Science For The Masses

I would like to give a hearty recommendation to read Chris Mooney's new Seed column, and I supposed I pretty much just did.

It relates to his book, The Republican War on Science, and is an attempt to answer the question: well, yeah, but what can we do about it? An attempt to answer what scientists and everyday citizens can do to reverse the antiscientific trends in power in this country. And that's a good question, and an important one.

Unfortunately, after three pages, it seems like his main answer is still, "scientists should hire PR firms." Admittedly, this is a bit reductionist, since he does make a very good point about the empirical nature of modern cognitive linguistics. And, to a certain extent, he's definitely right, and that's something that should happen. But that doesn't help me. There isn't much of an answer in there as to what I myself could do.

So I'm hoping to work on a list of what scientists can do to save science. If you can think of anything, let me know.