There’s a cheer of happiness going on in the blogosphere: we have a president that supports science. Well, not really, but he is all for alternative energy like, uh:
To change how we power our homes and offices, we will invest more in zero-emission coal-fired plants; revolutionary solar and wind technologies; and clean, safe nuclear energy.
Has there been any new progress in solar or wind technologies? Did I miss something? Or is this the same old solar panels and wind mill stuff people have been talking about since 1970?
Related to this, Cosmic Variance found out that, that John Marberger (the president’s director for the Office of Science and Technology Policy) was going to host an Ask the White House session and answer questions on the SOTU.
CV readers, this is your challenge – let’s mob the White House with questions about funding for basice science!
It appears that one of the C.V. questions actually made it to John Marberger:
Collin, from Chicago writes:
What is the White House definition of ‘Basic Science’ the funding of which the president proposed to double in 10 years? For example, does the definition (and proposed doubling) include particle physics? What about nano technology? And a mission to Mars? Thanks.
With the administration’s renewed focus on fuel cells and nuclear energy, I guess there’s no need for particle physics. We can just continue with our addiction to oil.