“Science is in danger,” said Pasteur Institute President Yasmine Belkaid. Ya think? The radical diminution of science is one of many consequences of putting a corrupt and insane clown posse in charge of a government.
Dr. Belkaid added in a recent interview with The Weekend Financial Times, “We are completely forgetting the reason science is there - and that it is something that needs to be cherished and protected.”
Somehow, alarmingly, we’ve let science and the scientific method become villainized and weaponized by real villains lacking in intellect, wisdom, judgment, decency, and any concern for the common good. The situation is as outrageous as it is catastrophic.
The Paris-based Belkaid was born in Algeria, moved to the United States, spent three decades working at the U.S. Government’s prestigious National Institute of Health, and eventually became the Director of the NIH Center for Human Immunology. Her work on the interaction of microbes with the human immune system has improved if not saved countless lives.
At the Pasteur Institute, her leadership also includes support for research on maternal-child health as well as the omnipresent role of climate change in disease. She’s a leading proponent of diversity in health and medical sciences, as well. No kidding. Diseases can manifest differently across races, ethnicities, genders, and geographies. Diversity in health and medical sciences is simply common sense in this regard.
The French government is supportive of Dr. Belkaid’s work, understanding that - despite their own underinvestment in research - leadership in science provides vast economic and national security benefits. She is a face in the government’s “Make it Iconic: Choose France” campaign to recruit scientists, businesses, and capital to France.
Dr. Belkaid told The FT that scientists need to do a much better job advocating for science. While researchers can’t “become completely emotional,” nor can they “remain robot scientists” simply depositing on the public “numbers on numbers.” Yes, indeed! The United States is going to need a whole lot of science advocacy over these dark and dangerous years ahead. It is truly astonishing that a people is choosing to do this to themselves.
Image courtesy of YouTube.