What Must the Next President Do to Save Science? DISCOVER's Science Policy Project 2008

What are the most important things the next U.S. president needs to do for science? Earlier this year, an impressive group of scientists and media types got behind the idea that the presidential candidates should have a debate on this very topic. Several months later, it's clear that their goal won't be met. So where do we go from here? The prospects for elevating the public political discussion on science aren't great, given the circumstances: Campaign strategists—and likely the nominees themselves—see science as a policy area with a world of downside and not much upside. But when either Barack Obama or John McCain is sworn in as the next commander-in-chief, he will inherit a cauldron of serious problems, from energy to the environment to health care, that will take significant science research and knowledge to solve. As such, we figured it was a good idea to scratch the debates and ...