A Science News Story About Funding! (And It’s Pretty Good, Too)
Short version: there is a lot more good science waiting to be done than there is money to fund it each year.
Category Archives: Science-general
This is a Blog Post Linking to Someone Else's Blog Post
This is a news website article about a scientific paper
This is the part where I quote a teaser from the post.
This paragraph elaborates on the claim, adding weasel-words like “the scientists say” to shift responsibility for establishing the likely truth or accuracy of the research findings on to absolutely anybody else but me, the journalist.
In this paragraph I will state in which journal the research will be published. I won’t provide a link because either a) the concept of adding links to web pages is alien to the editors, b) I can’t be bothered, or c) the journal inexplicably set the embargo on the press release to expire before the paper was actually published.
This is the part where I tell you that I agree with the linked post, or where I would state my objections if I had any strong ones (or nits, if I was feeling nitpicky).
The Lobster or the Cracked Crab?
Backreaction: Discovery or Invention?
In the process of science, we accumulate knowledge. That’s observations, that’s applications, that’s theories. But this knowledge, does it exist before we have made it our own and it is just up to us to discover it? Or is this knowledge genuinely new, and does only come into existence once we are thinking about and working with it?
Game Over, Man, Game Over
Game over for British science?
According to the panel, cuts would cause many top-flight researchers who currently work in the UK to leave, attracted by increased science funding abroad, while overseas researchers would no longer be attracted to work in UK institutions. The quality of university teaching would suffer, and children would be put off pursuing careers in science. “What kind of signal does it send if they see other countries increasing their expenditure while there are cuts here?” asks Lord Rees.
Science funding already tends to be less than 1% of GDP in many countries (0.5% of GDP in the UK), and yet it affects innovation and future economic development. And if you let programs wither and die, it’s very, very hard to re-establish them owing to diffusion of knowledge and people.
One Step Closer to World Domination
Another atomic physicist, of the cold-atom variety — Carl Wieman — is named to join the Obama administration. Mwuhahahaha.
Things That Make Me Feel That I'm Mad
Cosmic Variance: The New Objectivity
(Science) Reporting as Truth vs. Falsity as opposed to He said vs. She said
If journalists are just mindless stenographers, they can’t be accused of making that particular mistake. But they are actually making a much more serious mistake, abandoning the search for truth in favor of the goal of not being blamed.
It’s hard to argue against this mindset, which is often mis-labeled as “objectivity.” So maybe we should be defending the New Objectivity: the crucial duty of reporters to separate what is true from what is false.
Is There 'Sci' in Sci-Fi?
Six scientists tell us about the most accurate science fiction in their fields
Several of the scientists we contacted were simply at a loss when I asked whether they could think of any science fiction that was accurate when it came to their field of study.
Legislating Reality
There are certainly ample political reasons to sometimes ignore science. Fine. Say that. But discounting or demonizing science for political ends needs to stop. Science is not subject to legislation. It’s one thing to make the case that we cannot afford to deal with greenhouse gasses right now. It’s another entirely to claim greenhouse gasses are not putting us at risk.
Q & A
The Allotrope: Answer this simple question for me please
Why is the research funding for science in most countries less than 1% of the GDP?
And even if that is the case, Why is the government trying to cut that spending?
Um, because politicians are shortsighted?