I have noticed that, over the past two years I have worked at my current position, there is a common sentiment among many of those in academia to increase discourse on common themes across the sciences. More specifically, there seems to be a dearth of discussion across the natural/physical sciences and the social sciences.
I, of course, routinely contend that the social sciences can bring SO MUCH to the “hard” sciences…but I do this without realizing what the natural/physical science perspective can bring to the sociological, anthropological and other sorts of conversations that I have with my immediate colleagues.
Indeed, in at least some of the work that I do, the driving force behind one of our projects is to fill in the gaps that medical and epidemiological research leave behind when studying particular diseases. These gaps are filled with studies on risk behavior, relationships, choices, stigmatization of certain communities/activities, human understanding and all the other questions that cannot be answered by a regression analysis, but by having multiple conversations, observations and interactions with people.
This is not a post to discuss the better side of qualitative research, nor is it a referendum on the shortcomings of the natural sciences. Rather, it is a segue into a series of posts that I will be working on collaboratively with my partner, Cameron. This venture will attempt to give voice to both genres of scientific perspective on contemporary issues of broad relevance. It will also give us a chance to share our ongoing conversations about the world around us with the world around us.
Cameron and I both see the value in representing cross-disciplinary perspectives when discussing current events….and not just because it happens in our own home every day.
