Oct 27, 2008 04:48 PM in Basic Science | 27 comments
Palin takes on fruit flies--And loses
By Lisa Stein
Amid the hoopla about Sarah Palin's very un-hockey mom $150,000 campaign wardrobe, the Republican veep candidate managed to drop another flammable tidbit that set off the science community,
not to mention the blogosphere.
During a speech on her ticket's special needs policy last week, Palin, who has held up her Down's syndrome young son as a symbol of her kinship with all parents of special needs children, mocked earmarks better known as pork for eating up much-needed federal funds.
She vowed – as she has many times -- that if she and running mate John McCain are elected, they will nix such fat that's tacked onto budget bills by lawmakers eager to win points back home-- projects that "really don't make a whole lot of sense" and have "little or nothing to do with the public good. . . things like fruit fly research in Paris, France."
"I kid you not," she declared with a chuckle.
One problem: the research she chose to highlight as a waste of cash just happens to have borne some, well, fruit. And for special needs kids, no less. Among such projects: a 2007 University of North Carolina study that researchers said might be key to better understanding the root of autism spectrum disorders.
Picking on science research as an example of frivolous spending seems to be a theme with the McCain-Palin campaign. McCain, for instance, has been making a point of dissing research of grizzly bear DNA in TV spots and on the campaign trail, and he brought it up again as recently as his first debate with Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama. In fact, ScientificAmerican.com established in a February article that the study was crucial to determining whether grizzlies are a dying breed.
As bloggers and scientists have noted, next time McCain and Palin want to tout their devotion to special needs and health care, they might do well to avoid condemning the very science designed to address those issues.
Credit iStockphoto.com
Read More About: scientific research, autism spectrum disorders, palin, politics, mccain, grizzly bears, autism, fruit flies, science policyYou Might Also Like
Discuss This Article
Subscription Center
World Changing Ideas
-
Video ContestInnovation is the key to a better future. Enter your own World Changing Ideas videos in our contest.
Most Popular Blog Posts
9,000-year-old brew hitting the shelves this summer
Manipulative meow: Cats learn to vocalize a particular sound to train their human companions
Wylie Coywolf: The coyote-wolf hybrid has made its way to the Northeast
A lizard that swims through sand
Scientists urge EPA to assess potential phthalates risks
Editor's Pick
-
Time to Ban Production of Nuclear Weapons MaterialA new global treaty that cuts off production of plutonium and highly enriched uranium for nuclear weapons could jump-start nuclear disarmament and help prevent proliferation
Basic Science Newsletter
Get weekly coverage delivered to your inboxVideo
Podcasts
-
60-Second Science
RSS ·
iTunes
Botoxed Face Impairs Bad Feelings
click to enable
-
60-Second Science
RSS ·
iTunes
Distracted Customers' Wait Times Fly
click to enable
Slideshows
Street Smarts: The BioBus Brings a Rolling Science Lab to Resource-Strapped Schools
Third-hand smoke contains carcinogens too, study says
Sperm cells' swimming secrets revealed



