Science Memes

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Progress happens with every death (mander.xyz)

submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 53 points 4 months ago (4 children)

If this type of basic science research interests you, in the US there is a federal agency dedicated to this pursuit; the National Science Foundation (www.nsf.gov)

95% of its annual budget goes out the door in the form of research grants to colleges, small businesses and individuals. Most of the research has no immediate application but has lead to some very exciting discoveries. The biggest in the recent past was that orange donut picture of a black hole that was everywhere. ( https://new.nsf.gov/blackholes/how-are-black-holes-studied#eht)

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Fun fact, the NSF was founded after WWII to fund basic science just in case it found something with applications.

Unfortunately, the driving force behind it was the DOD, whose idea was that if even 1% of the work funded eventually became relevant to weapons research, then it would be "worth it". But hey, at least basic science got funded.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Now NSF funds all branches of science excluding defense and most medical. Those are DOD and NIH for the most part.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

Yeah, and in the last couple decades the NIH and NSF have become more applications-focused. If you can't show a commercial application for your basic research. It's less likely to get funded. Now, the DOD is the easiest way to get true basic research funded, which isn't ideal; only basic research which the DOD thinks is important will get funded.

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