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Published online 14 January 2009 | Nature 457, 240-241 (2009) | doi:10.1038/457240a
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Science tipped to score in Obama cash stimulus
Researchers jockey for a piece of the US economic package.
The US research community stands to gain billions of dollars in funding, as Democratic leaders in Washington DC seek to lay the foundation for a greener, more competitive economy in a $750-billion stimulus package.
Scientific groups are actively pushing their argument that modernizing the nation's scientific infrastructure could help create the skilled workforce needed to address challenges such as global warming.
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Let's not be foolish and greedy with the future. The exact human sentiments that have conducted us to the position where we are. With the opportunity for an investment in the future of science, we must consider what is the most important area to stimulate. Where is the weakest link in human society related to science. Of course it is easy for scientists to scream for money and grants to go on with business as usual. The science community is flooded with researchers needing funds. There are tons of post-docs who can't find a meaningful position. But will funding this simply add to a system that is already bloated and unstable. Is science simply following the financial institutions and auto industry who should be economically forced to rethink their industry rather than being given handouts so that they can have their top people receive huge bonuses while the laborer is laid off to save the company? I would argue that the largest value for future science investment is in the educational system. Teach teachers through high school how to better teach science and enhance the math and science education of the nation's youth. So many people are loosing jobs to "technology" and being unemployed and not having the education to work at a higher level than the service industry in a market economy. University education standards are dropping like a rock as the incoming students fear math and don't understand basics. Many students we teach don't have a good understanding of basic math. The best effort for science, math and technology is to put a huge effort on basic education. Not just traditional education, but invest in discovering how to make learning science relevant and interesting to the youth of today and the future. Invest in teaching the students how to care about science related issues and the world they are intimately part of. That every action, social or consumer, has a reaction. That the cradle to the grave systems have dire consequences. If we raise the level of the base, the entire system is raised. Investments in research will take decades to pay off as it is. Investment in high school education can pay off in as little as 4 or 8 years. This is a faster turn around time per dollar invested than investing in an existing scientific structure. In making this statement, I hurt my own research interests. I think that the science community should really think about where the largest gains can be made before we try to stick our hands into a potential pot of funding and start fighting with each other over it.