Nothing impacts modern life more than science and yet the candidates are rarely asked questions about it and almost never mention it in speeches. This is a neglect of almost insane proportions. Even children know this.
Only one organization has ever succeeded in getting American presidential candidates to lay out their basic science agendas in advance of the election. In 2008 and 2012, ScienceDebate.org persuaded Obama, McCain and Romney to answer 14 Top Science Questions in writing. When published online, their answers reached almost a billion people each time and for the first time in history American voters went to the polls knowing how their candidates felt about arguably the most important issues on earth.
Science Debate is now calling for final public input on a new set of questions for this election. If you have a science question you'd like the candidates to answer, now's the time. The chance to submit questions or vote on existing ones will end on April 12.
As you'll see there's a fantastic alphabet of issues starting with BIODIVERSITY and BIOSECURITY, going through such things as MENTAL HEALTH and NUCLEAR ENERGY, and ending with VACCINATION and WATER. But you can ask any science question you want.
Having had a severely depressed mother, I want to know how candidate will encourage brain research so we can bring relief to those who suffer from various mental disorders. Like so many science questions, this one is not just about individual human pain, lost opportunities, lost lives, but also about the economy: mental illness costs America $300 billion a year.
What are your interests? What do you want to know? Don't miss this chance to support science and make sure that candidates do too.