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British Government Slashes Scientific Research

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the no-soup-for-you dept.

asobala writes "The British Government has slashed the funding of scientific Research Councils by £68 million. The Research Councils most affected by this include the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, which has been hit by a £29 million reduction in funding, and the Medical Research Council, which is seeing a £10.7 million reduction in funding. The response of the BBSRC biological research council announces that the council will have to cut 20 new grants and reduce expenditure on new equipment."

1 of 168 comments (clear)

  1. Re:It isn't a bad thing... by Conception · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The problem with that is you have no idea what pure research is useful and which isn't. Here's a quote I found that is a good sum up:

    Pure science has been held up as a beacon of hope, as a way to allow scientists to pursue their own intuitions, and thus to find totally new solutions to old problems. This is seen in contrast to applied science, where short-term goals do not allow sufficient room for finding really new approaches. Indeed, the irony here is that the best applications of sciences are ultimately based on pure, rather than applied research.