Man's Home Lab confiscated for "doing science in a residential area"

Re:Man's Home Lab confiscated for "doing science in a reside... by neilc on Tuesday August 12, 2008 @04:34PM (#274451)

This is one reason why science is getting extinct.

That is a little hard to believe. The rate of scientific progress is, if anything, continuing to increase. As a society, we are increasingly dependent on science and technology. Science education has long been a priority of the educational systems in most first world countries (for better or worse). And as for "science at home", it is pretty hard to argue that it's under attack, a single anecdote about someone in Massachusetts notwithstanding.

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Re:Man's Home Lab confiscated for "doing science in a reside... by bbgm on Tuesday August 12, 2008 @04:50PM (#274468)

I agree that extinct is too strong a word. Let's call it "science is having a tough time" (and that it is). How many kids do you know who'd like to spend their holidays doing garage science (or adults for that matter)?

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Re:Man's Home Lab confiscated for "doing science in a reside... by neilc on Wednesday August 13, 2008 @11:37AM (#275055)

Overall, I wouldn't agree that "science is having a hard time", either. I don't think trends in PhD production are consistent with your argument (PhD production is basically at an all-time high). The Internet and the computer revolution are also compelling examples of how important science and technology are: in addition to being a useful tool for science itself, they have motivated a lot of people to go into scientific/technical careers.

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Re:Man's Home Lab confiscated for "doing science in a reside... by bbgm on Wednesday August 13, 2008 @06:45PM (#275602)

Science is not just about formal degrees. It's about curiosity and interest as well. I don't see myself having conversations about science at too many bbq's, at least not in a non-scientific audience. I wonder how many people here know about the Broad institute or care about the HapMap project. I just get the sense that science today is either formal or not at all and sheer intellectual curiosity is missing.

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Re:Man's Home Lab confiscated for "doing science in a reside... by neilc on Thursday August 14, 2008 @11:39PM (#276735)

Do you really think that the situation was significantly different in the past?

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Re:Man's Home Lab confiscated for "doing science in a reside... by hugh on Tuesday August 12, 2008 @10:41PM (#274684)

I don't know. Were there ever all that many?

(Although I know plenty of adults who might spend their holidays doing garage science, if it weren't for the fact that they already get paid to do it as a day job.)

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Re:Man's Home Lab confiscated for "doing science in a reside... by bbgm on Tuesday August 12, 2008 @04:47PM (#274466)

Not in this country. The facilities might be better, but I don't see any encouragement for curiosity and discovery, and I know enough people who've found out that doing DIY Biology might get them labeled as "dangerous people". Maybe I am just old and crusty.

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