A year ago, Miller-McCune contributor Beryl Lieff Benderly's cover story, "The Real Science Gap," examined the discouraging reality in America of young scientists and the lack of job opportunities that they currently face. She argued that the myth that young, talented scientists don't exist anymore in America and instead suggests that promising career opportunities are dwindling and forcing them to choose a different path. Last week, the American Association of University Professors awarded Benderly its Iris Molotsky Award for Coverage in Higher Education prize. The award looks for ... Read More
Scientists Take Charles Darwin on the Road
May 15, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
“I want to send our scientists to rural schools and communities around the U.S. to talk about evolution for Darwin Day 2011.” Jory Weintraub’s words hung undigested in the silent air of the management meeting at our North Carolina center last July. “You want to send our scientists where?” I jested. “On purpose?” In my two years overseeing the daily operations of the science group at the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center, or NESCent, I have come to expect inventive programs from Weintraub, my counterpart in our education and outreach group. Core to our mission is ... Read More
Comet Theory Comes Crashing to Earth
May 14, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
It seemed like such an elegant answer to an age-old mystery: the disappearance of what are arguably North America’s first people. A speeding comet nearly 13,000 years ago was the culprit, the theory goes, spraying ice and rocks across the continent, killing the Clovis people and the mammoths they fed on, and plunging the region into a deep chill. The idea so captivated the public that three movies describing the catastrophe were produced. But now, four years after the purportedly supportive evidence was reported, a host of scientific authorities systematically have made the case that the ... Read More
Beware of Science as Political Veneer
May 13, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
Government officials often are criticized for “politicizing science” by interfering with scientists’ work in order to advance a political cause. The use and abuse of science has been a recurring theme at Miller-McCune, with examinations of the science policies of both the last Bush and current Obama administrations put under the microscope. And earlier this year, Loyola Law School’s Robert Benson castigated the GOP for what he termed its “anti-science mania.” But David Goldston also warns against “scientization of politics” — portraying all government decisions as ... Read More
Researchers Re-Open Their Minds to Psychedelic Drugs
May 5, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
Mike is hunched over a pile of soggy wood chips at the bottom of a glade in Golden Gate Park. It's a clear winter afternoon and sunlight filters through the eucalyptus trees, landing on grass still damp from a recent storm. Mike sifts through the wood chips, slowly and deliberately examining the soil beneath. Two paper bags fill a pocket of his Patagonia fleece jacket. Mike is a 28-year-old engineer at a prominent software company in San Francisco. He is soft-spoken and self-possessed; on weekends he drives his Subaru Forester to his time-share in Tahoe to ski. He donates to public radio, ... Read More