Science & Society

Because this is a science site, we're going to discuss it when a taxpayer-funded agency is found to be squandering valuable dollars on junk and waste that instead could he used to fund actual transformative research.  Unlike the rest of the science blogging on the Internet, we (okay, I - virtually no one here agrees with me) don't circle the wagons around every project just because it claims to be science and instead want money to be used efficiently and for maximum impact.  Budgets are finite.  If science funding is wasted, good science projects won't get money from some…

One of these loons who thinks all university research is worthless managed to get another op-ed to that effect published in the Chronicle of Higher Education. It's worth looking at, not for the article itself, but for the lengthy and emotional comment thread. The word "all" is key -  Science 2.0 readers surely agree that some academic research is crap - and I'm particularly sensitive to charges like the one in the Chronicle because a different loon, an influential friend of the Governor of Texas, managed to get like-minded regents appointed to my alma mater, UT-Austin. The…

Must be a zeitgeist thing.  Our own Ground Station Calliope kickstarter fundraiser succeeded, to help fund our Science 2.0 Project Calliope.  Now the NY Times is reporting that other scientists have also been using kickstarter to fund science.  They cite missions in the $4-15K range, and give it the catchy term 'substitutional funding'. Unfortunately, the garbage quote from the piece is one scientist noting "I think people will invest in projects that are carried out by young people who have no other possibilities to put forward their ideas.”  Myself, I am sick and tired…

This short story is about a surprising effect: you put something on the web without much advertising for it - and it might find perhaps more users than if you publish it in a traditional Journal. Here I talk about scientific or educational text. I often find similar cases the other way - things I am looking for might be at private pages and not in Journals. Often because some pieces of information which really are useful do not fit policies of any Journal, or the "referees" throw such trivial information away. This might be a long discussion, so let us rather go to my own little story. Three…

Botany: A Blooming History The last episode of the series by Timothy Walker majored on the exploits of noble scientists whose aim was Feeding the World The first of these is Nikolái Ivánovich Vavílov (Russian: Никола́й Ива́нович Вави́лов) (1887 – 1943) who was  a prominent Russian and Soviet botanist and geneticist best known for having identified the centres of origin of cultivated plants. He devoted his life to the study and improvement of wheat, corn, and other cereal crops that sustain the global population.Even before the Russian revolution, he was a hardy plant…

Recently, New Scientist (with the Royal Academy of Engineering as competition partner) started a poll/competition where readers could send in a brief statement of what they thought would be the 'nex big thing' in engineering. The question was 'Which technology do you think will have the biggest impact on human life in the next 30 years?' After sending in a proposal, it was up to the votes of the New Scientist readers.There were many entries, ranging from improved nuclear power to quantum computing (see all entries here). The five shortlisted ones (in no particalur order) were: Synthetic…

Studying science quantitavely has often taken the form of studying publications, such as citation counts, or identifying author networks. But now, Samuel Arbesman and Nicholas Christakis (2011) argue that there are two fairly recent developments that would enable a new approach to the study of scientific discoveries: 1) Vast computational resources and storage capacity, and 2) Automated science. This new appraoch would offer potential for a new field that concerns itself with the study of scientific discoveries. In the words of the authors: These innovations offer the potential for a new type…

Here's a way to make the bloated costs of health care reform seem more palatable to opponents - it will knock 220,000 illegal immigrants out of the health care system just in California alone. A new policy brief from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research says up to 20 percent of all uninsured children in California are those of illegal immigrants, but even some who are here legally may not apply because of confusing rules in The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) , known colloquially, thanks to pundits like Bill Maher and detractors in the debate, as ObamaCare.…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s federal regulatory process is stifling commercial investment in the development of genetically engineered animals for food, warns a task force led by a U.C. Davis animal scientist, and that could have serious implications for agriculture and food security in the United States. Clouding the science issues are anti-science opposition groups that seek to delay or obstruct approval by co-opting regulations and concerns about labeling requirements.  The FDA does not require that food labels include information about production methods, such as genetic…

On a recent post, I was asked how facilitated communication supporters explain the tests that show FC doesn't work. On something so easily shown to be false, why does this persist? Why are major organizations like the Autism Society (and apparently Autism Now) supporters of the thoroughly debunked facilitated communication? Why can't more people see through feel-good stories where previously locked-away children suddenly start doing college-level work when they get facilitated, or just as bad, rapid prompting? Part of it's political correctness. You stand up and call hoo-ey on a disabled…