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When Science Makes Politics and Vice Versa
Evidence-based policymaking: fantasy, marketing slogan or reality? Its strict embodiment may not be found anywhere, but its variations are absolutely everywhere.
From Anti-Government to Anti-Science: Why Conservatives Have Turned Against Science
From Anti-Government to Anti-Science: Why Conservatives Have Turned Against Science
Empirical data do not support the conclusion of a crisis of public trust in science. They do support the conclusion of a crisis of conservative trust in science: polls show that American attitudes toward science are highly polarized along political lines. In this essay, we argue that conservative hostility toward science is rooted in conservative hostility toward government regulation of the marketplace, which has morphed in recent decades into conservative hostility to government, tout court. This distrust was cultivated by conservative business leaders for nearly a century, but took strong hold during the Reagan administration, largely in response to scientific evidence of environmental crises that invited governmental response. Thus, science-particularly environmental and public health science-became the target of conservative anti-regulatory attitudes. We argue that contemporary distrust of science is mostly collateral damage, a spillover from carefully orchestrated conservative distrust of government.
'Huge Relief' in Brazilian Scientific Community After Lula's Win
The sentiment is widely shared in Brazil’s scientific community, where many feared a second term for Bolsonaro might be catastrophic for issues they care about, including support for science, climate policy, and deforestation.
I Was a Presidential Science Adviser - Here Are the Many Challenges Arati Prabhakar Faces As She Takes over President Biden's Science Policy Office
I Was a Presidential Science Adviser - Here Are the Many Challenges Arati Prabhakar Faces As She Takes over President Biden's Science Policy Office
The director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy plays a critical role in achieving the president's science goals. Facilitating cooperation among the dozens of research agencies is key.
Assessing Social Aid: the Scale-up Process Needs Evidence, Too
Assessing Social Aid: the Scale-up Process Needs Evidence, Too
When programmes expand, new complexities and indirect consequences must be studied.
The New Superstition
Every era has its myths and rituals, doomed to seem absurd to future generations. Today, we believe in psychology.
'I Feel Lost': Chilean Researchers Saddened by Vote to Reject New Constitution
Nearly 62% of Chileans voted against the proposed charter, which would have boosted science.
In Defence of the Objective World
Postmodern ideas have gained the status of absolute truths. Relativism, selectively appropriated into the language of both left and right politics, has metamorphosed into dogma. As oversimplification distorts communication, public trust in scientific fact has eroded. Could renewed ideas of objectivity be a way out?
Zoom In: National Science Week Prize Puts Photography Under the Microscope - in Pictures
Zoom In: National Science Week Prize Puts Photography Under the Microscope - in Pictures
Lab-grown spinal cords and glowing fish larvae are among the images in an annual competition to find the best pictures taken under the microscope,
Summer Reader: A Look Back at This Year's Main R&D Policy Stories
It's August and most research and innovation policy wonks have left Brussels. But, if you have summer homework and you need to read up on this year's main developments in research and innovation, we've got you covered. In our view, there have been two main stories this year for EU R&I policy: international chaos, and Horizon.
James Lovelock, Creator of Gaia Hypothesis, Dies on 103rd Birthday
The scientist was best known for his theory that the Earth is a self-regulating community of organisms
We Built a Science Institute from Scratch
With no research institute in Nepal equipped to support her drought research, Hemu Kafle helped establish a new one.