Offshoring Science

I was over reading one of the web sites I frequent, and I was reading their science articles. I love them, because they highlight a week’s worth of science on the web. It’s a nice little shot of “Cool” and “Look at that.”

This one touches on a topic that has been steaming my broccoli for quite some time. Sorry for that language there. It seems that South Korean scientists have used donated unfertilized human eggs and a nucleus to create a new stem cell line. That makes the line genetically and biologically compatible with the nucleus donor. In other words the cells would not be rejected by the donor’s body. This can be a large step towards using undifferentiated stem cells to repair areas of the body or even replace organs. It’s interesting that this comes from South Korea, but not really surprising. It’s also of note that the stem cell line did not come from a fertilized egg. Though some would state that getting the egg to grow and divide using new genetic material is equivalent to fertilizing it. This stuff gets thick when you start delving this deep into reproduction and genetics. All in all I think it is a nice piece of scientific work that could reap untold benefits. And it looks like it walked the ethics lines with room to spare.

So what cooks my cousin of cabbage with vaporized water? Well this event is something that Americans can get used to more and more. Free science appears to be struggling in the US. Federal money is being channeled to projects that support political views and directions. That isn’t that different from any other time this century. The main difference now is that it is leaving a much larger number of scientists and projects out in the cold. Not to mention that politics seems to be playing a much larger roll in influencing which scientists get to represent the US. Instead of the best in the field, we may be reaching down the ladder for someone who says what the administration wants. It all leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

This has been happening in many areas of science, but is most prevalent in climate change, environmental impact, energy consumption, pollution, etc. You know, all the stuff that will affect human civilization for the next few centuries. Being that this is something I keep part of an eye on, along with computing, it gets to me. Knowing what friends have told me about the areas they watch, it seems to be indicative of the administration. It’s also one of the primary reasons I didn’t add my name to the list of people in my state that bowed to the Republican candidate for President. Just tighten you belt and hold on. Maybe we will have some better choices next time.

The thing is that most of the people who study science and discoveries say that throwing money at one area usually won’t advance it more that a few years. In truth it has to be “time” for something. A series of inventions, discoveries, and knowledge have to come into existence before the next step can be taken. All of the sciences and industries are related in this way. The best you can hope for is to spread money around and try to speed up the whole process by a few percent. You can’t predict that a new plant may contain a chemical that makes paint less polluting, that software for imaging the body can be modified to find oil in the ground, or that a plastic designed for strengthening tires can help stop bullets.

Sure there always need to be guidelines for safety and for ethical reasons, but blocking exploration entirely will only make it find somewhere else to call home.