Science in society by the book

By Jonathan Thon. Consider this your invitation to the show. Academia is a campaign, often mixing elation with depression as you fight uphill to make a difference. While the accumulated successes and failures are often surprisingly short-lived, each is an opportunity to reflect on what motivations drove one up this path and what circumstances led them to this place. My blogger colleague David Kent and I have collectively been writing on the state of science in society for the better part of five years now, and have grown and matured in our perspective and opinions as the field has. We are both accomplished scientists because of (or perhaps in spite of) the system in which we were raised, and in this same spirit of reflection, we have begun the difficult process of revisiting our old writings to understand how social policy, education, financing and communication of science has grown and matured alongside us. More...