sdelmonte | Science IS the News

It's a rare day when three of the major news stories are all related directly to science. There's the Pluto story, the decision by the FDA to allow sales of the "morning after" pill over the counter, and the announcement yesterday of a new way to harvest stem cells witohut destroying the embryo. The stem cell story was the lead in the NY Times today (which is not like most news outlets, of course), and odds are the other two stories will be among the leads tomorrow.

What's interesting about all three is how science and society intersect. In the latter two stories, debates about morality and the very nature of life are once again ignited, even as they collide with matters of health, population control and responsible behavior. And yet, we wouldn't be hearing about this if there hadn't been breakthroughs in medical technology and in understanding how the body works.

The Pluto story, by comparision, is rather minor. There will be no violent protests outside planetariums by Operation Rescue, no debates about government spending. But much of the Pluto debate revolved around public perceptions of astronomy and science, and of science's relationship to the culture it lives in. And if there weren't ongoing advances in telescope technology, there would have been no debate at all.

All three stories show how difficult it is to navigate the shoals of change that come with science. Stem cell research has the potential to change how we treat illness. The morning after pill could have far reaching effects that we cannot predict on how we regard sex and reproduction, as well as more obvious effects on the anti-abortion movement and on population control. And the decision about Pluto could affect perceptions of how the scientific community works, and perhaps actually make that community stop and study its place in the broader culture.

So these news stories, like stories about Lebanon and Iraq, like stories about New Orleans and Ground Zero, like stories about politics and economics, are about us. As Americans, as men and women, as members of society, as humans, and as residents of a strange and fascinating and ever-changing planet and universe.

And anyone who ignores them as just "science stories" does so at the risk of missing something more.

(And for the record, I support stem cell research and the right to get birth control and abortion on demand whole-heartedly.)