GOP war on science

[FriendlyFire]

The GOP Intensifies Its Attacks On The National Science Foundation

Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), the Chairman of the House Science Committee on Science, Space and Technology has repeatedly denounced the National Science Foundation for squandering taxpayer money on frivolous research. Now he's gone a step further, demanding personal political scrutiny of peer-reviewed research grants.

Smith has used several hearings this year as an opportunity to publicly lambast the National Science Foundation (NSF)—including a combative March 26 hearing where he lectured White House Science Advisor John Holdren on the "lack of transparency and accountability at the agency" by singling out grants such as a study of the ecological consequences of early human-set fires in New Zealand. (That research promises to yield insights into anthropogenic climate change—not a popular topic for Smith and fellow GOP representatives on the committee.)

Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson (D–TX), the House Science Committee's senior Democrat, sent a letter to Smith warning that his actions are "sending a chilling message to the entire scientific community" that peer-review may, at any time, be trumped by political review

http://io9.com/the-gop-intensifies-its-attacks-on-the-national-science-1645733575

MERICA ! Or should that be Texas.
This is what happens when a Rural senator for Texas is given a seat on the Scientific oversight committee. Internets are tubes and pick up trucks and porn blocking emails.

 

[Antilogic]

Aren't they already doing this with textbooks?

 

[Snorrius]

Well, that's what you get with democracy! Give me my Austro-Hungary back!

 

[Goodfella]

The House Committee on Science Space and Technology is a joke.

 

[warpus]

Isn't there a guy on that committee who doesn't believe that space exists?

 

[Joecoolyo]

Well, that's what you get with democracy! Give me my Austro-Hungary back!

Is that the Austro-Hungarian flag on the moon? No?

Checkmate monarchists.

 

[Antilogic]

Isn't there a guy on that committee who doesn't believe that space exists?

Probably. It also features Paulie B, who ran unopposed but lost several votes to the write-in candidate Charles Darwin and then thankfully lost the GA Senate primary so he's on his way out in 2015.

 

[Tahuti]

Is that the Austro-Hungarian flag on the moon? No?

Checkmate monarchists.

I guess the Netherlands should plants its flag on Mars.

One small step for man, one giant leap for the Orange-Nassau's!

 

[brennan]

This is what happens when you make the mistake of confusing your financial systems as the basis of your national success story instead of your technological progress.

 

[calad]

Should I assume US is having serious political problems if language like "war on" is used this casually?

 

[El_Machinae]

The current system creates nearly free information that anyone with a curious or entrepreneurial whim can access. The system is designed to create scientific data that has the highest scientific utility we can muster, without knowing the answers ahead of time. One of the greatest currencies in science is citations, where other scientists in your field acknowledge they got some benefit from the data you generated. Everyone involved is trying to maximize citations.

The rep should quit whining and learn how to access and utilize these data. Innovation is a huge component of wealth creation.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

I guess the Netherlands should plants its flag on Mars.

One small step for man, one giant leap for the Orange-Nassau's!

Action, not words. At this rate it will be a Chinese flag.

 

[luiz]

The DNC war on science:

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/2901588-181/gov-brown-signs-bill-banning

Clearly those franken-animals are a threat to native species! We should go back to relying on fully "natural" species like cows and pigs! Oh wait, they were also heavily modified...

 

[Old Hippy]

The DNC war on science:

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/2901588-181/gov-brown-signs-bill-banning

Clearly those franken-animals are a threat to native species! We should go back to relying on fully "natural" species like cows and pigs! Oh wait, they were also heavily modified...

maybe the DNC war on lack of enough science?
the science can still go on, you just can not seed them into areas where it could jeopardies the livelyhoods of commercial fisherman, you know the sponsors of this bill, 'The bill was sponsored by the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations.' As a hobby fisherman, I'd say they must have heard what happened down under, with European Carp (haven't even seen an Aussie Murry Cod in the last 20 years) or with rabbits, and the foxes, let alone the unstoppable cane toads... so i hope they do keep up on the science of this subject before they allow them to release them commercially.

