(Replaces Human and Animal Cloning)

What is cloning? Is it ethical? What impact could it have on society?
Recent advances in science have provoked debate about where cloning will take us. This book considers the social and ethical considerations of cloning — including:
— whether cloning humans is acceptable
— whether people are willing to eat cloned food
— whether we should take advantage of medical therapies associated with cloning.  

Key Facts;  Glossary;  Additional Resources;  Index

In September 1941 the German scientist Heisenberg arrived in, now occupied, Denmark to give a lecture and visited his old friend and mentor Niels Bohr (who was half-Jewish). There was a long and unhappy conversation between them, during which Bohr and Heisenberg talked past each other. Their subject was the world situation in September 1941, including the possibility of the construction of an atomic reactor and, perhaps consequently, of an atomic bomb.
In Michael Frayn’s play Heisenberg, Bohr and his wife, Margrethe, meet in another world, after death, where the three of them try to reconstruct what exactly happened between them in September 1941. The core of Frayn’s play is Uncertainty: Heisenberg's discovery of the inevitable uncertainty in our measurement of atomic particles and electrons has its parallel in the uncertainty as to motives and intentions that exists in the relationships between all human beings. Because of the complexity of the human mind, certainty in human relationships can never completely exist.
In the play Margrethe accuses Heisenberg of failing to understand their situation under a German occupation; of being willing to work for Hitler; of working on a German nuclear reactor that could be employed for the construction of a bomb; of trying to show off. To her Heisenberg is an untrustworthy student, eager to steal her husband's knowledge. To Bohr, Heisenberg is a brilliant if irresponsible foster son, whose lack of moral direction is part of his genius. Heisenberg’s dilemma (he is the man who could have built the bomb but somehow failed to do so) is at the heart of the play's conflict. He is an ambiguous figure — a nationalist not willing to renounce Germany and its horrible government, but in many respects a caring soul. Was Heisenberg blackmailing Bohr with his suggestion that the making of the bomb was after all possible? Probably not. But Heisenberg does take political considerations; which Bohr understands only too well. In the final end, though, Heisenberg is perhaps the most optimistic figure.
In their last conversation, all three of Copenhagen’s characters must accept uncertainty and that before they have found out who they really are, they have turned to dust, and that uncertainty will only end when, soon, the whole world will be “laid to dust”. The content of Copenhagen may sound rather abstract, but this is a play of real dramatic as well as philosophical power!
Contents: Michael Frayn (a chronology); Commentary (themes, characters etc. by Robert Butler — 40 pages); Copenhagen (the play — 94 pages); Postscript and Post-Postscript (by Michael Frayn — 57 pages); Notes (9 pages).
Level: A/B

A documentary that warns that the age of abundant oil is over. Taking a similar line to Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, the premise behind this documentary is that we're all drinking in the last chance saloon. Featuring testimonies from the world's top experts, the film reaches an ominous yet logical conclusion — the Earth's oil supplies are peaking and a crisis of global proportions looms. Even more alarmingly, industrial societies don't have any plans on how to deal with the shortage, threatening the future of our post-industrial fossil fuel-addicted civilization with disaster. Unless western society re-invents its relation to energy needs, economic meltdown is inevitable.

An anthology that plots the development of modern science from Leonardo da Vinci to chaos theory. It consists of accounts by scientists themselves – astronomers, physicists, biologists, chemists, psychologists – who talk about their moments of breakthrough: the discovery of the secret of malaria; the first electric-light bulb; the construction of the world's first atomic pile. The book shows how science has changed art: how Newton's "Optics" flooded 18th-century poetry with colour; how the vastness of geological time terrified Tennyson and the Victorians; and how modernist writers struggled to adapt to Einstein's relativity. The classic science-writers are included – Darwin, Huxley etc. So too are today's experts and representatives of the late-20th-century genre of popular-science writing. (528 pages)
Level: Gymnasiet/HTX/Projects/Library/Depot

(Replaces Genetic Modification)

Chapter One: GM Trends
What is GM?, Genomics in the UK, Glossary, GM (Genetic Modification), Why GM?, GM labelling, Genetic modification and the environment, Scientists create healthier tomatoes, Biotechnology: growing in popularity, UN upholds moratorium on terminator seed technology, GM contamination, GM drug crops, Modified hens lay eggs to help beat cancer, GM tobacco could save lives.

Chapter Two: The GM Debate
What are the ethics?, What’s the problem?, GM material in animal feed, Supermarkets supporting GM through the back door, International politics, Potato research trials, Farmer quits GM trial after phone threats, EU must wake up from ‘GM food inertia’, Are EU GMO rules starving the poor?, Rice contaminated by GM, Legal challenge to FSA, Out of control?, Developing countries and GM crops, Plans to allow GM farming in secret ‘are irresponsible’, This crop revolution may succeed where GM failed, There’s no chance that this technology will replace GM, Tories rally against Frankenstein foods.

Key Facts;  Glossary;  Additional Resources;  Index

(Replaces Our Internet Society)

The web has made the world a smaller place in the last 15 years. It has become a powerful tool for sharing ideas and information. But the web can also be a dangerous place ... :

Key Facts;  Glossary Index;  Additional Resources (websites etc.);  Index.

