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I am approaching my 70th birthday and I am still trying to can teach some graduate students the basic science required to help build the biomedical infrastructure needed to improve the lives of my 30 something children. When grant funding dries up so does graduate education.
It is probably too late to for me to avoid the fate of my father who developed dementia in his late 70s, but with luck and the appropriate funding, my children might avoid this horrible disease. Also I worry about the consequences for my children who may inhabit a world with a drastically different climate than todays.
If we are to believe in the American exceptionalism that our politicians preach, then we need to take the lead in the areas in which Dr. Alberts proposes before it is too late.
There is nothing in this that I see as "politically correct." What is politically incorect is a legislative body that would rather demagogue than compromise.
I do not believe that most scientists are 'fudging' data, nor do I believe that private institutions/companies should fund most research. Many of our major advances have come from public funding of basic science. With funds drying up, the problem is that 'safe' science tends to be funded, because it is more likely to lead to results. Dull results, maybe, but results all the same. Given that many discoveries/scientific problems need the integration of multiple disciplines, and that such interdisciplinary science is often not very 'safe', we are hampering our ability to make tangible progress on meaningful issues. To ask important and interdisciplinary questions is to be wrong sometimes; failure is a part of the scientific process. The very creativity that has been such a hallmark of our scientific enterprise is being compromised. This, I think, is an issue that should concern us all. It's hard to encourage ones graduate students to ask big important questions if they see that doing so makes it difficult to obtain research grants.
As a current grad student (Cell and molecular biology) the current situation terrifies me. Will there be post doc positions and jobs available when I graduate? Or will I be forced for find another way to use my degree?
We should get the government out of the grant business altogether. We are now suffering from Politically Correct Science as a result of the Federal Government's significant involvement in the funding of research,where in too many instances research is funded to produce a desired and acceptable result. This country was built on privately funded science . The current environment is fostering corruption as scientists try to perpetuate their lifestyles on Federal dollars. This process also contributes to the inflated cost of college educations today.
At my former institution, I have witnessed blatant data fabrication in attempts to get grants and publications, as well as the department chairman trying to cover it up when brought forth regarding his junior faculty.