Messages from Islands: A Global Biodiversity Tour
Messages from Islands: A Global Biodiversity Tour
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来自岛屿的信息：全球生物多样性之旅
DOI：
10.7208/chicago/9780226406589.001.0001
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发表时间：
2016
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
I. Hanski
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
I. Hanski
在参议院听证会上，兽医科学家费德里科·因法斯利 (Fed-erico Infascelli) 描述了他的实验，在这些实验中，他显然显示出对喂食转基因作物的动物产生有害影响。卡塔内奥整个周末都在仔细研究他的论文。她无法理解这些数据，与 Infascelli 的讨论也无济于事。因此，她促使对他的工作进行调查，最终导致一些论文被撤回。她的团队随后向参议院提交了一份长达 1,556 页的文件，其中汇编了几乎所有有关转基因作物安全性的可用科学证据。由于她的痛苦，卡塔内奥被参议院的一些人妖魔化为农业生物技术公司孟山都的游说者。她在参议院还面临许多其他问题——例如，研究中对动物的持续需求、一些与科学相关的政府决策的不透明度、关于在 2015 年米兰世博会场地上建立一个主要研究中心的模糊提议，以及研究融资等问题。 《Ogni giorno》是一位在敌对环境中战斗的女强人发来的信件。她看到意大利议会中存在反智倾向，意大利司法部门中存在反科学态度，而且该国大多数科学家不愿在科学争议中发声——“为伪科学家和江湖骗子留下了发言权”。她不可避免地树敌了。但她也结交了朋友。 6 月，一位来自博洛尼亚附近省级小镇莫利内拉的会计师，一位完全陌生的人，把他超过 150 万欧元（160 万美元）的全部财产留给了她，让她以她认为合适的方式分配给研究。多年来我一直在报道这些不同的故事，我很着迷地想从这本书中了解到，在政治体系内为科学而战时，人们拥有多少武器——但这些战斗是多么繁重。卡塔内奥可能会成为最后一位被任命为终身参议员的人。 12月4日，意大利将举行宪法公投。如果投“赞成”票，将导致参议院规模更小、权力更弱，总统将有权直接任命少数参议员，任期只有七年。 ■ 将个人回忆录与科学主题的严肃讨论结合起来是一个困难的文学技巧。芬兰生物学家伊尔卡·汉斯基（Ilkka Hanski）在他的上一本书《来自岛屿的消息》中泰然自若地取得了成功，其中每个……
Senate hearing, veterinary scientist Fed-erico Infascelli described experiments in which he had apparently showed harmful effects in animals that were fed GM crops. Cattaneo spent the weekend poring over his papers. She could not understand the data, and discussions with Infascelli did not help. So she prompted investigations into his work, which eventually saw some of the papers retracted. Her team went on to produce a 1,556-page document for the Senate compiling nearly all available scientific evidence about GM crop safety. For her pains, Cattaneo was demonized by some in the Senate as a lob-byist for the agricultural biotechnology firm Monsanto. She has confronted many other issues in the Senate — for example, the continuing need for animals i n res e arch , t h e n o n-transparency of some government decisions relating to science, the murky proposal for a major research centre to be built on the site of the 2015 Expo in Milan, and issues such as research financing. Ogni giorno is a dispatch from a strong woman fighting in a hostile environment. She sees an anti-intellectual tendency in her parliament, an anti-scientific attitude in the Italian judiciary and a reluctance of most scientists in the country to speak up in scientific controversies — " leaving the floor open to pseudoscientists and charlatans ". Inevitably, she has made enemies. But she has made friends, too. In June, a total stranger, an accountant from the small provincial town of Molinella near Bolo-gna, left his entire fortune of more than €1.5 million (US$1.6 million) to her to distribute to research in ways she sees fit. Having reported these various stories for years, I was fascinated to learn from the book how many more weapons one has when fighting battles for science from within a political system — but just how taxing those battles can be. Cattaneo might turn out to be the last senator for life to be appointed. There will be a referendum on the Italian constitution on 4 December. A 'yes' vote will lead to a smaller, less powerful Senate in which the president will have the right to directly appoint a handful of senators for only a seven-year period. ■ C ombining a personal memoir with serious discussion of a scientific subject is a difficult literary trick. The Finnish biologist Ilkka Hanski succeeded with aplomb in his last book, Messages from Islands, in which each …