Colin Macilwain: What matters for science is who runs the country

Nature: The UK science policy observer Colin Macilwain argues in a 30 August commentary that a nation’s “chief scientific adviser is no substitute for a ruling elite that is actually engaged with science and engineering.” He notes that scientists and engineers permeate those elites in Germany, Japan, China, and France. But in the UK, he laments, “it is widely accepted that those in charge neither know nor care about how things really work.” There and in the US, leaders have “ ‘special advisers’ who rarely have any background in science or engineering,” while “the world of finance holds almost limitless sway.” He concludes, “The public prestige of science is higher than ever but it remains disturbingly removed from the centres of power. And under these circumstances, the scientific community’s hope that the scientific adviser will exercise meaningful influence is liable always to be frustrated.”