A pause during a busy day at Duke to post this fantastic piece from Nature:
Quit whining and get proactive. That's the message that policy experts gave scientists at the weekend [AAA conference]. They advised them to stop complaining that politicians don't take science seriously and instead prepare for the presidential changeover next January.
Scientists were urged to organize now -- for instance, by coming up with a list of names for high-profile science positions in the new administration, no matter who runs it.
Later the article discusses Saturday's Boston debate and ScienceDebate2008:
Both advisers said their candidates were considering participating in the science debate, planned for 18 April at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Invitations have also gone to John McCain and Mike Huckabee.The pair, together with Ron Paul, were all invited to the AAAS meeting, although none sent a representative.
Outgoing AAAS president David Baltimore says he sees little difference between the Democratic candidates, and knows little about where McCain stands on science issues. But no matter who wins, he says, "we'll be light years ahead of where we are".
Nature's Editor-In-Chief Phillip Campbell, along with U.S. Executive Editor Linda Miller, and Editor Jamie Wilson are luminary endorsers of ScienceDebat2008. Read the full story here.
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You know, I was just saying to a friend of mine the same sort of thing. I was handing out those buttons at AAAS, and I am glad to have participated. But I'm actually almost ashamed that the steering committee/organizers of this are largely not practicing scientists. We should have been leading this. I think we do need to shake more trees.
I'm so glad to have these great allies, of course. I just feel like we should have been doing this all along.
(And I have a handfull of buttons left if anyone wants one...)