Curiosity Abounds, and Science Is Thriving

The gloomy thesis advanced in the April 10 Outlook article "Our Incredible Shrinking Curiosity" does not hold up under an objective survey of America's science enterprise. Research and development budgets have increased 45 percent since 2001, to a historic high of $132.3 billion in President Bush's fiscal 2006 budget proposal. Within that total the category that Rick Weiss called "curiosity-driven" has increased 26 percent, to $26.6 billion.

These numbers represent a huge commitment to science and technology, including basic research. Choices always have to be made about what research promises the greatest science payoff, given the technology available, and what offers the greatest promise for new technologies.

Examples from the curiosity front include:

· In "outer" space, images and data from Spirit and Opportunity on Mars and Cassini at Saturn are bringing surprising information about our solar system. NASA's New Horizons mission will attempt to unlock the mysteries of Pluto, and Deep Impact will tell us what comets are made of. The James Webb Space Telescope will explore the shape of the universe and the phenomena of dark energy and dark matter.

· In "inner" space, the United States operates the world's most energetic particle accelerator at Fermilab. We are building a powerful free electron laser at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, completing the world's most advanced neutron source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and investing more than $1 billion annually to study exotic phenomena at the nanoscale.

· And in "human" space, after leading the mapping of the human genome, the United States is well ahead in the proliferating initiatives such as proteomics and metabolomics, which with genomics will lead to a new era of molecular medicine.

Federal funding for science has been a nearly constant fraction of the discretionary budget for decades and grows steadily with it. There is no "retreat" from curiosity-driven research, just an expanding horizon of opportunity.

JOHN H. MARBURGER III

Washington

The writer is science adviser to President Bush and director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy.