ScienceDebate 2008: Would You Digg It?

Would you take 30 seconds to help bring science to the forefront of media coverage of the U.S. presidential election? That's the latest call-to-action from Shawn Otto, a member of the steering committee for ScienceDebate 2008, a self-described "concerned citizens' initiative" that is co-sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Council on Competitiveness (Compete.org), the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. Supporters of Science Debate 2008 include Nobel and Crafoord laureates, college and university presidents; government officials; engineers and scientists; and editors, writers and bloggers (including me).

What is Science Debate 2008?

As reported in The Y Files last February, ScienceDebate 2008 is calling for a public, presidential debate "on the issues of the environment, health and medicine, and science and technology policy" between the standard bearers of the major U.S. political parties. Recently, Senators John McCain and Barack Obama agreed to respond to 14 questions about innovation, climate change, energy, education, national security, pandemics and biosecurity, genetics research, stem cells, ocean health, water, space, scientific integrity, research, and health. ScienceDebate 2008 is encouraged by this development from the Obama and McCain campaigns, but writes that "we still feel strongly that a candidate for president should discuss these critical substantive policy questions in a televised forum before the American public.

Katie Couric: The Face of Science?

Do you agree with Shawn Otto and the supporters of ScienceDebate 2008? If so, you may want to connect with Katie Couric, anchor and managing editor for the CBS Evening News. Although the leg-baring, ex-host of the NBC Today Show has been criticized for blurring the lines between entertainment and journalism, Couric may be able to shine a spotlight on science (if ever so briefly) at the upcoming political conventions in Denver and St. Paul. In her latest YouTube video, Couric invites viewers to submit questions for the candidates at Digg.com, a popular book-marking site that describes itself as "a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web". The more "diggs" that a story (in this case, a question) receives, the more popular it can become.

There's no guarantee that Katie Couric will ask the question that a supporter of ScienceDebate 2008 recently submitted to Digg.com, but Shawn Otto remains optimistic. After all, a poll from May 2008 revealed that a whopping 85% of Americans want a presidential debate about science. For my part, I plan to digg this science question just as soon as I post my own blog entry. After all, I'm much more interested in what the candidates have to say about biosecurity than whether Paris Hilton belongs in a campaign commercial.