Chris Mooney posted a couple of things last week– one article at ScienceProgress and one blog post— talking about the supposed shortage of scientists in the “pipeline.” Following an Urban Insitute study, he says that there’s really no shortage of scientists being trained, but rather a shortage of jobs for those scientists. Coming as he… Continue reading Scientists and Indie Rockers
Category: Policy
A Call for a Science Debate
Following on an article in Seed and an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, ScienceBloggers Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum (of
The Easterbrook Idiocy Supercollider
I generally like Gregg Easterbrook’s writing about football (though he’s kind of gone off the deep end regarding the Patriots this year), but everything else he turns his hand to is a disaster. In particular, he tends to pad his columns out with references to science and technology issues. I’m not quite sure what the… Continue reading The Easterbrook Idiocy Supercollider
Announcing the Uncertain Principles Physics Scholarship Program
In the spirit of the newly clarified regulations governing the Academic Competitiveness Grant and National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent (SMART) Grant Programs administered by the Department of Education, I am pleased to announce the Uncertain Principles Physics Scholarship Program. Under this program, I pledge to personally pay the full tuition for any… Continue reading Announcing the Uncertain Principles Physics Scholarship Program
Requiem for the Space Age
The New York Times is commemorating the 50th anniversary of Sputnik with a huge clump of articles about, well, space. I’m a little surprised that I haven’t seen more said about these– they turned up in my RSS feeds on Tuesday, but I’ve been both busy and slightly ill, and haven’t gotten around to blogging… Continue reading Requiem for the Space Age
Fundamental Research Funding
Michael Nielsen, who’s so smart it’s like he’s posting from tomorrow, offers a couple of provocative questions about the perception of a crisis in funding for basic science: First, how much funding is enough for fundamental research? What criterion should be used to decide how much money is the right amount to spend on fundamental… Continue reading Fundamental Research Funding
Science Is Not Zero-Sum
Matt Yglesias spent a while on Friday taking shots at Newt Gingrich, and made a dumb argument in the process: I’m consistently baffled by the invocation of China and India in this context; I’d love for somebody to write up a model for me in which the optimal level of US investment in math and… Continue reading Science Is Not Zero-Sum
Easterbrook in Space
Steinn points to that rarest of rarities, a Gregg Easterbrook column on scientific matters (in Wired no less!) that isn’t completely idiotic. In this case, he takes on the misplaced priorities of NASA. Of course, this being Easterbrook, it can’t be entirely right, and I think he’s too harsh in assigning all the blame to… Continue reading Easterbrook in Space
Show Me the Money
Inside Higher Ed notes in passing a new bill from the Senate supporting scientific research. There’s a lot of bafflegab there, but if you scroll to the bottom, you can find the executive summary: More specifically, the Commerce and Science Division of the America COMPETES Act would: Increase Research Investment by: Establishing the Innovation Acceleration… Continue reading Show Me the Money
Goals
I want to see ample funding for scientific research, or failing that, at least adequate funding for scientific research. Good experiments should not have to go begging for research funding. I want to see funding priorities set on scientific criteria, based on what projects and programs have the best chance of improving our knowledge of… Continue reading Goals