Chronology has been called the backbone of history and it is true that the linear time model in the shape of a chronology is an indispensable tool always at hand in the historian's workshop. It furnishes him or her with the four parameters of sequence, duration, setting and frequency, all necessary and most useful in the deployment of the historian's material. The chronological concept of time also underlines the irreversibility of time, which is part of the historian's creed and an assumption that governs his or her ideas of causality. The influences emanating from the physical time-scale are, in fact, far-reaching and some of them may easily deceive the scholar in his interpretation of the Past. Among these are the magic of figures, the concept of continuity as well as the idea of universality and the determinist view of the Past, and, furthermore, the ideas of contemporaneity, globalization and the uniqueness of phenomena. This paper maintains that the Universe of the Past is inexhaustible and heterogeneous. It cannot be measured by a common chronological standard. Periods based on chronology alone are empty vessels in which many times and many ages roll back and forth in contrast to periods with an individuality of their own (such as the Renaissance or the Enlightenment). After all, periodization is a process involving a combination of the two dimensions of setting and sequence, this means an intriguing operation imbued with puzzles, which the historian has in common with the social scientist.

Speaking of a ‘lack of time’, do we mean the same ‘thing’ as the variable ‘t’ in a graph of some time-dependent development? The following article tries to show that both concepts are extreme examples of the two sides, or faces, of the single phenomenon of time, as common and trivial as it is mysterious. Scientific, numerical time is considered first, followed by the time of the common human experience, the time in the present. It is on the basis of this curious ability to ‘keep in presence’ various events that follow one another, that the scientific concept of linear time has been established and, with it, the possibility to measure the time for scientific and practical purposes.

The concept of time has always played a dominant role in philosophy and science. In modern physics, and also in philosophy of physics, it is the anisotropy of time that attracts particular attention. Taking up work by Grünbaum and others, the thermodynamic arrow of time is considered in detail, and this discussion is then extended to other time-asymmetric processes, whose relation to this arrow of time remains controversial. After that, some remarks are made about experienced time. It is the gestalt-like character of time that, in contrast to the arrow of time, reflects time in the everyday world.

Organisms possess an internal ‘body clock’ that measures the passage of the day, although they respond directly to the influences of the sun. The site of this clock, its properties, and its molecular and genetic mechanisms are now beginning to be discovered. In humans, the clock enables the processes required for daytime activities and nocturnal sleep to be separated; but the system can go wrong or cause difficulties, as in the blind, anybody after a time-zone transition or during night work

From the psychonomic point of view time is the conscious experiential product of the processes that enable the (human) organism to organize itself adaptively so that its behaviour stays tuned to the sequential contingencies afforded by its environment. This paper reviews some recent insights into the functioning of the timekeepers – clocks and regulators, organic and virtual – that make up the human ‘sense of time’.

Genetic interventions will improve the genome, but they will never make a human being out of the human animal

Using research on the ageing mind, support is offered for the concept of bio-cultural sciences. The bio-cultural sciences highlight the notion that human behaviour is the joint and co-constructive expression of biological–genetic and cultural–societal processes and conditions. The genome determines the ontogeny of the brain; however, so does the cultural–social environment and individual behaviour. The study of the ageing mind illustrates this principle of bio-cultural co-construction. One fertile theory distinguishes between the declining biology-driven cognitive mechanics and the maintained or even increasing culture-driven cognitive pragmatics. Beginning in early adulthood, the plasticity of the cognitive mechanics decreases with advancing age, but the cognitive pragmatics exploit the opportunities of culture and the experiential and interpersonal contexts in which people develop and, therefore, they can exhibit lifelong positive expressions. Professional expertise, artistic competence, social–emotional intelligence and wisdom are examples of late-life potentials in the cognitive pragmatics. This view does not exclude the fact that, in the oldest (Fourth Age), ageing losses become more prominent and affect the cognitive pragmatics as well. A general developmental theory is presented that illustrates how, within the limits offered by biological- and culture-based plasticity, successful ageing is accomplished by the orchestration of three behavioural processes: selection, optimization, and compensation.

If we want things to stay as they are, thing will have to change

Guiseppe di Lampedusa, The Leopard

Medical and technical knowledge in medicine has increased more in the last 50 years than in the previous five centuries. Many factors have contributed to this dramatic change, including developments in pathophysiology, genetics, molecular biology and basic science. There is no reason to fear that this daunting progress will be halted in the third millennium. The practice of medicine in the present and next decades will also change rapidly because of new perceptions and demands of the patients, and evolution in society. In this article, some factors affecting medicine and the drivers of change in health are discussed. Expenditure for health cure and care is increasing faster than the financial income. On which criteria should one re-allocate resources and decide between difficult choices? Medical doctors, sociologists, philosophers, economists, politicians all have different views of needs in a world of uncontrolled rather than controlled liberalism. Some issues are identified here, but no solutions or recommendations are offered.

In the summer of 1910 the Paris weekly L'Opinion published a series of articles that severely criticized the University of Paris. This was the beginning of an intense debate on the nature and goals of university education. The meaning and limits of scientific knowledge and research were also discussed. There was a nationalistic side to the argument as well, as the Sorbonne was attacked for following the German model. The debate is still interesting, because it raises various issues of the relationship between university and society.

The interconversion of military and civilian scientific research has been discussed in various contexts. Fritz Haber was concerned with the military application of poison gas research in the First World War. It is less well known that, simultaneously, he also initiated modern pest control by toxic substances, thus taking advantage of the military development for civilian purposes. However, the case of Haber shows that, in the Age of Mass Extermination, such conversion cannot be easily kept under control.