Election 2024: A Scientific Perspective

Dear Scientific American friends,

Hot takes are everywhere these days, but informed perspectives, backed by expertise and evidence, seem harder than ever to sift out of the modern cacophony. We’re here to help. Instead of pundits pushing their personal politics, Scientific American’s Opinion page provides you with informed views on the major questions of the day.

With the presidential election bearing down on the U.S., for example, a little science-based perspective on the political moment seems in order. Scientific American’s editors offered readers a thorough look at the dangers to science posed by Project 2025, the right-wing blueprint for former president Donald Trump’s potential second administration. Across federal agencies, the plan “would sabotage science-based policies that address climate change, the environment, abortion, health care access, technology and education,” they found. Along those lines, a historian of concentration camps looked at the frightening implications of the mass deportations promised at July’s Republican National Convention. And when President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race, an expert on aging and culture told our readers that age was now the youngest form of identity politics, one that will drive the next generation’s voting decisions.

The Supreme Court’s politics also drew our attention. Our editors criticized the Roberts Court’s decisions on everything from abortion to homelessness to water for sidelining science in favor of partisan outcomes. Additionally, a legal sociologist found the Court had engaged in “whitewashing American racial history” in a decision on affirmative action in university admissions that equated students in a highly educated demographic with people harmed by the history of enslavement and Jim Crow.

We’re about more than politics, of course; see below for some other recent big stories. And this e-mail is just the start of what Scientific American’s Opinion section offers you in your inbox: smart and thoughtful commentary from experts in a range of scientific fields.

If you have any suggestions or questions, feel free to contact me anytime at feedback@sciam.com. And check back on Scientific American for more informed opinions on everything and everywhere, from the voting booth to the edges of our imagination.

Dan Vergano
Senior Opinion Editor
Scientific American

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News over Nonsense

At Scientific American, we’re dedicated to delivering the facts—thoughtful analysis, expert perspectives, and the stories behind today’s most important scientific breakthroughs.

We feel a responsibility to deliver information you can trust about the science impacting our world. Our Opinion page takes on the critical issues of our time, from the powerful effects of civic engagement on a local level to the lasting impact of Supreme Court decisions on science and society.

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When Reagan quipped in 1986, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help,’ ” he was signaling the escalation of the conservative antigovernment movement.

The Republican Party signed on and hasn’t let go. Over the following decades, that message has become ever more entrenched. Trump and his MAGA movement have been occupied since 2015 not only with spreading incessant lies but also with disbursing a corrosive loss of faith, leaving advances in modern science as one of many casualties.

–https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/11/opinion/republicans-science-denial.html

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