RealClear Radio Hour: Big Science with Jeremy Berg and Daniel Sarewitz

This week on RealClear Radio Hour, Drs. Jeremy Berg and Daniel Sarewitz discuss the politics and culture of Big Science.

My first guest this week is Dr. Jeremy Berg, Editor-in-Chief of Science and Professor of Computational and Systems Biology at the University of Pittsburgh. Jeremy unpacks the declining public trust in the $50 billion publicly funded science industry—from the replication crisis to the politicization of science. 

Wrapping up the show is Dr. Daniel Sarewitz, Professor of Science and Society at Arizona State University and co-director of the Consortium for Science, Policy, and Outcomes. Dan discusses how the modern Big Science enterprise grew out of the post-World War II Military-Industrial complex. Conceived under the guise of protecting scientific integrity, the system has become an insular, self-perpetuating culture that encourages quantity rather than quality research, Sarewitz argues. Meanwhile in practice, most scientific discoveries follow rather than lead technology in its relentless pursuit of new products and services.

You can hear the discussion by listening to the full show as-aired on iTunes, or you can check out the podcasts hosted on YouTube and SoundCloud. Make sure to check back next week for another episode of RealClear Radio Hour.

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