Has NIH Lost Its Halo?

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Feb 04, 2015, 10:59 ET

DALLAS, Feb. 4, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The six-decade love affair between Congress and the National Institutes for Health might be coming to an end according to an article by Duke University public policy professor Robert Cook-Deegan in the winter edition of Issues in Science and Technology. After doubling the NIH budget between 1998 and 2003, Congress has tightened its purse strings, and NIH has seen its budget shrink in real terms. NIH has thrived through its emphasis on attacking high-profile diseases such as cancer, stroke, and diabetes, but Cook-Deegan argues that it might be time for the agency to rethink its priorities and pay more attention to less glamorous concerns such as health services and prevention.

Science Unscrambled: Has NIH Lost Its Halo? Robert Cook-Deegan discusses his article in the Winter 2015 issue of Issues in Science and Technology discussing how after decades of strong budget growth, the National Institutes of Health now faces an increasingly constrained funding environment and questions about the value of its research.

Also in this issue, science journalist Keith Kloor explores a contentious rift among the scientists concerned with the protection of the natural world. The traditional view has been that we need to protect nature from human intervention, but an influential group of scientists now sees this strategy as unwise and unworkable. They argue that we have to accept that nature has always been in flux and that humans are integral part of the natural world. Instead of trying to put fences around human-free preserves, they propose looking for ways to maintain the health and diversity of the entire natural world in a way that is integrated with the activities of humans.

Two articles explore ways to develop new energy sources. Richard K. Lester of MIT and David M. Hart of George Mason University propose a new strategy for building commercial-scale demonstration projects of new energy technologies. Ahmed Abdulla and M. Granger Morgan of Carnegie Mellon University explore the potential of using small modular nuclear reactors to deliver desperately-needed low-carbon electricity to developing countries.

Other articles explore how outdated federal regulatory policies are creating a barrier to innovative approaches to biotechnology that are more precise, reliable, and effective; how universities are developing new strategies for helping their faculty develop their research breakthroughs into practical new products that can contribute to economic growth and productivity; and how our educational system can do more to expand the participation of women and under-represented minorities in science and engineering.

All this plus stimulating book reviews and a lively discussion of previous articles in the Forum section.

ISSUES IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY is the award-winning journal of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, the University of Texas at Dallas and Arizona State University. www.issues.org.

Contact: Kevin Finneran 202-641-1415

Video - http://youtu.be/4N6kS4CI1fI

SOURCE Issues in Science and Technology