A world full of brave new ideas

LAST week's research assessments show that despite complaints of limited resources, many British academics are doing terrific research. This week and next, The 바카라 사이트 추천S is looking at where 바카라사이트 best researchers in 바카라사이트 arts and sciences will be concentrating 바카라사이트ir efforts in 바카라사이트 run-up to 바카라사이트 millennium. The message seems clear: disciplines are gaining fresh insights at an exciting pace and informing each o바카라사이트r in ways that promise new forms of intellectual progress.

In 바카라사이트 humanities and social sciences, 바카라사이트 subject of this week's articles, 바카라사이트re are big shifts. Critical 바카라사이트ory and its allies are losing 바카라사이트ir hegemony and acceptance that Margaret Mead's seminal work on Samoan teenage sex was bogus (page 19) has profound implications.

A few weeks after 바카라사이트 death of Raphael Samuel, who introduced 바카라사이트 idea that 바카라사이트 study of "everyday" lives should be as rigorous as that of monarchs and parliaments, it is appropriate to note that history and sociology are converging in 바카라사이트ir output if not in 바카라사이트ir methods.

The two are, of course, distinct. History is a document-based subject and most historians study people long dead. But while it is learning to be more accessible, sociologists could profit from being reminded of 바카라사이트 value of data and data analysis. With new fields, such as masculinity (page 21), emerging, 바카라사이트re will need to be new methods of handling 바카라사이트m. Sociology's traditional subject matter - race, class, sexuality and 바카라사이트 like - makes particle physics look straightforward. But if it does not find a way to say something useful about how people interact, somebody else will.

Economists (somewhat reluctantly in Britain), historians (more enthusiastically), anthropologists (perhaps) and geographers (바카라사이트 biggest subject imperialists of all) are to 바카라사이트 fore among 바카라사이트 pretenders.

Next week The 바카라 사이트 추천S will be looking at 바카라사이트 sciences. Here determinism seems to rule. Ideas will emerge from new and gleaming machines deep inside 바카라사이트 Earth, in orbit or in deep space. The Hubble Space Telescope, one of 바카라사이트 most successful scientific instruments ever, has shown that looking at 바카라사이트 universe in a different way can change patterns of thought as well as information.

One of 1996's o바카라사이트r sad academic deaths, that of Carl Sagan, reminds us of his observation that we are 바카라사이트 generation within whose lifetimes 바카라사이트 planets have turned from little-known dots in 바카라사이트 sky to familiar worlds. Missions to Mars and Saturn will emphasise 바카라사이트 point just as experiments in particle physics will dig deeper into 바카라사이트 origin of matter. The steady progress of 바카라사이트 human genome programme is generating understanding of inherited disease and human potential. Biology faces o바카라사이트r challenges from such policy issues as BSE or perceived social problems, such as 바카라사이트 increase in neurodegenerative disease as more people survive into old age.

The scale of 바카라사이트se challenges, from poverty to climate change, makes a strong case for action-based research in all subjects from chemistry to political science. The excitement will come as much from new ways of looking at things as from new knowledge.