It was truly stirring to be in Washington DC on the national mall during the inauguration. No matter what your politics, it’s difficult to not be moved by the presence of so many people who want the best for their country.

I slipped in the back, near the Lincoln memorial, where the crowd was happy but low-key. No huge “Obama” chants, like the hard-core fans pressed in closer to the capitol, but a lot of rapt listeners, cheering at lines like Obama’s pledge to uphold the bill of rights.

I had my own cheers. Funny, nobody joined me in the chant for Steve Chu, our new energy secretary, when he appeared in the lineup before the speech. Then he said it: “Science!”

Obama said the word right up front, when he laid the groundwork of what his new administration would be about:

We will restore science to its rightful place and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its costs.

I started the science-O-meter during the presidential debates. Obama handily beat McCain, using the word “Science” at least twice as often. But while the inauguration was historical in many respects, it was not as measured by the Science-O-meter. The word has been used in inauguration speeches before, for instance by Woodrow Wilson and John F. Kennedy, who wielded it with more sinister undertones:

Finally, to those nations who would make themselves our adversary, we offer not a pledge but a request: that both sides begin anew the quest for peace, before the dark powers of destruction unleashed by science engulf all humanity in planned or accidental self-destruction.

Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors.

I like to think by using the word Obama also meant something broader, that his policies will be driven more by facts than ideology. That seems evident in the phrasing he used to convey his core governing philosophy:

The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works, whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified.

After the inauguration I walked along the river towards Georgetown. Waved goodbye to Bush’s helicopter and went and ate lunch at Clyde’s restaurant. I drank and talked late into the night with my friends, wondering how anyone could manage to go to one ball, much less ten.

Now the work begins—and the science-O-meter keeps on ticking.

There were lots of ways to make it to the inauguration festivities. You could brave the crowds on the metro. You could take one of the eerily empty buses heading downtown. It took ten minutes to drive across town, since cars were scared from the roads. Entire families bundled up to cycle on the trails to the national mall.

Or, you could try and kayak. Oops. Oh yes, except the weather was below freezing.

But that didn’t seem to stop these two idiots who thought that they could paddle down a treacherous river of ice. I passed by them-and their massive rescue operation-when I was cycling down by the Potomac River on the day of the inauguration concert.

Fortunately the city was ready for any disaster. At least six fire engines screamed down to the shore, two police boats cleaved through the mush ice at top speed and helicopter zoomed to the scene. Thankfully Obamania didn’t make most people this stupid.

President Kennedy once famously declared Washington, DC a city of “Southern efficiency and Northern charm.” Something happened the last few days. Despite the crowds, people have not only been amazingly civil, but outright friendly—strangers strike up conversations, locals take the time to point out-of-towners in the right direction. I’d be happy if this relaxed courtesy courteous lingered but I suspect it might be due to the influx of people from more polite locations—not to mention what I’ve observed to be the euphoria-inducing effects of Obama-mania.

That mania translated on Monday into a mass of people across the country taking part in community service—in response to a call from Obama to observe the intent, declared by Congress, of Martin Luther King Day. In Philadelphia alone 60,000 people volunteered, and in Washington DC thousands wanting to help were turned away from food banks and schools. On the subway I met a family from New York city carrying plastic bags so they could pick up random litter they found on their trek through the city.

I was less imaginative with 21-month old in tow. So my biggest contribution to the collective good was to direct a woman from Illinois to a decent place for lunch (Ben’s Chili Bowl, of course). She pinned an inauguration button onto my daughter, who was spinnning around happily to a rendition of “This little light of mine” as part of a concert at the Smithsonian of American spirituals.

So, what’s all that have to do with science? It seems someone with an eye on science has been shining their light for the larger community in the last few weeks. That’s evident in the boon for science in the economic stimulus plan crafted by Obama’s transition team and Democratic congressional leaders.

Along with money for other agencies, the plan calls for $3.5 billion for NIH and $3 billion for NSF—half of its annual budget. That’s pleased science advocacy groups who, along with us at Nature Medicine, have argued that investing in science not only lays the groundwork for future prosperity it also creates jobs in the short-term (message to John Boehner, minority leader of the House—scientists have to eat too). It also helps, of course, that the new administration is receptive to such ideas.

We’ll see if the plan survives the congressional gamut. Keep shining that light.

The masses have converged here in DC for the inauguration—and for many partygoers it kicked off on U street on Saturday night.

Vendors, two to every block, plied their Obama T-shirts and blinking fluorescent Obama buttons. In front of Ben’s Chili Bowl—almost as much of a DC icon as the Jefferson Memorial—a crowd of hungry onlookers gathered. Business must be booming since Mayor Adrian Fenty took Obama there last week for a half-smoke. At 3 a.m. people were still straining to take pictures.

