The mood at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is usually quite jovial—scientists from across the world gather to discuss cutting-edge research and catch up with far-flung colleagues. And the 2017 gathering, held last week in Boston, was no exception. But this year’s meeting was also punctuated by panels that brimmed with uncharacteristically somber talks about the state of science policy in the U.S. and worldwide.
One Saturday panel, organized by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), was particularly charged. “The public is going to suffer if the politicization of science is normalized,” said UCS’s Gretchen Goldman. “We cannot allow that to happen. If science is not able to inform policy decisions, we all lose.”
“Please don’t make science partisan,” Jane Lubchenco of Oregon State University said during the same panel discussion. “It isn’t, it shouldn’t be, and don’t buy into that framing.”
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