This paper examines the current scientific and sociopolitical discourse on the origins of SARS-CoV-2, focusing on Viral by Alina Chan and Matt Ridley and Breathless by David Quammen. These books present contrasting narra...This paper examines the current scientific and sociopolitical discourse on the origins of SARS-CoV-2, focusing on Viral by Alina Chan and Matt Ridley and Breathless by David Quammen. These books present contrasting narratives, highlighting competition within the scientific community and conflicts of interest. Central to the debate are the Huanan Seafood Market and Wuhan Institute of Virology, with discussions that involve zoonotic spillover and high-containment lab research. Both sources stress the need to identify the origins of the novel coronavirus to prevent future pandemics, but they diverge on key aspects, particularly regarding the importance and risks associated with laboratory research on potentially pandemic pathogens.
The text analyzes a literary polemic woven in the mid-nineteenth century in Portugal between an influential politician and some of the most prominent Lisbon physicians, which focused on the scientific and clinical statut...The text analyzes a literary polemic woven in the mid-nineteenth century in Portugal between an influential politician and some of the most prominent Lisbon physicians, which focused on the scientific and clinical statute of alternative medical systems. The study seeks to portray the clinical universe of the romanticism period, showing the clinical and cultural presence of medical systems such as hydrotherapy, homeopathy, animal magnetism, among other practices. The text also problematizes the medical pluralism of that period, an aspect that is tendentially undervalued in historiographical terms. Finally, it illustrates various strategies of scientific, curricular and institutional marginalization that enabled to banish such practices from universities and historiography itself.
This article discusses the technoscientific production of the zika virus and disease and some implications for the health field. Articles on zika published between 1952 and 2014 were analyzed. The elements of scientific...This article discusses the technoscientific production of the zika virus and disease and some implications for the health field. Articles on zika published between 1952 and 2014 were analyzed. The elements of scientific statements were collected and organized in a logical-temporal sequence. Three epistemic-discursive moments in the constitution of zika were characterized: experimental object, epidemiological object, and emergent object. In this constitutive trajectory, the central and paradoxical role of technoscientific development was highlighted. As more specialized and advanced knowledge on and techniques for the virus and disease investigation were produced, more detailed, complex ways of understanding them were created, composing a scenario of greater risks and insecurity for the health field.
Barahona A, Fabro F, Galván-Escobar D
… +7 more, Granados-Riveros L, Ornelas-Cruces M, Raj K, Rodríguez-Caso JM, Serrano-Juárez D, Torrens E, Villegas T
For the past 150 years, Science has become central to public issues, arbitrating all aspects of human life and defining what is natural and rational. Teaching the history of science by emphasising its dynamics as a socia...For the past 150 years, Science has become central to public issues, arbitrating all aspects of human life and defining what is natural and rational. Teaching the history of science by emphasising its dynamics as a social institution and the resulting stakes in global, national, and local politics is crucial for understanding the contemporary world. This article describes a course in this discipline that challenges traditional Western perspectives to ask pertinent questions across all time periods and societies. Presented as a guided tour, the course encourages students to critically engage with science as well as its history.
Public research institutes in Brazil adopted the experimental medicine model as of the late nineteenth century. At the Butantan Institute [Instituto Butantan], the experimental perspective was a mark of Afrânio do Amaral...Public research institutes in Brazil adopted the experimental medicine model as of the late nineteenth century. At the Butantan Institute [Instituto Butantan], the experimental perspective was a mark of Afrânio do Amaral's administration, between 1928 and 1938. Using the institution's own historical archive as its primary source, this study analyzes the Butantan Rural School Group [Grupo Escolar Rural de Butantan], understanding it as both a pedagogical experiment, an expression of the institution's experimental guidelines, and a model for the education movement implemented in the early 1900s by intellectuals and politicians from the state of São Paulo to mold a national identity based on "country man."
The article presents a study on the illustrations published in The Great Inventions, by the French popular science writer Louis Figuier, a book that circulated in Brazil as from the second half of the nineteenth century....The article presents a study on the illustrations published in The Great Inventions, by the French popular science writer Louis Figuier, a book that circulated in Brazil as from the second half of the nineteenth century. The analysis indicated that the illustrations, often linked to Figuier's text, pictured the science as essentially empirical science, of great experiments, exclusively male. The conclusions in this article add new elements to the historiography on Figuier and his writings, now from the perspective of the visual sources.
The article emphasizes the urban reform interventions aimed at public health improvements in the city of Belém (PA) drawing on the actions of an emblematic social actor for this city during the second half of the ninetee...The article emphasizes the urban reform interventions aimed at public health improvements in the city of Belém (PA) drawing on the actions of an emblematic social actor for this city during the second half of the nineteenth century: José Coelho da Gama e Abreu. The research used primary sources such as archives and books written by Gama e Abreu, journals, reports, letters and rare works of literature. The urban improvements highlighted a city governed by a bourgeois class rapidly rising due to the export of latex. These reforms provided the opportunity for social segregation in the urban fabric, establishing a new logic for the city.
