Jun 12, 2025 06:31 PM
American science's culture has contributed to the grave threat it now faces
https://www.realclearscience.com/article...15999.html
EXCERPTS: Over time, the culture of science has become increasingly focused on metrics of prestige: grant dollars, publication volume, high-profile coverage. We’ve come to equate visibility with value. In subtle but important ways, science has absorbed the habits of celebrity—chasing recognition, measuring performance by attention, and celebrating status over service. None of this started with bad intentions, but it has consequences. Most importantly, it has weakened the connection between science and the public.
[...] These aren’t just optics problems. They reflect a deeper question about whether science still appears to be accountable to the public—and whether it is seen as a shared enterprise or a professional class. This erosion of trust makes it easier for lawmakers to treat science funding as negotiable and to treat scientific research as a political football... (MORE - details)
5 things in Trump’s budget that won’t make NASA great again
https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/06/...eat-again/
INTRO: If signed into law as written, the White House's proposal to slash nearly 25 percent from NASA's budget would have some dire consequences. It would cut the agency's budget from $24.8 billion to $18.8 billion. Adjusted for inflation, this would be the smallest NASA budget since 1961, when the first American launched into space.
The proposed funding plan would halve NASA's funding for robotic science missions and technology development next year, scale back research on the International Space Station, turn off spacecraft already exploring the Solar System, and cancel NASA's Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft after two more missions in favor of procuring lower-cost commercial transportation to the Moon and Mars... (MORE - details)
https://www.realclearscience.com/article...15999.html
EXCERPTS: Over time, the culture of science has become increasingly focused on metrics of prestige: grant dollars, publication volume, high-profile coverage. We’ve come to equate visibility with value. In subtle but important ways, science has absorbed the habits of celebrity—chasing recognition, measuring performance by attention, and celebrating status over service. None of this started with bad intentions, but it has consequences. Most importantly, it has weakened the connection between science and the public.
[...] These aren’t just optics problems. They reflect a deeper question about whether science still appears to be accountable to the public—and whether it is seen as a shared enterprise or a professional class. This erosion of trust makes it easier for lawmakers to treat science funding as negotiable and to treat scientific research as a political football... (MORE - details)
5 things in Trump’s budget that won’t make NASA great again
https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/06/...eat-again/
INTRO: If signed into law as written, the White House's proposal to slash nearly 25 percent from NASA's budget would have some dire consequences. It would cut the agency's budget from $24.8 billion to $18.8 billion. Adjusted for inflation, this would be the smallest NASA budget since 1961, when the first American launched into space.
The proposed funding plan would halve NASA's funding for robotic science missions and technology development next year, scale back research on the International Space Station, turn off spacecraft already exploring the Solar System, and cancel NASA's Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft after two more missions in favor of procuring lower-cost commercial transportation to the Moon and Mars... (MORE - details)