Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Lovin' scientific progress!

The recently passed spending bill will give the NSF, NIH, and NASA some relief from sequester cuts.
http://bit.ly/XBCB4y


But we need more spending, not just stop gap measures, to support our scientific advances. While the number varies, R&D spending is an economic multiplier, where for every dollar spent, there is an economic return of a number of times MORE -- how many times more is the multiplier number.

 

Hooray for being able to do a differential white blood cell count so quickly, with a portable device. From 'the Scientist' on facebook, reminding me of my hematology classes:
Image of the Day: Sorting Cells
Engineers have developed a portable device that can generate white blood cell counts in minutes, dividing them into four major types.
Wendian Shi/Caltech, Lab Chip, doi:10.1039/C3LC41059E
We need to be funding research, including research projects which fail, because failure is an essential part of the building blocks of any subsequent success. Sadly, our right wing politicians and electorate don't like science, because facts are not their friends. They prefer ideology, and ignorance.

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