Maybe politicians and policymakers are smarter than scientists
To continue with the basic research meme, here’s Lewis Branscomb distinguishing the goals of research with how it’s conducted (emphasis added): I be...
Category: Academia
What is HPS 101?
The recent discussions on the practical relevance of history and philosophy of science brought to mind this great Ezra Klein column. Klein attended the America...
The conflation of educatation and research
I may be shooting in the dark here, but I wonder how much of the increase in college costs I just discussed can be attributed to the uniquely (?) American syste...
The value of education
I know I owe David Bruggeman a response and I’m slowly working on it. Until I sort through my thoughts, I’ll highlight a recent WSJ piece on the gr...
Scientists, engineers and funding
David Bruggeman wants clarification on my desire to see more public engagement from historians and philosophers of science. I’ll pass on that for now bec...
The disconnect of basic research
Via Ezra Klein, I came across this excellent but dated Newsweek article cleverly titled “We Fought Cancer…And Cancer Won.” It nicely discusses...
Two quick things
I know I still have to respond to the comments on my reading comprehension/science literacy post. I’ll get to that soon. Until then, I recommend you che...
Disunity yet again plus impolite scientists
A couple quick points. First, check out Joe Romm’s post on this recent Times article. Apparently most meteorologists neither have training in climate sc...