News: In science we trust (Nature pp 388-389, Scientific American pp 56-59)
Scientific advances can stimulate the economy and are behind many of today’s top political issues, but how does the scientifically literate public feel about science? Scientific American and Nature teamed up to find out, with a survey that drew responses from 21,000 readers around the world.
The questions covered subjects ranging from trust in scientists and whether they should get involved in politics to spending on research. Distinctions became apparent between the United States and Europe in terms of attitudes to technologies; these are highlighted in the Scientific American article.
Only 18% of US respondents wish to phase out nuclear power, compared with 66% of European respondents, and only 13% of US respondents are concerned about the risks associated with genetically modified crops, compared with 27% of Europeans. But just 8% of respondents across the whole geographical range would disapprove of embryo research under any circumstances.
Nature’s feature focuses on the striking differences between the responses from east Asia and those from the rest of the world. For example, a startling 35% of Japanese respondents and nearly 50% of Chinese respondents agreed that there is “reason for doubt” about evolutionary theory’s ability to explain the variety of species on Earth. In contrast, the numbers for the rest of the world fluctuated around 10%. Japanese and Chinese respondents were also less likely than others to say that they trust scientific explanations for the origins of the Universe. And almost a third of scientifically literate Chinese people say that scientists should stay out of politics, compared with around 10% in most of the rest of the world.
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News Feature: Making the cut (pp 383-385)
Research careers are made or broken by the decisions of grant-funding committees — but normally these take place behind closed doors. This week, Nature provides a rare glimpse of the tensions, agonies and battles at a grant-review meeting after securing access to a panel at the American Cancer Society, the largest private non-profit funder of cancer research in the United States.
Senior reviewers say that when the success rate drops, as it has in many major funding bodies in recent years, the review process starts to fall apart, and reviewers feel forced into making impossible choices between equally worthy proposals. Kendall Powell reports on those tough decisions, and finds out what it really takes to make the cut.
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Helen Pearson (Chief Features Editor, Nature, New York)
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News: Boom and bust strands Pakistan’s universities (pp 378-379)
After devastating floods, Pakistan’s dreams of developing a world-class higher-education system hang in the balance. A Nature investigation has found that many research projects are on hold, and the Higher Education Commission fears that the worse may be yet to come. Supporters say that a decade’s worth of strong growth could be lost if government support and international aid are not forthcoming. But critics say that much of the funding received during the 2000s led to waste and corruption on campus.
Nature’s reporters in Karachi and London detail the problems now facing the system, and an accompanying Editorial calls for continued support for higher education in Pakistan.
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Geoff Brumfiel (Senior Reporter, Nature, London)
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