Spoiler :

AquaBounty is engineering fish to grow much faster and bigger than wild or even farm raised salmon. To do this, they've modified them to excrete growth hormone that is not native to Pacific salmon and fed an abundance of anti-biotics, as well as chemicals and dyes to make their scales look more salmon "pink". Farmed fish typically have more fat (because of what they're fed) and have a grayish tone from their feed, to water conditions (swimming around in their own waste, sea lice, etc..)The environmental impacts of GE fish may be catastrophic. Once introduced into the wild, they cannot be re-called, like when a pharmaceutical shows dangerous side effects and the FDA issues a recall. They say they're only producing sterile females, but fish have been known to change sex under stress and Aqua Bounty's own studies submitted to the FDA show only 6 out of 20 test groups achieved complete sterility

with a 14 out of 20 failure rate they still have away to go.

 

[luiz]

maybe the DNC war on lack of enough science?
the science can still go on, you just can not seed them into areas where it could jeopardies the livelyhoods of commercial fisherman, you know the sponsors of this bill, 'The bill was sponsored by the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations.' As a hobby fisherman, I'd say they must have heard what happened down under, with European Carp (haven't even seen an Aussie Murry Cod in the last 20 years) or with rabbits, and the foxes, let alone the unstoppable cane toads... so i hope they do keep up on the science of this subject before they allow them to release them commercially.

Spoiler :

AquaBounty is engineering fish to grow much faster and bigger than wild or even farm raised salmon. To do this, they've modified them to excrete growth hormone that is not native to Pacific salmon and fed an abundance of anti-biotics, as well as chemicals and dyes to make their scales look more salmon "pink". Farmed fish typically have more fat (because of what they're fed) and have a grayish tone from their feed, to water conditions (swimming around in their own waste, sea lice, etc..)The environmental impacts of GE fish may be catastrophic. Once introduced into the wild, they cannot be re-called, like when a pharmaceutical shows dangerous side effects and the FDA issues a recall. They say they're only producing sterile females, but fish have been known to change sex under stress and Aqua Bounty's own studies submitted to the FDA show only 6 out of 20 test groups achieved complete sterility

with a 14 out of 20 failure rate they still have away to go.

We have been modifying animals since the dawn of civilization. Modern cows, pigs, chicken, etc. have nothing to do with their wild ancestors, who don't even exist anymore. So what? If we replace "natural"salmon for a bigger, tastier version who cares? Did God tell you that we're not supposed to interfere with how species evolve or something?

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

I think waiting for data on whether to allow something is more scientific than an appeal to tradition.

 

[luiz]

I think waiting for data on whether to allow something is more scientific than an appeal to tradition.

It should be dealt with by regulatory agencies, not a political ban. This was a political decision, not a scientific one.

 

[warpus]

I don't care if the new animal was created using magic, gene transfer, gene therapy, gene voodoo, or whatever. If it's a new species we've created from scratch, in a very short timeframe, it makes sense to study what impact introducing this new species into the ecosystem would have.

Something like cows and chickens evolved slowly, over hundreds and thousands of years, into what they are now. Their impact on the ecosystem is important too, but the implications of the impact happen very slowly, over time. Gives us a lot more time to study - plus these species for the most part already existed before we even knew what science was.

It should be dealt with by regulatory agencies, not a political ban. This was a political decision, not a scientific one.

This I agree with, if the second sentence is true.

 

[classical_hero]

Peer Review is of course infallible.

 

[Old Hippy]

We have been modifying animals since the dawn of civilization. Modern cows, pigs, chicken, etc. have nothing to do with their wild ancestors, who don't even exist anymore. So what? If we replace "natural"salmon for a bigger, tastier version who cares? Did God tell you that we're not supposed to interfere with how species evolve or something?

but i have no problem with interfering to get bigger tastiier fish, I have no problem with stocking rivers with foreign fish, (my favorite fishing spots in Tasmainia do this), what i have a problem with is trusting someone who says "trust me, I know what I'm doing" because they did not know, and they did not know time and time again down here in Australia...

like i said the bill does not stop science it stops early release, untill the stakeholders concerned are actually satisfied with "trust me, I know what I'm doing"