A science journalist and university president are trading barbs this week over the administrator's less-than-glowing book review in Nature. Last week, Nature published a linkurl:letter;http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v449/n7164/full/449781b.html from science policy journalist Daniel Greenberg, who linkurl:criticized;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/24892/ the review of his latest book in the journal. (Greenberg linkurl:spoke to us;http://www.the-scientist.com/podcasts/theweek/2007/09/26/ last month about his book, Science for Sale: The perils, rewards, and delusions of campus capitalism.) In the Nature book review, published September 27, Arizona State University president Michael Crow linkurl:dubs the book;http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v449/n7161/pdf/449405a.pdf an "intriguing, if idealistic, review of the issues surrounding the funding of science in the twenty-first century." Specifically, Crow said he took issue with Greenberg's assertion that academic researchers and institutions should be motivated by curiosity alone, not a drive for funding. It's okay for research universities to compete with each other, Crow notes. "It is not a set of corporate or capitalistic forces that are driving US academia...
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