
Now, in a hundred words or less (in the form of an abstract perhaps), I want you to say something about how you think the insights gained from reading one can inform the other - here's my attempt:
Cosmic dust and the scattering of youth: how young geographers escape the nest
Cosmologists are studying the particle composition of cometary dust. Interplanetary dust particles are apparently “fluffy and composite, having grains of several different types stuck together”, and this affects where they land. Meanwhile Scottish school children are attending university summer schools as a potential first step to taking up geography at degree level. They come with different baggage in terms of family and social background, cultural expectations and various understandings of the adult/child binary. The article discusses the “extended nature of youth transitions” and explores what implications this may have for teaching and learning. Perhaps cosmological modelling of dust trajectories could help us model the way in which young people disperse from their childhood settings in different ways according to their social and emotional composition and what affect this might have on the geographies of their future learning…
Ok, that's slightly more than 100 words, but you get the gist... Looking forward to reading your 100 word abstracts on random entanglements :)
posted by Sara @ 11:05 am
6 Comments:
At 12:03 pm,
Anonymous said…
My geography journal was about people who lived in jungles and used traditional ecological knowledge, and the problems faced with this when they had to migrate. My science journal was about supersymmetry and the factors affecting a break in supersymmetry. These journals both showed that the smallest changes, whether it be in the gravity or energy in terms of breaking particle links, or slight differences in environment, despite being the same type of area(jungle) can create very large effects which completely upturn the existance of the subject.
At 2:08 pm,
Anonymous said…
The scientific journal I chose was based on the way which the evolution of birds and mammals is affected by social learning and by the traditions formed by social learning. It was shown that higher animals can acquire info from or through the behaviour of others, and through their own behaviour can educate the next generation. The other article related to how a child’s outdoor play-space can act as an important role in their education and social development. These are quite easily linked, in that the child can be directly compared to types of birds and mammals. Perhaps important life lessons can be learned (and then passed down) from interactions between a child and the outdoor world.
At 3:35 pm,
Anonymous said…
Our first article came from the Biophysical Journal and looked at how the protein signal is controlled by its external pH. The second article, from Social and Cultural Geography, looked at how cultural geography has developed over the last few decades diverging from social geography. Both articles follow a similar layout, the only difference being that the geography article has been printed without an abstract. As for links between them, they develop an understanding of how we as individuals, or as a society, read and interpret knowledge, whether or not it has been scientifically proven. Both articles effectively focus on lifecycles; the science journal talks of a specific elements lifecycle, from birth, through growth and then its decay. On the other hand, the geography paper looks at how social geography has changed towards cultural geography, with new theories and interpretations being added.
At 6:47 pm,
igs007 said…
My selected science article was ‘Spiral structure formed in a pair of interacting galaxies’ from the Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy (14, 1: 1993). The social science article was ‘In the territory of knowledge: state-centred discourse and the construction of society’, in Progress in Human Geography (25, 3: 2001).
The primary link is the similarity between the spiral structure and our construction of society; both are the foci of their respective articles. The spiral structure is formed by the rotational frequency of stars in two galaxies. It is only when they work together that the resulting spiral structure is created. This is an idealised version of the ‘perfect’ society, where stars (people and cultures) come together, and become structured.
We see both concepts from afar; the spiral structure from our telescopes, and the society from a state-territorial position, as opposed to a more localised position. The social science paper argues we should explore alternative ways of constructing society and space, from a more geographical perspective. There are many ‘spiral arms’ linking the state/galaxies and these arms create the accepted state-territorial conception of society.
Ian.
At 7:23 pm,
Anonymous said…
The scientific journal I read was about the evolution and limits of science, this journal compared modern 21st centaury scientific methods and knowledge with previous eras. The journal claims that 21st centaury science is different in terms of intellect, philosophy, essence and shape. The geographical journal analysed the relationship between urban land use development and population density in 15 European urban areas. Within this analysis are the issues of land taken by urban expansion, population density and urban density. The tenuous link is that of world welfare. The scientific journal highlights the issue of mans knowledge and capabilities becoming dangerously powerful, and the geographical journal highlights the worldly (and potentially dangerous) problems of urban expansion and population growth.
At 5:50 pm,
Anonymous said…
Space, chance, time: walking backwards through the hours on the left and right banks of Paris, Present evidence for intermediate mass black holes in ULXs and future prospects
The scientific article was concrete but not understandable. Especially when the writer started about ‘The notorious M82 X-1’ I was lost. I think the only thing I can conclude from this article is that there are intermediate mass black holes in ULXs, and that in the future it will be easier to determine them.
The geography article was vague but understandable. Didn’t try to prove a thing. It was about a drift through Paris, following a clock drawn on a map anticlockwise, on each hour you had to draw some tarrotcards.
The scientists try to prove something that is somewhere outthere, the geographer tries to show something that is not really there, and works with the dictation of chance.
Post a Comment
<< Home