Overjoyed with Obama
On March 9 US President Barack Obama offered an olive branch to scientists
promising an end to political interference. His administration would listen to
them "even when it’s inconvenient – especially when it’s inconvenient", he
declared. The carrot seems to have worked.

In the lead editorial in America’s top science journal, Science, titled "The
Enlightenment Returns", two leading figures called upon their colleagues to give
full cooperation to the Obama administration. "The president has taken a large
and inspiring step to restore the historically beneficial balance between
science and government; we should all now offer to help with the enlightened
effort just launched."

The authors are Kurt Gottfried, a physicist from Cornell University and
cofounder of the Union of Concerned Scientists, and Nobel laureate Harold
Varmus, a former director of the National Institutes of Health. Dr Varmus was so
enthusiastic enough that he is now on the payroll of the Obama administration,
serving as co-chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and
Technology. ~ Science, Mar 20

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Michael Cook

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