Taxpayers underwrite many public services, including the funding of science. So it is entirely right for them to question funding decisions. If they do, granting agencies should have mechanisms for responding in ways that are informed but not patronizing. On 18 September, the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) announced nine grants, most of which aimed to bridge the gap between science and the humanities. The majority were uncontrover-sial. Nobody blinked, for example, at the £1.95 million (US$3.1 million) given to Colin Blakemore of the Institute of Philosophy in London for a project entitled 'Rethinking the Senses: Uniting the Philosophy and Neuroscience of Perception. No eyebrow was raised when Randolph Donahue at the University of Bradford got £1.98 million to study 'Fragmented Heritage: From the kilometre to the nanometre: Automated 3D Technology to Revolutionise Landscape, Site and Artefact Analyses'.
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