Thread: Some concerning news for science in the U.S.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7612790.stm
That combined with drastic budget cuts to science funding has led and will continue to lead to the U.S. losing it's scientific reputation. Science funding is pretty much a non-issue right now even though thousands of jobs have been lost as a result of the cut funding. I am not happy, and with other larger short term issues taking the main stage for the presedential elections the nation's future as a scientific powerhouse will only be hurt further.

Many people are now having to consider using up some of their chances to get NSF grants even though the approval rate is about 3% (typically in the past, ~150 proposals are submitted, ~30 are asked back, and then ~5 are given grants). Success rates are even lower for smaller schools both in terms of their size and reputation.

Why bother with trying to discover how things work when you can just read The Bible?

Hopefully this won't last for long. Science subjects were always my favorite in school, and I was fortunate enough to go to a school (public school at that) that had adequate funding. We had up-to-date textbooks (yay...) and got to do all kinds of cool labs and the occasional field trip. Physics was a lot of fun, even though I flunked it (hate homework.)

EDIT: Just to clarify, I'm mostly referring to religious people that use their religion as an excuse for ignorance and irresponsibility. That doesn't apply to the majority of religious folks here at TTP (I like to think that the average IQ of people here at TTP is greater than that of the average American's), though I'm sure everyone has known someone exactly like that in their time.

Originally Posted by Glock

Why bother with trying to discover how things work when you can just read The Bible?

Hopefully this won't last for long. Science subjects were always my favorite in school, and I was fortunate enough to go to a school (public school at that) that had adequate funding. We had up-to-date textbooks (yay...) and got to do all kinds of cool labs and the occasional field trip. Physics was a lot of fun, even though I flunked it (hate homework.)

I read my physics books and the Bible. People seem to forget that it was people who wrote the Bible putting their own interpretation of God's message on paper.

For me, physics allows me to better understand the wonderful universe that God has created. To see how complex everything truly is makes me appreciate everything that much more.

Physics is a little too "out there" for me. I was fine with understanding most of it, but once we got beyond the easily recognizable (starting to get into the very theoretical stuff), I started to get a little lost.

While I don't believe, I prefer to look at the human body as evidence of nature's accomplishments. Plenty of things could be done better, but pick any system in our bodies and it's amazing - nervous and circulatory systems in particular.

Backsliding as the economic, industrial, and scientific powerhouse of the world. It is a sad state of affairs for America. We may be out in front in many cases, but our lead is shrinking. We need to take it back, not just for us, but for the world.