Jayat Joshi An old yet powerful principle has emerged from the COVID-19 crisis. It was introduced to the West in the writings of Carl G. Jung, and has its roots in the works of the pre-Socratic Greeks: enantiodromia (enantios – opposite and dromos – running course) (Jung 1968). Put simply, this means when something is pushed to the extreme, it tends to turn into its opposite.

An Appeal for a Culture of Failure in Academia Mafalda Sandrini For some years now there has been a trend amongst entrepreneurs and artists to come together to exchange stories of failure by disclosing their mistakes on a big stage and acknowledging what they lacked in insight and wisdom. This is framed as a practice of openness for the good of the many, as well as for themselves.

Introduction Today’s Academy is highly internationalized, and mobility is one of its key features. Although it is expected that academics from all disciplines frequently travel around the globe in order to exchange knowledge and build up networks, in reality, not all researchers are equally mobile.

Q: Are there particular features to the Corona pandemic that makes it more attractive to conspiracy theories or conspiracy theorists? Or are we just much more aware of these theories because everyone is living through this at the moment? Mike S. Schäfer MS: In general, conspiracy theories are not a new phenomenon.

[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”] [et_pb_row admin_label=”row”] [et_pb_column type=”4_4″] [et_pb_text admin_label=”Text”] Science versus pseudoscience Most conspiracy theorists make abstruse claims: The world is flat and run by an alien species of “reptiloids” covered in human skin (Ronson 2001). Governments use airplanes to diffuse chemicals into the atmosphere, known as “chemtrails”, in order to regulate the

Communicating Science in Covid Times During the Corona crisis, the value of science and science communication has been clearly demonstrated.

In the beginning, there was a question. This is how every science story seems to start. But what if it doesn’t? Does research always require a question, or even a hypothesis? Is it possible to conduct science without a question? Can you “answer” a question that you haven’t posed before? My story started when social life had come to a halt. In late March 2020, the Coronavirus had paused public life and forced society into a global lockdown.

The COVID 19 pandemic challenges society and its institutions. Science is particularly affected by the crisis, as it is expected to contribute with expertise to the solution of the problem. As serious as the crisis will be for the global community, it is an exciting time for science and a sociologist of science like me. Because while science is busy solving a problem, it inevitably changes.

Could this be the start of a new era in scholarly communication? For all the devastating impact that the coronavirus pandemic has had on us all, it has also shown how it is possible to swiftly change previously entrenched cultures and mindsets.

Juliane Meißner We are all experiencing massive changes in our daily lives. We have questions, we are feeling unsure about our health and about our future. With the outbreak of Covid-19, and the lockdowns and strict rules that will be part of our lives for the next weeks, we started asking questions and expect answers from trustworthy experts.