There will no doubt be a lot of reading between the lines here, and conclusions related to many of the other issues connected with the Presidential campaign. This is too bad, because I think my main point, along with this story, may well get buried due to the vicissitudes of the news cycle. Governor Palin […]
June 23 Update – The Golden Goose Award organizers reached out and pointed me to this press noting criticism of the screwworm fly study. There are likely contemporaneous references in the Congressional Record, which to my knowledge has not been digitized that far back. ORIGINAL POST Today the organizers of the Golden Goose Award recognized […]
During a recent Congressional hearing, an National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant was criticized for pursuing what a Congressman considered a political agenda. As part of that same hearing, the NIH Director was given a letter from the subcommittee chair asking him to review grants that appeared to be supporting the production of lobbying material […]
An op-ed in Sunday’s Washington Post gave notice that the first annual Golden Goose Awards will be presented this week. The ceremony is scheduled for Thursday evening in Washington. Eligibility criteria are as follows: Nominees must have received a federally funded research grant within the past 60 years that contributed to an important discovery or […]
A science policy cliché identified by Daniel Sarewitz is that science (and technology) policy is really just science and technology budget policy. A likely consequence of this cliché is the occasional collective freak-out over legislative moves that could affect the research budget but often don’t go anywhere. The latest collective freakout is over the Flake […]
Yesterday I read about a new science award, aimed to recognize research breakthroughs that paid off long after the initial research funding. The organizers/sponsors of the award include the organization formerly known as the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Association of American Universities, the Progressive Policy Institute, and a collection of House […]
That’s the question I have after exploring this: https://twitter.com/#!/scienceprogress/status/161500622644973568 The blog in question is actually a Tumblr site from the Science, Engineering and Education Innovation (SEEInnovation) program of the National Science Foundation (NSF). SEEInnovation is supposed to communicate research results to interested non-researchers. This could include policymakers, science-related organizations (their words, not mine), and the […]
As part of its Societal Benefits of Research Illustrated project, the Association of American Universities has put out two issues of Scientific Enquirer (Vol. 1, Vol. 2), a tabloid that seeks to explain the value of those projects that are ripe for quick sound-bite ridicule. The tabloids are interesting, and certainly eye-catching. Comparing the first […]
Thanks to a link to one of my periodic dismissals of the Mooney ‘war on science’ meme, I’ve been getting an upsurge in traffic. Excellent, though it really demonstrates the difference in magnitude between this little blog and a piece of the ScienceBlogs mothership. It also demonstrates a lack of engagement from the author with […]
The stimulus legislation has provided fodder for that time honored tradition of targeting specific line items for their apparent ridiculousness. While they can make for good sound bites and PR copy, frequently such items are actually of some use. You’ve probably heard Governor Jindal, get roundly criticized on many points for his response to the […]
Pasco Phronesis 