American Association for the Advancement of Science
Rush Holt is chief executive officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the executive publisher of the Science family of journals. He is a former Democratic Congressman representing New Jersey's 12th District.
The politics of science and America's future Tomorrow's Earth Day March for Science , which will be held in Washington and 400 other cities across the country, was scheduled before President Trump formally proposed massive cuts in federal funding for research in medicine, public health, energy and the environment. That's complicated the original goal of March organizers: to stress the vital importance of what they do without being perceived as another unhappy, partisan interest group. Many scientists are alarmed about losing the benefits of their work — and America's advantage over other countries that might never be recovered. But others fear that public protest will politicize work that needs to be free of partisanship to be most effective.
Closing a Chapter on the 2001 Anthrax Scare At a news conference yesterday, the Justice Department said Dr. Bruce Ivins was the only person with access to the strain of anthrax that killed five and panicked the nation after September 11. It claimed FBI evidence would have proven him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt if he'd lived long enough to go on trial instead of committing suicide. Is the case against Ivins believable? Why did it take seven years? If Ivins suffered from mental illness for so long, why was he working with deadly toxins in a government laboratory?
What is Trump's plan for Middle East peace? On his first foreign tour, President Trump has promised "peace" between Israel and the Palestinians. Are there any details for re-starting talks that have been stalled for the past three years?
The Trump agenda: where's the beef? President Trump says big things are happening. After celebrating a House bill on health care, he doesn’t yet have Senate agreement. With James Comey’s public testimony scheduled tomorrow, the President today tweeted his selection of a new FBI Director. Is the Chief Executive all style and no substance? Later, terror attacks in Iran and conflicting claims about who’s behind them.
How was the trip? President Trump's travels got less fun as he went from the Middle East to Europe.
Trump's 'America First' goes missing abroad In the Middle East, President Trump is changing some policies of the Obama Administration—and reversing his own campaign attacks on Islam as a religion that "hates us." We hear about his visit to Saudi Arabia and what's at stake for the rest of his foreign excursion.