Bush Hates Science

The headline above is meant to be attention getting. I hope it worked.

Now go read this week's BBC "Point of View" in which Harold Evans considers rising concern in the US over the Bush administration's hostility to science.

Some worrying statistics are included.

"this is the first time in a decade that federal funding has failed to keep pace with inflation. And in the entrails of the complex budget - no one should go there alone - you find there is indeed less money in real terms for what's called basic research and less for...computer science."

University research funding for computer science is now about half what it was in 2001.

America now ranks sixth in the world in the percentage of its wealth it spends on R&D.

Fewer of the Nobel prizes go to American scientists, down to about half from a peak in the 90s. Papers from Americans occupied 61% of published research in 1983, now the total is just under 29%.

"a higher proportion of young Americans are opting for better paid law and medicine over science and engineering and visa restrictions on bright foreign students further dilute the talent pool."

"For more than a year, the nationally well-regarded Union of Concerned Scientists - a non-partisan body - has been receiving hundreds of signatures backing the Union's call for regulatory and legislative action to restore scientific integrity to policy making. To date no fewer than 7,600 scientists have signed, including 49 Nobel Laureates."