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Science is Political

Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

One of the big problems with privilege is the way it insulates the privileged from issues that are blatantly obvious to others. The political nature of science is one of those issues: privileged scientists (especially white male scientists in the United States) can pretend science is a meritocracy, and they got where they are according to their own personal merits, without any deck-stacking in their favor.

However, since the election of Donald Trump to the US Presidency, there has been a growing recognition even among the privileged that science is under threat. In my new comics collaboration with science comics artist extraordinaire Maki “Totoro” Naro, we looked at a large number of ways science is already being impacted in the Age of Trump. Those ways include the obvious—climate change—to the less-obvious for the privilege-insulated, such as anti-trans “bathroom bills” and attacks on health care. To this end, we spoke with a number of scientists from a variety of disciplines and backgrounds. Thanks to Raychelle Burks, Amanda Grennell, Lisa Manglass, Mika McKinnon, Nancy Parmalee, David Shiffman, and Emily Willingham for talking to us. Read the comic here.

Oh yes, and if you have a few spare dollars, please throw them Maki’s way.