Egg prices remain high as bird flu spreads through poultry farms in the U.S. In fact, the USDA recently had to rapidly shore up its staff of scientists working on the problem after they were let go. While the public rightfully focuses on the bottom line for their households, they may not make connections to the role of science in this economic stressor. Such disconnects highlight three challenges that we face with science in the U.S. right now.
Studies have shown that less than 30 percent of the U.S. public is scientifically literate. Despite those numbers, the U.S. has been a leader in scientific discoveries throughout history. Though a bit wobbly at times, public confidence in science and scientists remains relatively high. In fact, a 2023 Pew Research study found that the public had more confidence in scientists than business leaders, politicians, or religious leaders. The world still faces pressing challenges such as disease, climate change, energy production, and food supply that will require new discoveries and innovation in science. However, looming challenges to science right now are not in the laboratory or field.
Sustaining Scientific Excellence
I will start with an example rooted in my disciplinary expertise since we are on the verge of spring severe weather activity in the U.S. I am an atmospheric scientist who often uses weather radar in my research, teaching and more practically, to monitor incoming storms. In my Radar and Mesoscale Meteorology class at the University of Georgia, we recently discussed the evolution of weather radar from military applications to Doppler-polarization capabilities. As a student at Florida State University in the late 1980s, I vividly remember when the National Weather Service upgraded to Doppler Radar. In fact, some of my graduate research used some of the first available data from some of them. That upgrade made us safer because Doppler radars can detect circulations that could lead to tornadoes. A decade later those radars were upgraded with a technology that improves detection of precipitation type, tornado debris, and intense rainfall.
Here’s my big set of points. These radars are now aging and will require an upgrade. Thankfully, smart colleagues at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration know this too and have been conducting research on Phased Array Radar systems. Research and development are required to advance technology, understand performance, and establish effectiveness. The radars do not just “poof” into existence.
Likewise, new vaccines, medicines, materials, and energy sources do not just “poof” into existence either. They require years of sustained funding, research, evaluation, and implementation. The U.S. scientific ecosystem has been an exemplar for how it is done. The National Science Foundation, NOAA, NASA, and other agencies provide programmatic structure, funding and guidance to keep us moving. That ecosystem also includes funding graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and scientists. We must maintain funding, core expertise, and technology development to:
- Enable new advances aligned with evolving needs of our society.
- Fortify the health, safety, and security of the public.
- Keep pace with the rest of the world.
- Maintain certain competitive advantages in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and their intersections with humanities, arts, and social sciences.
U.S. breakthroughs in recent years include COVID vaccines, The Human Genome Project, hurricane forecast models, smarter cement, precision agriculture methods and imaging a black hole. As we speak, NASA is monitoring an asteroid that could impact our planet in 2032. Scientific funding and expertise helped us to know it was there and is likely to be involved if intervention is required.
Communicating Science With A “Kitchen Table” Perspective
Most things tend to be “local” for people. For example, a tornado might strike another part of the county, but if it did not affect a person’s specific neighborhood, they may question why schools were released early. This somewhat narrow perspective often exhibited by people can cause scientific R&D to seem irrelevant to their own lives or unreasonably costly. I doubt most people think about the science behind their cell phone, automobile GPS system, blood pressure medication, or dimpled golf balls.
When I discuss climate change with the public, my approach is not rooted in polar bears or the year 2060. I use a “kitchen table” perspective. People buy groceries and put gasoline in their cars. However, it may not be evident that drought or hurricanes can affect prices at their local market due to basic principles of supply and demand. Here in Georgia, Hurricane Michael (2018) and Hurricane Helene (2024) caused billions of dollars in damages to our agriculture and timber economies. Georgia grows a lot of peanuts, pecans, and cotton, which means you likely paid more for a shirt or peanut butter along the way. Helene also knocked out a section of major interstate, which disrupted the U.S. supply chain.
The kitchen table perspective is relevant to public health too. Sure, it might seem great to have warmer winters or springs, however, that also brings earlier pollens and allergies. It also provides a climate suitable for mosquitoes that carry certain diseases that are not common to the southeastern U.S. That region already has some of the most socio-economically vulnerable populations in our country.
Implementing An “All Hands On Deck” Approach
The challenges facing our country are not going anywhere. In fact, there is always something lurking around the corner. Science is one of the big tools in the toolbox at times of crisis or with innovative steps forward. As noted earlier, the process of science cannot be stepwise or “start-stop.”
We need an “all hands on deck” approach to maintain suitable levels of funding, curate data, and enable the specialized workforce required to advance discovery. When I scan lists of “top jobs” in the next twenty years, I see things like data scientist, computer engineer, food engineers, AI trainers, materials scientists, cybersecurity experts, medical professionals, renewable energy professionals, and environmental scientists.
To produce such professionals for the future, we cannot disrupt the institutions and mechanisms that train them now. We need the private sector, foundations, federal agencies, state or local governments, and non-governmental organizations to complement each other to keep the U.S. scientific ecosystem viable, productive, and frankly, alive. Some sectors may have to step in to fill temporary “gaps.” We also need every voice in the room. As the story told in the movie and book Hidden Figures illustrated, the U.S. Space Program gained from have all voices at the table. Given the challenges of our time, I do not want to leave any good ideas out of the mix.
Science and scientists are not enemies of the public. In fact, they are a public good. Virtually anything that you will do or use today likely has STEM connections.
