Caroline Weinberg, an organizer for the upcoming march in Washington DC, expects smaller crowds than last year, although she admits her prediction may again be off the mark. “Last we expected 40,000 people, and we got around 100,000,” she says. She adds that most of the marchers in the nation’s capital city were concerned citizens, not practicing researchers. Read more
Scientists across the United States are just now returning to their labs after a weekend of marching, waving signs and, in many cases, wringing out rain-soaked lab coats. The steady rain that fell Saturday, 22 April, on the March for Science in Washington DC didn’t dampen participants’ enthusiasm for standing up for “science that upholds the common good and for political leaders and policy makers to enact evidence-based policies in the public interest,” to quote the March for Science website’s mission statement. Read more
A Spanish bioscience postdoc on a non-immigrant J1 visa, based in California, who wishes to remain anonymous, shares her perspective as a foreigner in the US in the current political climate with science writer Louisa Cockbill. Read more
In the wake of Donald Trump’s election, the scientific community is on edge. The future of federal science funding remains unclear, campus inclusivity is under threat, immigration policy is in disarray, and entire academic fields – such as climate change research – fear the worst. Read more
As the nature of scientific inquiry developed over centuries from the “solitary genius” model of Sir Isaac Newton to the international collaboration modelled by the Rosetta space exploration mission, UK scientists have been leaders in the development of scientific thinking and methodology. Yet, in an age where science has resulted in new technologies, improved quality of life, and improved understanding of the world around us, it faces some of its toughest challenges. Read more
In the week following the US administration’s executive order on immigration, which included a travel ban for individuals from seven designated countries, we saw a flurry of activity and responses. Read more
A review of David Cannadine’s biography of Margaret Thatcher, the UK’s first woman prime minister, describes how her background in science, as well as her gender, set her apart. “No skimming of great books from the canon in PPE for her: chemistry was a proper subject, evidence based,” writes William Waldegrave in his review for The Daily Telegraph. Waldergrave served a junior minister in Thatcher’s government before she resigned in 1990. Read more
