Results tagged “policy” from 60 Second Science

Canada, oh, Canada: Our do-gooder big brother just can't seem to get it right. Usually he's busy trying to impress Mom, but lately he's decided to rebel in a bold effort to challenge us as the cool bad boy.

But they may have gone too far this time: Canadia (the 'i' is silent) is closing the position of national science adviser after current adviser Arthur Carty retires on March 1st. Several of the country's scientists are understandably concerned, including Queen's University ecology professor John Smol:

"Having someone in a position to advise the prime minister or a cabinet minister gave me more confidence in the process," Smol said. "There's so little of this contact between the scientific community and politicians. If you remove one of those major contacts, I don't see it as a positive thing."

Continue reading 'Canada ends national science advisor position; nation's scientists let out collective 'eh?'' >

The presidential campaigns are heating up, and we're still hearing very little about science. Will we? Three weeks ago, Science featured a special section devoted to candidates’ opinions and views on science. Unfortunately, some of those articles are available only to subscribers.

Not so at Physics Today, which is published by the American Institute of Physics. At the web site, you can read about the major candidates and their official positions on topics related to science. Physics Today posed six questions to the major contenders; the topics for the questions included science education, teaching evolution, nuclear weapons, science investment, energy policy and climate change. The answers to the questions are pulled from the candidates’ web sites.

Do you know of other publications tracking the candidates' views on science? Let me know in the "comments" section. Here's a link to the "climate change" section of the New York Times Election Guide.

And if you're not sure which candidate you should throw support, play “Choose Your Candidate” at the Washington Post here.

Continue reading 'Candidates and science, round two' >

Do we really want a president who once said he "didn't believe in the theory" when asked about evolution?

Candidates for the US presidency seem to spend more time telling me what they think of each other than telling me what they think about science. We hear the occasional sound bite about climate change, but what about those other issues that will have to be reckoned with, like the future of stem cells or alternative energy sources? (Or more responses to this administration’s reprehensible practice of altering data to fit desired conclusions?)

I’m grateful to the journal Science for including “Science and the next US President” in today’s issue. It’s a quick guide to what the leading candidates have said about big issues in science, and it makes no bones about the fact that science is not on the forefront of any campaign.

From the introduction:

"It's pretty hard to find a candidate from either party who is gung ho for science," laments Representative Vernon Ehlers (R-MI), one of two Ph.D. physicists in Congress and an indefatigable promoter of science and technology.

Here are some excerpts from the article about last night’s big winners in the Iowa caucuses:

Continue reading 'What does your candidate think about science?' >