The article deals with issues concerning the pedagogical aims of studying traditional humanities in present realities of Polish society, which at the end of the 20th century overthrew communism. The new political and civilization conditions have caused major social changes that require a new approach to the humanities. Meanwhile, in Poland there is still a traditional and conservative cult of national identity and heritage, which prevents the development of an open society based on cultural tolerance and understanding of the differences that separate us from the West and other cultures. Humanities should be an academic tool for shaping an individual and creative personality and not for preserving national cultural and historical mythology. Such social pedagogy leads to a closed society oriented towards the past and not towards modernity. An educational policy that promotes this attitude treats cultural heritage as a tool of political control over society. In our times, humanities consist in discovering and interpreting the world around us and in forming an independent thinking. Literature, philosophy and other liberal arts cannot be just a sterile studying of a dead tradition.
What kinds of states arise when the interaction between particles becomes dominant over the quantum behavior of individual particles in the system?
Prof. Edward Nęcka, a cognitive psychologist from the Jagiellonian University and Vice-President of the Polish Academy of Sciences, talks about cognitive misers, memory traps, and confusion in a myriad of new technologies.
We talk to Prof. Bożena Kamińska-Kaczmarek from the Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology about treating cancer, obvious and impossible discoveries, and academic courage and strength.
“People generally associate my name with the first ever heart transplant in Poland. But I know that if I hadn’t tried to do it, then four, maybe five years later someone else would have. What I am sure of, however, is that no one else in Poland would have started working on developing an artificial heart. Had I not fought to create this device, a few hundred people would not be alive today because we wouldn’t have had ventricular assist devices which saved their lives and wellbeing.”
– Zbigniew Religa,
famous Polish cardiac surgeon
Prof. Anetta Undas from the Jagiellonian University Medical College discusses the sinister force of diseases, the commandments of scientific editing, and the patriotism of scientists.
To retain our cultural identity in the modern world and sensibly think about the future, we need to thoroughly study the past,” says Prof. Marek Figlerowicz from the PAS Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, who leads the project “The Dynasty and Society of Piast-Era Poland in the Light of Integrated Historical, Anthropological, and Genomic Research.”
We talk about the notion of race with Prof. Ewa Ziętkiewicz, MD from the PAS Institute of Human Genetics in Poznań, in light of the “regional continuity” vs. “recent common ancestor” theories.
Prof. Anna Członkowska from the 2nd Department of Neurology at the Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, a corresponding member of the Polish Academy of Sciences, discusses the definition of a stroke, new ways to help post-stroke patients recover, and reasons why time is of the essence.
We talk to Dr. Katarzyna Błachowiak-Samołyk, professor at the Department of Marine Ecology at the PAS Institute of Oceanology in Sopot, about the impact of human activity on life in the oceans.
The Bulletin of the Polish Academy of Sciences: Technical Sciences (Bull.Pol. Ac.: Tech.) is published bimonthly by the Division IV Engineering Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences, since the beginning of the existence of the PAS in 1952. The journal is peer‐reviewed and is published both in printed and electronic form. It is established for the publication of original high quality papers from multidisciplinary Engineering sciences with the following topics preferred: Artificial and Computational Intelligence, Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology, Civil Engineering, Control, Informatics and Robotics, Electronics, Telecommunication and Optoelectronics, Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, Thermodynamics, Material Science and Nanotechnology, Power Systems and Power Electronics.
Journal Metrics: JCR Impact Factor 2018: 1.361, 5 Year Impact Factor: 1.323, SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) 2017: 0.319, Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP) 2017: 1.005, CiteScore 2017: 1.27, The Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education 2017: 25 points.
Abbreviations/Acronym: Journal citation: Bull. Pol. Ac.: Tech., ISO: Bull. Pol. Acad. Sci.-Tech. Sci., JCR Abbrev: B POL ACAD SCI-TECH Acronym in the Editorial System: BPASTS.
We talk to Dr. Emilia Rejmak-Kozicka from the PAS Institute of Experimental Biology about how our bodies respond to chronic stress.
Prof. Monika Kaczmarek from the PAS Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research discusses the impact of nutrition and environment on human and animal development.
Designer drugs cause irreversible changes in the brain and put those who take them at an increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. They can also affect one’s genetic material, says Prof. Krystyna Gołembiowska from the PAS Institute of Pharmacology.
We talk to Dr. Ewa Duszczyk from the Polish Society of Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases about diseases lurking just out of sight and about how vaccines save lives and protect communities.
Dr. Magdalena Winiarska from the Warsaw Medical University discusses what we know and don’t know about cancer, the importance of exchanging ideas in science and the meaning of success.
Investigations were carried out in the regions of the Hornsund Station, Spitsbergen at summer 1979. The aim of the studies was to determine the effect of the Station on the natural environment around the Station. After taking an inventory of the sources of pollution and in result of the determination of the range of the pressure of anthropogenic factors the whole area under degradation was divided into three parts: an area without possibilities of recultivation, a devastated area and an area of normal natural environment. It was found thąt the main source of the contamination of tundra are fuels derived from mineral oil. The distribution of fuel concentrations in the soil corresponds to the direction of the slope of the ground and the flow of the surface waters. Mechanical transformation of the surface of the tundra is also an outcome of the degradation.