You can help my friend win the AAAS Science Dance Contest by watching her entry on youtube
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18Z8zASUnlg

The research of the winners will be created into a full-length dance by a
professional choreographer and premiered at the next AAAS meeting. There is
even talk of a world tour (seriously).

The winner of the most popular category is determined by the number of views of
the video. The current leading video has nearly 12,000 views and there are only
4 days left in the competition. So, Please send this to your friends,
listservs, post to your facebook and myspace pages. Feel free to alter the
subject line and e-mail body as appropriate to encourage people to view the
video.

You can vote (by viewing) as many times as you like

You can learn more about the AAAS Science Dance Contest at this site
http://gonzolabs.org/dance/

Are you the sort of scientist who taps her toes while working in the laboratory? You look like you're crunching data over there on the computer, but you're actually browsing 1980s music videos on YouTube. In fact, doesn't your entire scientific career feel like one big dance, like Pina Bausch's Rite of Spring, the Village People doing YMCA, or maybe Michael Jackson dancing with zombies in Thriller, depending on your mood?

If so, then your name is written all over this:

Those who saw the results of the first-ever Dance Your Ph.D. contest know that the human body is an excellent medium for communicating science -- perhaps not as data-rich as a peer-reviewed article but far more exciting. Since then, e-mails have poured in from scientists around the world asking how they can take part in the next event.

For this year's contest, the stage is much larger and the prize is far grander. Rather than a single event in a single place, the dance is global.

For this year's contest, the stage is much larger and the prize is far grander. Rather than a single event in a single place, the dance is global.

1. Make a video of your own Ph.D. dance.
2. Post the video on YouTube.
3. Not later than 23:00 EST 16 November 2008, e-mail your name, the title of your Ph.D. thesis, and the video URL link to: gonzo@aaas.org .

Once this information is posted on the Dance Contest home page, you are officially entered in the contest. On 17 November 2008, a total of four winners will be chosen from the following categories:

• Graduate Student: Best among those currently enrolled in a Ph.D. program
• Postdoc: Best among those who have a Ph.D. but not tenure
• Professor: Best among those with Ph.D. and tenure
• Popular Choice: The video with the highest YouTube view count by the deadline

The Prize:  On 17 November 2008, you will provide a single peer-reviewed research article on which you are a co-author. (Graduate students who have not yet co-authored an article must choose one from their Ph.D. adviser.) You will be paired with a professional choreographer. Over the next couple of weeks (via e-mail and telephone), you must help your choreographer understand your article, its aims, the hypotheses it tests, and its big-picture context. Then the four choreographers will collaborate to create a single four-part dance based on the winning research articles. Finally, you will be an honored guest at the AAAS Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois, where, on 13 February 2009, you will have front-row seats to the world debut of the output -- THIS IS SCIENCE -- a contemporary dance interpretation of contemporary scientific research. Accommodation in Chicago will be provided, and grants are available for travel expenses.

For full details of the contest, visit www.gonzolabs.org.

I think this is definitely true, both from the standpoint of the politicization of science and the issue of visas for foreign students and workers to the U.S. Do those of you from outside of the U.S. see the same thing? Do European scientists see a change in where you are looking for the expertise and cutting-edge research? Given that the U.S. has always been sort-of self-centered in its worldview, it is hard for me to judge.

-----

U.S. Experts Bemoan Nation's Loss of Stature in the World of Science

By Keith B. Richburg
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 29, 2008; A04

NEW YORK, May 28 -- Some of the nation's leading scientists, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's top science adviser, today sharply criticized the diminished role of science in the United States and the shortage of federal funding for research, even as science becomes increasingly important to combating problems such as climate change and the global food shortage.

Speaking at a science summit that opens this week's first World Science Festival, the expert panel of scientists, and audience members, agreed that the United States is losing stature because of a perceived high-level disdain for science. They cited U.S. officials and others questioning scientific evidence of climate change, the reluctance to federally fund stem cell research, and some U.S. officials casting doubt on evolution as examples that have damaged America's international standing.

"I think there's a loss of American power and prestige that came about as a result of our anti-science policies," said David Baltimore, a biologist and Nobel laureate and board chairman of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Raising questions about the science of evolution, he said, "leads to a certain disdain for American intelligence." He added, "What we need is leadership that respects science."

The panelists also expressed concern that science funding has not been a major issue for any of the presidential candidates. "The campaign so far has given too little attention to what science means for our own economy and our status in the world," said Harold Varmus, a Nobel laureate and president of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

Nina Fedoroff, a plant molecular biologist who is Rice's science and technology adviser, said science in the United States "has really kind of died over a quarter of a century, even as the importance of science has grown."

Although the United States has long been the recognized global leader in science, Fedoroff said, that position is now being challenged by others, specifically China, which is raising its global profile. "They're educating 10 times as many students as we are," she said. "The next generation of scientists in other countries might not speak English."

Speaking about the global food crisis that has sparked unrest in some countries, Fedoroff said that genetically modified crops are one answer to shortages. But she said that "persistent misperceptions," particularly in Europe, about genetically modified foods has led to their underuse and even their prohibition as food aid in needy countries.

She and the other panelists said one impediment to wider use of genetically modified crops is suspicion of American motives. "We're in a delicate position," she said. "If we push biotech too much, it looks like . . . we're trying to protect our own economic interests."

New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg opened today's science summit echoing many of the same themes. Bloomberg bemoaned a tendency toward "political science," which he called "the willingness to disregard or suppress scientific findings when they don't confirm to a predetermined political agenda."

Bringing the science festival to New York, Bloomberg said, will showcase the city as a hub of innovation. New York is known more as the site for the hit television series and new film "Sex and the City." But Bloomberg, who majored in engineering, called science "just as exciting, just as cool, just as cutting-edge" and said the festival will "make science in our city sexy."