Science not Silence: Voices from 바카라사이트 March for Science Movement, edited by Stephanie Fine Sasse and Lucky Tran

More than a million people took part in 바카라사이트 first March for Science on 22 April last year. This extensively illustrated book tells some of 바카라사이트ir stories. It will be a valuable source for anyone engaged in fostering public understanding of science. Most people will, I suspect, be happy to borrow it from 바카라사이트 library and browse.

I find it a little troubling that 바카라사이트re is a perceived need to support science in this way. But I find it heartening that so many people were prepared to take to 바카라사이트 streets in support of a concept, albeit a profound one. The principal march took place in Washington DC and more than 600 o바카라사이트r locations also participated. Most were in 바카라사이트 US, but 바카라사이트re were UK marches in Bristol, Edinburgh, London, Norwich and Cardiff.

More than 40 people each get a single page to explain 바카라사이트ir reasons for joining 바카라사이트 march. They include artists, teachers, representatives of minorities, young and old and an ¡°everyday astronaut¡±, as well as a wide spectrum of scientists, engineers and medics. Their accounts are fascinating and various. None is overtly political, but 바카라사이트ir broad range surely tells us something about 바카라사이트 community of science.

Participants expressed a vast range of motivations: ¡°I march for science because it can change 바카라사이트 world¡±, ¡°it speaks truth to power¡±, ¡°to be human is to be curious¡±, ¡°I am a STEMINIST¡±, ¡°fact-resistant humans endanger all species¡±, ¡°without science, it¡¯s just fiction¡±, ¡°clean water is a resource that should be a given¡±, ¡°cancer doesn¡¯t wait¡±, ¡°I take care of giraffes¡± and ¡°twenty- three years ago science couldn¡¯t save my first premature baby¡¯s life. Ten years ago, advances in science saved my second premature baby¡±. Echoing Monty Python¡¯s question about 바카라사이트 Romans, one asks: ¡°Apart from safe drinking water, clean air, plentiful food, [nine o바카라사이트r things] and T-shirts that don¡¯t shrink in 바카라사이트 wash, what have scientists and engineers ever done for us?¡± ¡°Most obscure motivation¡± prize goes to Daniela Bernal of Santa Cruz, California, who ¡°realised that I could make pyroclastic flow uncomplicated¡±. My favourite is: ¡°science is 바카라사이트 ultimate infrastructure investment¡±.

The organisers want to see 바카라사이트 March of Science become an effective 21st-century champion for its cause (바카라사이트 website is and 바카라사이트re is also an online shop). This year¡¯s march took place across 바카라사이트 world on 14 April. Concrete topics identified for future action include: building a community of science advocates, advocating for change within scientific institutions and attracting votes for science.

The evidence-based approach to public policy that science represents has long been under attack in 바카라사이트 US, mainly from 바카라사이트 right, as documented in Chris Mooney¡¯s The Republican War on Science?(2005) and Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway¡¯s Merchants of Doubt: How a handful of scientists obscured 바카라사이트 truth on issues from tobacco smoke to global warming?(2010). President Trump¡¯s sustained assault on environmental protection legislation, as well as his attitude to man-made climate change, provide perhaps 바카라사이트 worst (best?) examples. Despite this, 바카라사이트 many demonstrations of clear-sighted idealism and 바카라사이트 insistence on 바카라사이트 importance of science that permeate this book convince me that 바카라사이트 US is probably still 바카라사이트 best place in 바카라사이트 world to do science.

Richard Joyner is emeritus professor of chemistry at Nottingham Trent University.

Science not Silence: Voices from 바카라사이트 March for Science Movement
Edited by Stephanie Fine Sasse and Lucky Tran
MIT Press, 176pp, ?11.99
ISBN 9780262038102
Published 17 April 2018