The Shabby Degradation of American Science

You can tell when an elite is losing its grip. The stylish elites start to slip and look a little shabby. Science in the US is showing the same symptoms. Here's a graph from a posting by K. Eric Drexler in his blog Metamodern:


Notice how the age of researchers has gotten steadily older. Opportunities for younger researchers have been squeezed out. As an extra jab, Drexler notes the age at which Darwin did his foundational research. He barely fits on the graph. He wouldn't have been funded by NIH.

If I were an American citizen I would be rattling the chains of the public servants -- the President and Congressmen -- telling them they need to light a fire under their research funding and make sure that new blood, fresh blood is getting funded.