In the same series as New Technology, which has already proved very popular.
This Australian-made DVD contains 37 short high-quality video units about a multitude of aspects of life sciences. Great for introducing new topics, starting class debates etc.
Subjects include: nutrition and food technology (replacing the fat in cold meats, experiments to lower the saturated fat content of milk, an investigation of the connection between high protein diets, weight gain and health etc.), psychology (how vitamins affect thinking, memory and mood), health (new treatments for cancer, transmitters that monitor the vital signs and movements of elderly patients etc.) and biology (many units).
A booklet is included with details of all the units.
Smart detail: The DVD also includes all the videos as QuickTime files, which can be distributed on your school's network to the individual PCs and played in any Player (Real/Windows Media/QuickTime). This means that the individual students can do written work or vocabulary work on the units in their own time.
Level: GYM esp. HTX B+ og studieområdet

The dramatic human story of an epic scientific quest: the search for the solution of how to calculate longitude and the unlikely triumph of an English genius. In the 18th century ‘the longitude problem’ was the thorniest scientific dilemma of the day — and had been for centuries. Thousands of sailors’ lives, and the fortunes of nations depended on finding a solution. In 1714 Parliament offered £20,000 to anyone whose method or device proved successful. One man, John Harrison, dared to imagine a mechanical solution to the problem. This is an extraordinary tale of astronomy and navigation, political intrigue and academic back-biting, intellectual brilliance ... and clockmaking. Dava Sobel makes the history and science of this story readily accessible to everyone. (184 pages)
Level: A/B (excerpts)/Interdisciplinary projects with mathematics, physics, history etc.

This Australian-made DVD contains 39 short high-quality video units about a multitude of aspects of new technology. Great for introducing new topics, starting class debates etc. Subjects include: genetic modification of food (how to produce “naturally white sugar”, food with increased nutrients), of plants (with turbocharged growth, with resistance to fungi) and of animals (mice with reduced fertility, cane toads that never become adults); video cameras that can recognise faces; a biodegradable plastic that can be made from wheat starch etc. A booklet is included with details of all the units.
Smart detail: The DVD also includes all the videos as QuickTime files, which can be distributed on your school's network to the individual PCs and played in any Player (Real/Windows Media/QuickTime). This means that the individual students can do written work or vocabulary work on the units in their own time.
Level: GYM esp. HTX B og studieområdet

In the same series as New Technology and Life and Living, which have already proved very popular.
This Australian-made DVD contains 37 short high-quality video units about a multitude of aspects of environmental sciences. Great for introducing new topics, starting class debates etc.
Subjects include: acid rain; global warming; conserving water; bacteria that eat pesticides and herbicides; rainforest research; new crops; deep sea mapping etc.
A booklet is included with details of all the units.
Smart detail: The DVD also includes all the videos as QuickTime files, which can be distributed on your school's network to the individual PCs and played in any player that can display QuickTime fíles. This means that the individual students can do written work or vocabulary work on the units in their own time.
Level: GYM esp. HTX B+ og studieområdet

Selected and introduced by Richard Dawkins, this is a collection of the finest writings by scientists written for a wider audience. It reveals that many of the best scientists have displayed as much skill with the pen as they have in the laboratory. This anthology captures the poetry and excitement of communicating scientific understanding and scientific effort from 1900 to the present day. It includes writing from a wide range of scientists, some of whose works have become modern classics, while others may be less familiar, but all convey the passion of great scientists writing about their science.

Contents: PART I: The Natural World; PART II: Science and Scientists; PART III: Concepts; PART IV: Truth, Beauty, Imagination 

Contributors include: Jacob Bronowski, Francis Crick, Helena Cronin, Sir Arthur Eddington, Albert Einstein, Richard Feynman, R. A. Fisher, S. J. Gould, Stephen Hawking, Douglas R. Hofstadter, Fred Hoyle, Julian Huxley, David Lack, Richard Leakey, Primo Levi, Roger Lewin, John Maynard Smith, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Roger Penrose, Steve Pinker, Carl Sagan, Erwin Schrodinger, Lee Smolin, C.P. Snow, Alan Turing, Steven Weinberg and many others.

Author: Christopher Cumo. Hardback. (182 pages)
Level: Library/Depot — a great resource especially for 2nd and 3rd years of the gymnasium/HTX

Science in Society is an attractive advanced “reader” that explores important areas where science impacts upon our society. It is designed to help students understand the underlying principles of science and explore these key scientific principles in the context of historic and modern society. There are “in-text” and review questions for each chapter which test knowledge and encourage students to engage with the issues, promoting discussion.

Contents: Chapter 1: The germ theory of disease; Chapter 2: Infectious diseases now; Chapter 3: Transport issues; Chapter 4: Medicines to treat disease; Chapter 5: Ethical issues in medicine; Chapter 6: Reproductive choices; Chapter 7: Radiation: risks and uses; Chapter 8: Lifestyle and health; Chapter 9: Evolution; Chapter 10: The universe; Chapter 11: Are we alone in the universe?

Level: 3rd year of the gymnasium/HTX

In What Makes us Human? some of the world's most brilliant thinkers gives their answers to this perennial puzzle. Is it our imagination or our knack for cooking? Is it because we are social, scientific, or spiritual? Exploring the true nature of human nature, What Makes us Human? throws light on how and why our ancestors produced such clever, talented, and unlikely children. It features contributions by Susan Blackmore, Robin Dunbar, Stephen Oppenheimer, Ian Tattersall, and more ... 12 stimulating and accessible essays. (212 pages)
Level: A