Social Science Space

This week the Appropriations Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives approved the budget bill that includes funding for the National Science Foundation. The Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations Act (CJS) proposes increasing funding for the NSF — which is the largest source of research funding for university social and behavioral science in the United States – by $270 million above the current year’s appropriation.

Funders from private industry — which represent two-thirds of funding in medical research, for example — can go great lengths to suppress the publication of findings which appear unfavorable. How can academic freedom be protected with this monumental funding shift?

Basic research can be easy to mock as pointless and wasteful of resources. But it’s very often the foundation for future innovation – even in ways the original scientists couldn’t have imagined.