Pure hype of pureresearch helps no one

摘要

What do you get when you cross science hype with conservative politics? The answer is the High Quality Research Act, a draft bill that would require the director of the US National Science Foundation (NSF) to certify the quality of every science project that the agency funds with its roughly US$5.6-billion research budget.The proposed legislation was drawn up last month by Lamar Smith (Republican, Texas), the new chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. He says it will help to "ensure that taxpayer-funded research projects are of high quality and benefit the American people".