The Changing Climate for
Science, Society and
Public Policy
World Science Forum
November 11, 2005
The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
The climate is determined by
 Issues within science itself
 Government regulations, priorities and funding
 How the public relates to science
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
Within science….
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
Advances in science are coming at a very
rapid pace, in part because
 “Big science” has spread into new fields
 Increasing inter-dependency of sciences
 Advances in science are being fueled by advances
in technology
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
The life sciences
began doing “big
science” projects
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
Human Genome
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Other Species Genomes
The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
Genomes
7
Proteomes
The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
Trends of the last decade
 Big science came to the life sciences
 All scientific fields are now clearly inter-dependent
 Diminishing amounts of disciplinary science
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
The Leading Edge is Multidisciplinary
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
Science’s top 125 include:
 What is the universe made of?
 What is the biological basis of
consciousness?
 How and where did life on earth arise?
 What determines species diversity?
 What genetic changes made us uniquely
human?
 How are memories stored and retrieved?
 How does Earth’s interior work?
 Are we alone in the Universe?
 How hot will the greenhouse world be?
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
Advances in science are coming at a fantastic
and accelerating pace, in part because
 Big science has spread into new fields
 Increasing multi-disciplinarity of science
 Advances in science are being fueled by advances
in technology
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
Technologies are enabling
 New kinds of science
 New questions
 New understanding
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
Functional MRI of a “normal” subject
Anterior
posterior
Right
Left
Ventral
Broca’s area
Parietal Cortex
R
L
L
SMA
Broca’s area
Dorsal
R
L. Chang, M.D., T. Ernst, Ph.D., O. Speck, Ph.D
Generating words (left brain dominant)
Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
Chang, et al.
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
The context is set by
 Issues within science itself
 Government regulations, priorities and funding
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
Post 9/11 Security Issues
 Ease of travel
 Travel to foreign meetings
 Visas for foreign students and colleagues
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
Recent Changes in International Student
Interest in US S&E Graduate Training
Change in Applications, Admissions, and Enrollments
for International Graduate Students 2003-04
Total
Engineering
Life Sciences
Physical Sciences
Applications*
-28% (-5%)
-36% (-7%)
-24% (-1%)
-26% (-3%)
Admissions
-18%
-24%
-19%
-17%
Enrollments
-6%
-8%
-10%
+6%
*2004-2005 data in parentheses
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http://www7.nationalacademies.org/internationalstudents/
The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
Post 9/11 Security Issues
 Ease of travel
 New research priorities
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
New research priorities
 Bioterrorism
 Transportation security
 Cybersecurity
 Safety of the food supply
These are affecting both funding and
research community behavior
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
Overall, research funding has become a
lower US national priority….
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
…the committee is deeply
concerned that the scientific and
technical building blocks of our
economic leadership are eroding at
a time when many other nations
are gathering strength….
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
Measures of International Standing
Authorship Trends
250
Articles (in thousands)
200
United States
150
Western Europe
Japan
100
Emerging East Asia
2000
1998
1996
1994
1992
1990
0
1988
50
Year
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http://www7.nationalacademies.org/internationalstudents/
The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
Federal policies can shift the lead in particular
scientific domains….
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
Origin of Embryonic Stem Cell Papers
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Source: Levine, A., Politics and the Life Sciences, Sept. 14, 2005.
The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
Recommendations
 Increase talent pool by
improving k-12 science
and math education
 Strengthen US
commitment to long-term
basic research…to
maintain the flow of new
ideas that fuel the
economy, etc.
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
The climate is determined by
 Issues within science itself
 Government regulations, priorities and funding
 How the public relates to science
30
The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
People generally still respect science and
technology….
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
US public’s view of scientific research
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National Science Board, Science and Engineering Indicators - 2002
The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
People still respect S&T….
….but not everywhere in the same
way or degree
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
In Europe, the overall view of science has
deteriorated:
 In 2005, 52% of people felt benefits of science
outweighed its risks vs. 61% in 1992
 That’s almost 20 percentage points below the US.
Eurobarometer 2005
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
The American situation is not as good as it
might appear….
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
People have little understanding of what is
and is not science
 60% of Americans believe in extrasensory
perception
 41% think astrology is somewhat scientific
 47% still do not answer “true” to the statement:
“Human beings developed from earlier species of
animals”
Science and Engineering Indicators, 2004
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
The science-society relationship is deteriorating
 Much more tension in the relationship
 A new dimension has been added to the
public’s view of and behavior toward science
and technology
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
Historically, science and technology have
been evaluated primarily on the basis of their
costs/risks and benefits
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
Now, values (and politics) are being overlaid onto
“simple” risk/benefit calculations
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
We have seen values issues in the past
 Galileo, the earth and the sun
 Whether scientists should work on nuclear
weapons
Values (and political) issues are now very
present in our society
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
One political (economic) example…
 Is there global warming?
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
“Human values” issues
 Cloning and stem cells
 Studying “personal” topics
 Sex
 Genetics of behavior
 Teaching “intelligent design” in science classrooms
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
Intelligent design claims to believe in gradual
change
 But a supernatural being guided the process
 Claims to be a scientific alternative to evolution
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
Not just an American issue:
“You have to admit that evolution theory is not
complete.”
Dutch Education Minister, Maria Van der Hoeven, 2005
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
Overlay of values is having serious consequences
for the whole science-society relationship
 Society wants to influence science
 Rather than just the reverse
 Creating a growing divide between science and the
rest of society
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
Causes of the “Great Divide”
 Encroachment on/of values
 Misunderstandings about the word “theory”
 “Theory” has different meaning to scientists and lay
persons
 Science’s assumption that scientific illiteracy is the
major obstacle
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
We cannot just “educate” our way out of it
 The problem is not just lack of understanding
 People do understand much of what we’re saying or
want to do
 They don’t like it
 The conflict with their core values trumps their
view of societal benefits
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
…. science is valuable for telling us what we need to
know, whether we like the answer or not….
Cong. Rush Holt, AAAS Carey Lecture, 2005
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
What can we do?
 Continue protesting/lamenting the situation
 The problem is not going to go away
 “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and
expecting a different outcome”
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
What can we do?
 Continue protesting/lamenting the situation
 Adopt a more assertive strategy
 Engage with the public on the issues
 Try to find common ground
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
Public
Understanding
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Public
Engagement
The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
We need to change the intent and the style of
the conversation:
Monologue
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Dialogue
The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
We need to hear from the public about:
 Their concerns about science and technology and
their concomitants
 Risks and benefits
 Encroachment on human values
 Their priorities among research areas
 Questions they would like or need us to answer
 Help frame the research agenda
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
Go “Glocal”!
Julia Taguena Parga, 2005
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
Some groups are working on it already…
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
Public engagement is now a concept we are
hearing in Europe, Canada, Mexico and the
United States
 It should be a strategy used throughout the world
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
Formal dialogues in the United States:
 NIH/NHGRI’s “Ethical, Legal and Social
Implications” (ELSI) Program
 AAAS’s Dialogue on Science, Ethics and Religion
 Johns Hopkins Univ. Genetics and Public Policy
Center
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
AAAS Center for Public Engagement
with Science and Technology
 Town meetings
 Topical public workshops
 Partnerships with science museum and centers
 Active outreach
 Clubs
 Lodges
 Religious institutions
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
We need a global commitment to
engagement!
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
Only Working Together
Can We Improve the
Relationship
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The Changing Climate For Science, Society and Public Policy
World Science Forum – November 11, 2005
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