Tessera
Folgen

King's CHoSTM

@kingschostm.bsky.social

Centre for the History of Science, Technology & Medicine at King's History. More about research and what’s on ➡️ www.kingschostm.com About the Hans Rausing Scholarship ➡️ www.kingschostm.com/funding-opportunities #histsci #histtech #histmed #histstm

95 Posts447 Follower267 Folgt
Hurst Publishers@hurstpublishers.bsky.social · 4w ago

🩺💭’It wasn’t that people were anti-medicine. Instead, historical injustices1 meant scepticism had become a necessary tool for navigating healthcare.’ Read the interview with @caitjan.bsky.social, author of Healthy Scepticism, in @bmj.com @bmjmedicine.bsky.social 👇 www.bmj.com/content/394/...

Medicine needs critics: Why scepticism is both healthy and important

In a climate of increasing anti-vaccination sentiment and conspiracy theories, scepticism can be perceived as a threat to medical institutions. Historian Caitjan Gainty, author of the new book Healthy...

bmj.com

caitjan.bsky.social@caitjan.bsky.social · 3w ago

Such a great pleasure to chat with Shivali Fulchand @bmj.com about the Healthy Scepticism book!

Hurst Publishers@hurstpublishers.bsky.social · 4w ago

🩺💭’It wasn’t that people were anti-medicine. Instead, historical injustices1 meant scepticism had become a necessary tool for navigating healthcare.’ Read the interview with @caitjan.bsky.social, author of Healthy Scepticism, in @bmj.com @bmjmedicine.bsky.social 👇 www.bmj.com/content/394/...

Chris Manias@chrismanias.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Sign-ups for this event closing at 13:00 tomorrow (1 September), so just under 24 hours to register if you would like to come along

Chris Manias@chrismanias.bsky.social · 2mo ago

On Thursday 3 September, at King's College London, we'll have a panel discussion entitled "Deep Time Cultures, Current Crises," thinking about how art & culture around deep time can (and can’t) help us engage with the current world Full info: shorturl.at/ufxe2 & sign-up link: shorturl.at/CklAN

A poster for the event "Deep Time Cultures, Current Crises," a panel discussion at King's College London, Thursday 3 September 2026, 18:00-20:00 (these words are used as the heading). On the left is an image by artist Mark Witton of Tiktaalik, a fish-like amphibious creature, in a swampy environment looking at a sunset. On the right are images of the five discussants: Jay Balamurugan, Emy Moss, Elsa Panciroli, Jamie Perera and Mark Witton
Chris Manias@chrismanias.bsky.social · 2mo ago

I'm running a couple of online panel discussions in September, thinking about how deep time perspectives can (and can't) help us deal with current large issues These are part of a new project I've started, with the current working title of "Deep Time & the Polycrisis" (blurb below)

First part of a text document, stating: We are currently facing overlapping crises: climate change and biodiversity loss; hardening international borders and global conflict; rising political radicalism; upsurges in health issues, including in mental health and the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic; continued legacies of colonialism and extractivism; fossil-fuel dependency; and scepticism towards expertise. In recent years, the term ‘polycrisis’ has emerged to imagine this global condition, seeing all these (and other) issues as connected in complex and unexpected manners, for which old frameworks of understanding and ways of acting are no longer adequate (Morrin and Kern 1996; Tooze 2022). To engage with the manifold challenges we face, we do not just need technical solutions, but new modes of thinking and expression. This project contends that one way of building communities and new understandings to address the polycrisis is through bringing in deep time: the geological timescales of Earth history, which stretch backward and forward millions of years. Knowledge of deep time provides possibilities for new modes of thinking, but also poses challenges, being implicated in many of the issues confronting us. This project uses the cultural position of the deep-time sciences as the basis for new collaborations and transformative research linking the humanities and the sciences.Second part of the same text document stating: Recent research has shown how the sciences of deep time have been implicated in many of the problems we now face. On a basic level, our fossil-fuel and extractive economies grew from their development, with the mining of coal depending on geology (Zizzamia 2019). Geological surveying has also historically been a tool of territorial and colonial control, and palaeontological ideas defined race and inequality (Chakrabarti 2021; Yusoff 2024). Many museum fossil collections have colonial roots, and ‘parachute science,’ where Western scientists take material from developing countries, still continues (Raja et al. 2022). To understand how we got to where we are, we need to engage with histories of geology and palaeontology. But there are equally strong arguments that the deep-time sciences allow us to engage with the polycrisis. Deep time provides the only illustrations we have of earths with different climates and levels of biodiversity. Thinking about the earth’s long history – involving timescales and processes which confound human imagination – can be terrifying, but can also promote future-orientated and long-term perspectives (Bjornerud 2018; Hanusch 2023). Many scholars are also attempting to link deep time with non-Western understandings, thinking about how they might work collaboratively (Bashford et al. 2023). In the face of situations where we need to think on different scales – of time, space and process – and hold multiple possible pasts and futures in mind, thinking with deep time potentially allows ways of doing so. This project brings these issues together, engaging with the question: how can we simultaneously come to terms with the troubling histories of the deep-time sciences, while developing their potential to engage with the crises that we now face?
Tom Kelsey@tomkelsey.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Does the Treasury deserve its reputation for holding back the British economy? My new article in The Political Quarterly uses the histories of Concorde and civil nuclear power to challenge common arguments about the Treasury, industrial strategy, and state capacity. 🧵