Hist Cienc Saude Manguinhos
· 2025 · PMID 41191693
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Despite public condemnation after the defeat of Nazism, eugenic ideas continue to persist into the twenty-first century in different countries and contexts and with varying forms of intensity and support, as seen in even...Despite public condemnation after the defeat of Nazism, eugenic ideas continue to persist into the twenty-first century in different countries and contexts and with varying forms of intensity and support, as seen in events such as the covid-19 pandemic and the George Floyd case, discourse by contemporary far-right populist governments, and the 2024 US presidential election. This interview with Professor Marius Turda, a prominent scholar in the field of race, racism, and eugenics, presents his work and his itinerant exhibition entitled "We are not alone: legacies of eugenics," aimed at specialised and non-academic audiences alike, and offers a historically informed account of our eugenic past, present, and future.
Hist Cienc Saude Manguinhos
· 2025 · PMID 41191692
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Exchanges between Brazil and the United States regarding children's health education in the early decades of the twentieth century led to the circulation of subjects, knowledge, and printed matters, involving agreements...Exchanges between Brazil and the United States regarding children's health education in the early decades of the twentieth century led to the circulation of subjects, knowledge, and printed matters, involving agreements between government public health agencies, international agencies, and civil society organizations. This article presents a significant source for understanding the processes of production and transnational circulation of printed matters aimed at teaching hygiene and health notions: the Child Health Alphabet, an illustrated book in alphabetical format, published in New York and adapted into Portuguese by J.P. Fontenelle, a physician-educator who completed an internship at Johns Hopkins University with a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation.
Hist Cienc Saude Manguinhos
· 2025 · PMID 41172375
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During the early Qing dynasty, Taiwan remained largely undeveloped, with vast areas covered in dense wilderness and forests. The terms zhangli and zhangyi, which appear frequently in historical documents, most likely cov...During the early Qing dynasty, Taiwan remained largely undeveloped, with vast areas covered in dense wilderness and forests. The terms zhangli and zhangyi, which appear frequently in historical documents, most likely cover a variety of epidemic diseases such as malaria, dysentery, cholera, and scarlet fever. Following the Opium Wars, as Western powers increased pressure on Taiwan, the Qing government sought to intensify inland development. However, persistent epidemics in the mountainous regions hindered efforts to "open the mountains and pacify the aborigines." These health challenges significantly affected Taiwan's development during the Qing dynasty, experiences which share many similarities with the history of South America.
Hist Cienc Saude Manguinhos
· 2025 · PMID 41172374
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This paper draws connections and parallels between the promoted objective of Burroughs Wellcome & Co.'s Tabloid medicine chests and the capitalist and scientific ideals related to modernising the Amazon, which were advan...This paper draws connections and parallels between the promoted objective of Burroughs Wellcome & Co.'s Tabloid medicine chests and the capitalist and scientific ideals related to modernising the Amazon, which were advanced by the physician and geographer Alexander Hamilton Rice. Using an object-biographical approach, I explore the context of the promotional discourse surrounding the Tabloid chests and detail the contents of the medicine chest Rice carried throughout his 1919-1920 expedition, considering the pathological imaging fostered by the company and its customer. The relationships between this marketing discourse and Rice's search for scientific recognition and publicity as a quintessential explorer are also analysed.
Hist Cienc Saude Manguinhos
· 2025 · PMID 41172373
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The 1920s and 1930s were marked by a need for social modernization. Some modern nation-building projects had nationalist and authoritarian overtones, and some proposals for State renewal were developed on the basis of eu...The 1920s and 1930s were marked by a need for social modernization. Some modern nation-building projects had nationalist and authoritarian overtones, and some proposals for State renewal were developed on the basis of eugenic concepts. In Brazil, Brazilian Integralist Action (Ação Integralista Brasileira, AIB) was the largest fascist movement outside Europe, with a State-building project underpinned by a eugenics program. This study investigates how eugenics influenced integralism and especially how women engaged in the integralist movement. Based on the empirical study of printed sources, the discourse about gender-specific roles in this context is revealed, as are the functions of the "green blouses" in AIB's eugenic project.
Carneiro JB, Massarani L, Scalfi G
… +3 more, Bustamante M, Arevalo G, Heredia J
Hist Cienc Saude Manguinhos
· 2025 · PMID 41092200
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This qualitative, exploratory study aimed to deepen knowledge about family experience at zoos. By analyzing conversations, interactions and emotions, we sought to understand how family groups build strategies and interpr...This qualitative, exploratory study aimed to deepen knowledge about family experience at zoos. By analyzing conversations, interactions and emotions, we sought to understand how family groups build strategies and interpret the meaning of the visit. Nine family groups participated in the recordings at QuitoZoo. The material was uploaded to Dedoose software and categorized according to a pre-established protocol, followed by the analysis of the perceptual, biological, and connection categories. The family members interacted and discussed scientific topics that reflected emotions and connections. They used cognitive engagement strategies and constructed meanings from their experience at the exhibit, which can aid learning and lead, in the long term, to develop conservation values.
