Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
A US Congressman is asking whether support for basic research can be taken for granted. The research community, which is inclined to react impatiently, should instead give a moderate response to a fair question.
To every measurable effect there seems to be an instrument whose purpose sometimes seems to be simply to measure the measurable causes of those effects. The purpose of a neat new magnetometer is not yet clear.