Tom Kelsey@tomkelsey.bsky.social · 2mo ago

‘Reframing the Treasury Debate: industrial strategy and state capacity in the UK’ is now out in The Political Quarterly and is open access: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Reframing the Treasury Debate: Industrial Strategy and State Capacity in the <fc>UK</fc>

The Treasury has long been seen as a root cause of Britain's economic malaise, blocking much-needed industrial intervention and embedding short-termism. This article examines the politics of Concorde...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Chris Manias@chrismanias.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Three postdoctoral positions available on a fantastic-looking project (based in Lyon), looking at the history of the earth sciences in the Caucasus and central Asia, 1880 to 2000: larhra.fr/programmes-e...

ENVIROSHIFT - Shifting perspectives on environmental change: A History of the Earth Sciences in Central Asia and the Caucasus, 1880-2000 - LARHRA

ERC Strating Grant Funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme (Grant Agreement No. 101222577) RECRUITEMENT Applications are now open ENVIROSHIFT ...

larhra.fr

D
David Edgerton@davidedgerton.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Reupping thoughts on Starmer’s Party and its failures to think about British defence policy. Will Burnham’s Party be any different ? www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Labour claims to be defending Britain from new threats, but its warfare state is steeped in old thinking | David Edgerton

For every sensible proposal, there’s a failure to think through the UK’s place in the world – and a promised ‘defence dividend’ that won’t materialise, says academic and author David Edgerton

theguardian.com

King's CHoSTM@kingschostm.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Join us for a conversation about the historical background of the 2017 "Asilomar Conference on Beneficial AI". Dr David Cole explores the significance and legacy of the famed 1975 Asilomar conference on recombinant DNA and DNA cloning for contemporary efforts to shape the future of AI. #histstm

Asilomar Revisited: Beneficial AI and the History of Scientific Ethics

Join us for a conversation with Dr David Cole about the legacy of Asilomar 1975 for contemporary efforts to shape the future of AI

eventbrite.co.uk

King's College London, History Department@kingshistory.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Well done to our colleague @hsmurphy.bsky.social for editing a new special issue of @pastpresentsoc.bsky.social on "Medicine, Race, and Slavery in the Transatlantic World, 1600–1850" academic.oup.com/past/issue/2...

Volume 271 Issue Supplement_18 | Past & Present | Oxford Academic

The official journal of the Past and Present Society. Publishes original scholarly articles on historical, social and cultural change in all parts of the world, examining particular problems and perio...

academic.oup.com

King's CHoSTM@kingschostm.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Next Wednesday! We celebrate the publication of “Healthy Scepticism” @caitjan.bsky.social’s vital account of medical distrust for our contentious times. Get your tickets (free!) via Eventbrite! #histmed #histstm @hurstpublishers.bsky.social @kingshistory.bsky.social @kingsartshums.bsky.social

Book Launch Party: Healthy Scepticism by Caitjan Gainty

This event marks the publication of Caitjan Gainty’s Healthy Scepticism, a vital new account of medical distrust for our contentious times.

eventbrite.co.uk

caitjan.bsky.social@caitjan.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Joined in conversation by my inspirational colleagues Prof Toby Green (KCL) and Prof Patricia Kingori (Oxford)!

King's CHoSTM@kingschostm.bsky.social · 5mo ago

In "Healthy Scepticism", @caitjan.bsky.social provides a vital new account of medical distrust for our contentious times. Join us to celebrate Caitjan Gainty’s new book on Wed 17 June. 🥳🥂 Registration required via Eventbrite ⬇️ @kingshistory.bsky.social @kingsartshums.bsky.social