When we asked Erin Baker in January for her thoughts on the future of analytical science, she couldn’t wait to talk about all the exciting developments taking place. However, just a few months later, the future makes her “almost ill to even think about.” Erin is of course alluding to the US government’s recent cost cutting plans and their impact on the field – which we examined in our recent feature, which you can read here. The article paints a fairly bleak picture of the “diminishing of American science” (as John Yates put it) resulting from actions that Lloyd Smith describes as “reckless, destructive, wanton.”
Our response? We juxtapose Analytical Science Under Siege with our cover feature – which you can read by downloading our digital issue – that imagines a world where continuous monitoring, remote sampling, and AI-powered tools analyze your entire molecular profile to predict risks and guide personalized treatments.
Elsewhere in the issue, we explore analytical science’s role in fighting nuclear terrorism (see here) and assessing pollutants in Ukraine’s war-ravaged environment (see here). And in the summer issue, we sit down with Kavli Prize winner and nanotechnology pioneer Chad Mirkin, whose work has the potential to bring about a new age of synthesized materials (see: part one and part two)
In other words, we’re doing what we’ve always done: showcasing the extraordinary endeavors of those analytical scientists transforming the world for the better – in an effort to restore some balance in the science community in terms of recognition and prestige for our field. This now seems more important than ever.
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