4S Backchannels is an online platform publishing at the intersections of science, technology, and society. As part of the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S), our platform brings a global community of scholars in Science and Technology Studies (STS), History of Science (HOS), Medical Humanities, and adjacent fields into communication. ‘Backchannels’ refer to direct lines of communication that bypass many obstacles and limitations, facilitating the timely publication of emergent work and current themes. 4S Backchannels publishes research projects, scholarly reflections, conference/event reports, and book reviews submitted by established and emerging scholars, and other contributors thinking critically about the articulations of science, technology, and society.
The mission of 4S Backchannels is to support the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) and the global STS community by publishing scholarly, timely, and media-rich works on our platform.
Please refer to our Publication Guidelines for information on submitting to Backchannels, and familiarize yourself with our Editorial Team.
Sep 21 2026
Galls or cecidia are vegetal tissue outgrowths generated when insects or other organisms meet plants. They are resourceful common life entanglements, transdisciplinary by nature.
Sep 7 2026
In Making Do, Conservation Ethics and Ecological Care in Australia (2026), Mardi Reardon-Smith (University of Monash) provides ethnographic insights to the ways in which 'care' brings humans, nonhumans, and landscapes of Cape York together through the practices and politics of 'making do'. This book review features stunning photography taken by Reardon-Smith during their time in the field, and an interview with the author.
Aug 17 2026
This bilingual article (English and Portuguese) traces the creation of the Brazilian scientific journal Revista Brasileira de Estudos CTS (RBCTS), dedicated to STS, and its role in consolidating the field in Brazil and Latin America. It reflects on journals as infrastructures for knowledge circulation, exchange, and collective memory. The article discusses the challenges of building an open-access, interdisciplinary, and socially engaged space for STS scholarship.
Aug 3 2026
This article introduces 'technobotany' and the entanglements of botany and technology that shape the nature of science and society. It examines the new space race as a technobotanical frontier featuring photosynthetic technologies designed to power lunar outposts and Martian colonies, anticipating the extraction of rare metals and minerals for energy-intensive societies on Earth.
Aug 3 2026
This report reflects on the establishment of the Science, Technology and Society (STS) Committee of the Chinese Society for the History of Science and Technology, formally founded during a national symposium at Beijing Normal University in June 2026. The milestone marks a significant step in the institutionalisation of STS in China, bringing together scholars from across the country while strengthening connections with the international STS community.
Jul 27 2026
In 2025, a controversy erupted over a study into the safety and “non-specific effects” of the hepatitis B vaccine among children in Guinea-Bissau. This post traces the life of the concept of “non-specific effects”, from the early 1990s to the political context of the mid-2020s.
Jul 20 2026
Anton Novenanto writes a thought-provoking reflection, offering to understand STS initiatives in Indonesia as projects countering the neoliberalisation of knowledge. The text is available in Indonesian and English.
Jul 16 2026
Relatório de las XVI Jornadas ESOCITE / Report of the XVI Latin American Conference on Social Studies of Science and Technology (ESOCITE) - Bogotá, Colombia 2026
Jul 13 2026
This essay discusses research at the intersection of electrical engineering and microbiology, and the cultivation of the bacterium Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 for nanomaterial synthesis and environmental biosensing. Reflecting on how engineering with microbes reshapes methods and assumptions, Dr. Rees (University of Albany) distinguishes between instrumental and collaborative paradigms, asking: Who counts as a stakeholder in microbial biotechnology, and what obligations do engineers hold toward t...
Jun 15 2026
Abstract are new being accepted for the III Encuentro CTS Perú 2026, an international academic space dedicated to reflection and debate on the challenges of innovation and the complex relationships shaping science, technology, and society in Peru and Latin America. Participation is free for accepted panelists. Interested researchers, practitioners, and students are invited to submit a short abstract (up to 300 words) to one of the six thematic panels by August 1, 2026.