At “Town” a giant club on 9th street, hundreds—maybe thousands—of sweaty dancers celebrated “DC’s Official Gay Inauguration Dance Party.” There was no sign of Rick Warren—the controversial evangelist chosen to give the invocation at the inauguration. But Barack Obama was omnipresent. Dancers scoped each other out underneath giant images of the president-elect, projected on every video screen. Tinsel and red white and blue bunting were everywhere. “He’s the best we have,” said one club-goer of the surreal mix of earsplitting techno, bare chests and political fervor.

At the 7-Eleven someone was selling “Obama water.” Said one woman in purple, “It’s better than Kool-Aid!”

That was just the beginning of inauguration frenzy. We’ll see how much more of the frenzy, and the freezing weather I can take, but I will probably be threading my bike through the crowds on the way to the national mall on Tuesday to check out the scene.

Meanwhile, here is my personal lowdown on the science- and health-related Obama nominees and appointments. What is yours?

Steven Chu—a scientist to head the Department of Energy? Wow. Chu seems to round out a line-up that takes the science on global warming seriously, including John Holdren, his pick for science advisor, Lisa Jackon, his nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency and Carol Browner, who will act as White House czar on climate and energy. You can complain about some of Obama’s appointments being more of the same, or more of the Clinton era, but when it comes to global warming issues it looks like change to me.

John Holdren, science advisor (Holdren will be a co-chair of PCAST, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and—the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, a position restored to its former glamour, before Bush eliminated it). As former head of the Woods Hole Research Center, Holdren is known to have a grasp of issues that concern biologists. I also hope he has had the opportunity to look at a few marine embryos under the microscope—super cool.

Harold Varmus, co-chair of PCAST. The coolest thing about Varmus is that as NIH Director he declared “to support and defend the Constitution against anyone who says I can’t bring my bicycle into the building.” I am not sure exactly what PCAST does, but surely that depends on whether Obama takes his science advisors seriously—and according to his address in December, he plans to. Advocates of open-access publishing will surely get some extra clout from the appointment of Varmus, a co-founder of the Public Library of Science. The third co-chair, Eric Lander must know everyone in the business and he does think big.

Tom Daschle—head of the Department of Health and Human Services. Healthcare reform is more politics than policy—and surely Daschle knows the lay of the land. As I crushed out my (rare but savored) cigarette before getting into a cab Saturday night, I thought of the scolding I would get from Obama’s probable pick for Deputy Secretary of HHS, William Corr, currently the executive director of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. Given that tobacco remains our nations number one killer—and kids the front-line consumers—the possibility of Corr’s nomination has deservedly resulted in cheers from the public health sector. Maybe he can also help Obama stay away from the evil drug.

Sanjay Gupta: Seems like nobody has listened to surgeon general since the bearded Reagan-era Dr. Koop (I don’t think he even has a first name). But if Obama wants to give the office a voice again, it makes sense to choose someone people know—such as this CNN commentator, rumored to be Obama’s top pick.

Tom Vilsack, to head the Department of Agriculture. I am waiting for politicians to show some spine and eliminate the incredible waste of taxpayer money that goes to prop up wealthy industrial farmers. Writers such as Michael Pollan convincingly argue that billions spent on crops like corn help keep our diet rich in high fructose corn syrup and low in actual fruit—and contribute to our epidemic of obesity. Meanwhile, most small farmers, like the one who delivers fresh organic vegetables to my neighborhood each week, get nothing. It’s unclear whether this former governer of Iowa has the will, desire, or mandate to put our agricultural system back on course.

Jane Lubchenco, head of NOAA (National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Association). A bone fide fish-hugger.

I know there is someone I’m forgetting. But I have to go sleep off that Obama cocktail…

To find out more about these nominees and for actually astute commentary, read Nature’s coverage.

The New York Times, which has the kind of web tools that some of us can only dream about, published a couple of days ago an interactive feature called “”https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/01/15/us/politics/20090115_HOPE.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink">I hope so, too". The newspaper asked 200 people to state their greatest hopes for what Barack Obama might accomplish during his presidency, and then invited readers to choose the hopes they agree with.

I was surprised to see that science was nowhere to be found among the 29 “hopes” catalogued by the Times. The closest it got was “Education” and “Environment”. Is it the case that science is so far below the radar of the average person on the street to not be mentioned by 200 random people sufficiently enough to become category # 30? Fortunately, the Times also invited readers to comment in case their hope was not represented, and a fair number of people who took the time to add their two cents called for increased respect for and support of science.

Although the indications so far are that Obama will take science and technology seriously, it’s a bit disappointing that science didn’t rank particularly high in people’s priorities. Having said that, and considering the tough times that the US and the whole world are going through, many people could be excused for having other things in their minds, asthere was no shortage of things to hope for. That’s the only bonanza we can expect to see in the immediate future.