Hist Cienc Saude Manguinhos
· 2025 Aug · PMID 41036910
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The collections of the former Anthropology Museum at the Faculty of Science (established in 1912) are now part of the Natural History and Science Museum at the University of Porto. The museum contains 125,000 objects in...The collections of the former Anthropology Museum at the Faculty of Science (established in 1912) are now part of the Natural History and Science Museum at the University of Porto. The museum contains 125,000 objects in archaeology, ethnography, biological anthropology and numismatics, including some collections of non-European origin. This study investigates how the non-European ethnographic collections (around 1,100 objects) were incorporated throughout the twentieth century, examining documentary sources and surveying biographies of the objects and collections to identify provenance and associated actors. Exploring how objects were incorporated and documented allows us to glimpse how changes in the scientific paradigm reflect in the organization of collections in memory institutions.
Pereira E, Caldeira L, Figueira M
… +3 more, Laevski F, Ferreira AM, Lopes Q
Hist Cienc Saude Manguinhos
· 2025 Aug · PMID 41036909
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Over two thousand transnational objects (most with colonial origins) are currently in the Museu Nacional de Arqueologia in Lisbon and the Museu Municipal Santos Rocha in Figueira da Foz. Their histories are linked to nat...Over two thousand transnational objects (most with colonial origins) are currently in the Museu Nacional de Arqueologia in Lisbon and the Museu Municipal Santos Rocha in Figueira da Foz. Their histories are linked to nationalism, colonialism and the development of prehistoric archaeology in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This article cross-references multiple sources and periodicals to trace the journeys of these collections (primarily involving military campaigns in Africa) and the power networks that brought these objects to Portugal. The Eurocentric narratives, descriptions and categorizations that have endured since that time show how provenance research is essential to document and confront the colonial legacies of museums.
Hist Cienc Saude Manguinhos
· 2025 · PMID 40990781
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This article analyzes how palm trees were represented in the nineteenth century as majesties of tropical nature by European botanists and horticulturists amid an imagination of colonial domination. To this end, I will ex...This article analyzes how palm trees were represented in the nineteenth century as majesties of tropical nature by European botanists and horticulturists amid an imagination of colonial domination. To this end, I will examine texts and images in horticultural publications, printed in England, France, Belgium and Portugal, which repeatedly conveyed the idea of the tropics as a place governed by its nature, in which the palm tree gained centrality, in contrast to Europe, taken as a model of civilization. It was in this context that the sumptuous palm houses came to be constructed, which also functioned as privileged symbols of European domination over the tropics.
Hist Cienc Saude Manguinhos
· 2025 · PMID 40990780
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This study is aligned with other research that critically analyzes the way sickle cell disease has been framed as a global burden to health since the 2000s. To this end, the study investigates Brazilian attempts to estab...This study is aligned with other research that critically analyzes the way sickle cell disease has been framed as a global burden to health since the 2000s. To this end, the study investigates Brazilian attempts to establish structural technical cooperation programs in health with Benin, Ghana, and Senegal, based on the comprehensive care model offered to people with sickle cell disease under its public health system, the Unified Health System (Sistema Único de Saúde, SUS). This international initiative is part of a broader drive to disseminate internationally the values of universalism and equality, enshrined in the Brazilian health reform and embodied in SUS.
Hist Cienc Saude Manguinhos
· 2025 Aug · PMID 40929414
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Learning about the actors associated with the development of collections helps trace the signs of coloniality in museum discourse. The case of João dos Santos Pereira Jardim, the main donor of a collection in the ethnogr...Learning about the actors associated with the development of collections helps trace the signs of coloniality in museum discourse. The case of João dos Santos Pereira Jardim, the main donor of a collection in the ethnography section of the Municipal Museum of Figueira da Foz, confirms that military campaigns in colonial territories were key to enriching the collections of Portuguese museums. By reconstructing the journey of this military officer and the significance of two objects he collected, we reveal how this type of actor contributed to the growth of collections and prevailing Eurocentric narratives in museums.
Hist Cienc Saude Manguinhos
· 2025 Aug · PMID 40929413
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The collections of the Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical were integrated into the Universidade de Lisboa in 2015, leaving the Museu Nacional de História Natural e da Ciência responsible for their management,...The collections of the Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical were integrated into the Universidade de Lisboa in 2015, leaving the Museu Nacional de História Natural e da Ciência responsible for their management, preservation and access. This historical and scientific heritage includes archives, libraries, natural history, archaeological and ethnographic collections, scientific instruments and the Jardim Botânico Tropical. Most of the collections were created as part of colonial scientific missions promoted by the Portuguese government during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This article reflects on this heritage in light of contemporary debates on the legacies of colonialism, presenting the museum's work to address, identify and describe its historically and culturally sensitive collections.