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An employee operates InVision Automatic Explosives Detection System, Reagan
National Airport
Forums:
Do you feel the government is doing enough to prevent future terrorist
attacks?
Read
Mukherjee's article "The Case for Funding Curiousity"
View the paintings
discussed in the end of hour segment about Rubens
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Scientific Research Post 9-11 
Listen
From its very first days, scientific inquiry has revolved around curiosity.
Scientists follow their intellects and probe and test and hypothesize,
and every once in a while make a big discovery. World War II and the Manhattan
Project introduced the idea of applied scientific research to the world
-- the idea that scientific research should be results-oriented and geared
towards solving a specific social, political, or biological problem.
Our guest this hour, Siddhartha Mukherjee, argues that after September
11th, "it's tempting to think of curiosity-driven science as an anachronistic
luxury." But the applied science model is flawed, he says. It puts
scientific decision-making powers in the hands of politicians and often
leads to important areas of research being neglected. This hour: the perhaps-skewed
priorities of scientific research post-9/11.
Guests:
Siddhartha Mukherjee, medical resident at the Massachusetts General
Hospital and a clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School
Maxine Singer, President of the Carnegie Institution of Washington
Plus, how the 17th century paintings of Dutchman Peter Paul Rubens speak
to the U.S. in the 21st century.
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