Becoming (Post)Human: How H.G. Wells, Upton Sinclair, and D.H. Lawrence Tried to Alter the Course of Human Evolution

Thesis advisor: Marjorie HowesThis dissertation examines the dual impacts of evolutionary theory and the industrial revolution on late 19th and early 20th century transatlantic fiction, particularly in articulating the concepts of perfectibility and degeneration. Darwinian evolutionary theory made real the possibility failing to successfully evolve and adapt as a species could cause humans to go extinct or, maybe worse, devolve into monstrosities. The industrial revolution, on the other hand, enabled humans to conquer nature to a degree that suggested a power to become engineers of our own future world and selves. At the same time, this ability to understand and alter ourselves dissolved the distinction between humans and machines, and the realities of industrial technology under a capitalist system revealed that humans could also be reduced to machine-minding cogs. The two (sometimes conflated) categories of animal and machine, which we have long used to distinguish ourselves as humans, were breaking down and threatening to undo our understanding of ourselves and our place in the world. The authors whose works I discuss in this dissertation recognized that human could no longer be considered a stable category or entity, and they worked from within the received conceptual language of animals and machines to challenge our ideas about what being human means. They believed that by using imagery and narrative to re- articulate human identity and purpose, they could change behavior, morality, politics, economics, culture, and the future evolution of the species. In this dissertation, I examine the different approaches that H.G. Wells, Upton Sinclair, and D.H. Lawrence used to engage this dangerous and exciting problem of reimagining human meaning and human potential through narrative. By situating these authors in conversation with each other, I am able to highlight different facets, concerns, and shortcomings of each approach. This study also reveals that these authors were already engaging in a dynamic discussion currently gaining prominence and urgency in our own time as we explore through science, technology, philosophy, and narrative what we are and what we want to be.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2014.Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: English

Handbook of Marine Model Organisms in Experimental Biology

"The importance of molecular approaches for comparative biology and the rapid development of new molecular tools is unprecedented. The extraordinary molecular progress belies the need for understanding the development and basic biology of whole organisms. Vigorous international efforts to train the next-generation of experimental biologists must combine both levels – next generation molecular approaches and traditional organismal biology. This book provides cutting-edge chapters regarding the growing list of marine model organisms. Access to and practical advice on these model organisms have become aconditio sine qua non for a modern education of advanced undergraduate students, graduate students and postdocs working on marine model systems. Model organisms are not only tools they are also bridges between fields – from behavior, development and physiology to functional genomics. Key Features Offers deep insights into cutting-edge model system science Provides in-depth overviews of all prominent marine model organisms Illustrates challenging experimental approaches to model system research Serves as a reference book also for next-generation functional genomics applications Fills an urgent need for students Related Titles Jarret, R. L. & K. McCluskey, eds. The Biological Resources of Model Organisms (ISBN 978-1-1382-9461-5) Kim, S.-K. Healthcare Using Marine Organisms (ISBN 978-1-1382-9538-4) Mudher, A. & T. Newman, eds. Drosophila: A Toolbox for the Study of Neurodegenerative Disease (ISBN 978-0-4154-1185-1) Green, S. L. The Laboratory Xenopus sp. (ISBN 978-1-4200-9109-0)

11th International Coral Reef Symposium Proceedings

A defining theme of the 11th International Coral Reef Symposium was that the news for coral reef ecosystems are far from encouraging. Climate change happens now much faster than in an ice-age transition, and coral reefs continue to suffer fever-high temperatures as well as sour ocean conditions. Corals may be falling behind, and there appears to be no special silver bullet remedy. Nevertheless, there are hopeful signs that we should not despair. Reef ecosystems respond vigorously to protective measures and alleviation of stress. For concerned scientists, managers, conservationists, stakeholders, students, and citizens, there is a great role to play in continuing to report on the extreme threat that climate change represents to earth’s natural systems. Urgent action is needed to reduce CO2 emissions. In the interim, we can and must buy time for coral reefs through increased protection from sewage, sediment, pollutants, overfishing, development, and other stressors, all of which we know can damage coral health. The time to act is now. The canary in the coral-coal mine is dead, but we still have time to save the miners. We need effective management rooted in solid interdisciplinary science and coupled with stakeholder buy in, working at local, regional, and international scales alongside global efforts to give reefs a chance.https://nsuworks.nova.edu/occ_icrs/1000/thumbnail.jp

11th International Coral Reef Symposium Abstracts

https://nsuworks.nova.edu/occ_icrs/1001/thumbnail.jp

Epistemologien des Umgebens: Zur Geschichte, Ökologie und Biopolitik künstlicher environments

Der Aufstieg des Begriffs "Environment" zur Beschreibung der Gegenwart markiert den Einfluss, den das Nachdenken über Umgebungsrelationen und die Möglichkeit der technischen Gestaltung künstlicher Umgebungen seit Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts gewonnen haben. In geschlossenen artifiziellen Welten wie Raumstationen oder künstlichen Ökosystemen wird die Verschränkung des "Environments" mit den umgebenen Organismen zum Gegenstand einer Biopolitik, die heute in autonomen Technologien der Umgebungskontrolle neue Räume erschließt. Der Autor verfolgt diese Transformation ökologischen Umgebungswissens mit dem Ziel, gegenwärtige Technologien besser zu verstehen, den Begriff unselbstverständlich zu machen und die biopolitische Dimension jeder Ökologie herauszuarbeiten

Epistemologien des Umgebens

The rise of the term "environment" to describe the present marks the influence that reflection on environmental relations and the possibility of engineering artificial environments have gained since the mid-nineteenth century. In closed artificial worlds such as space stations or artificial ecosystems, the entanglement of the "environment" with the surrounding organisms becomes the subject of a biopolitics that today opens up new spaces in autonomous environmental control technologies. Florian Sprenger pursues this transformation of ecological environmental knowledge with the aim of better understanding current technologies, making the term understandable and highlighting the biopolitical dimension of each ecology