The latest melee in the culture wars over public science funding comes from conservative CNS News, who apparently just discovered a government-funded study from 6 years ago on duck genitalia.
The best new scientific idea in years
Crowdfunding site Kickstarter has now successfully helped more than one project earn over $1 million, turning the traditional model of media production on its ear. What if we could do the same thing for science? With government spending for the sciences on the decline, entrepreneur Matt Salzberg saw an opportunity.…
How the American Museum of Natural History will train the next…
It's no secret that the U.S. education system is hurting, especially when it comes to science teachers. Public schools are chronically underfunded, and the most talented college graduates shy away from entering the teaching profession when its future seems so grim. But hope isn't lost. A pioneering program at New…
What does the Supercommittee failure mean for the future of scientific …
The levels of support received by any government-funded program are expected to fluctuate in kind with a country's budgetary fortunes, but the history of federally funded science in the United States has been especially strained by the ongoing transformation of the nation's budget.
Breakthrough: Gene Therapy Provides Full Protection from HIV…
For hundreds of years, immunization has been one of society's most elegant and dependable methods of disease prevention. Vaccines have been developed for infections ranging from measles to HPV. Many of us get vaccinated to protect ourselves against seasonal illness, or before traveling internationally. Vaccination is…
Further proof that private industry can't fund basic science
The congressional supercommittee failed to come up with a budget for the United States, so dramatic cuts will hit every sector — including government-funded science, which has already taken a budget hit two years in a row. Congress has said not to worry because when government money for endeavors like space exploration …
Our bodies are a global marketplace where bacteria trade genes
There is a vast, unseen marketplace that connects us all. The traders are the trillions of bacteria that live on or within our bodies; the commodities they exchange are genes. This flow of genes around our bodies allows bacteria to rapidly evolve new skills, including the abilities to resist antibiotics, cause…
Ecology explains how the world works
A lot of publicly funded research is often called "basic." It may seem useless to some, but can lead to great payoffs in the future. Basic research provides the foundation for monumental discoveries, fosters the development of ground-breaking technologies and gives us the information we rely on when making important…
Why the microbes in cow stomachs could help make biofuel
Last month I was lucky enough to visit one of the biggest genomics labs in the world. At the Joint Genome Institute (JGI) in Walnut Creek, CA, huge rooms full of genome sequencing machines work 24/7 to crunch the codes that create life. And the research here, funded by the US Department of Energy, has a purpose. The…
