Viewing life through a military lens
Extremely interesting letter in New Scientist by Ben Haller, Montreal, Canada:
You report that researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have discovered how the structure of a snail’s shell absorbs and dissipates impacts (23 January, p 17). They are then quoted as saying this could allow us to improve body armour – a comment I find particularly sad.
I can think of lots of ways this discovery could be used to help make life better: improved car bodies that protect us from accidents, damage-absorbing cases for laptops and other electronic devices, or better bicycle helmets.
Their paper indicates that funding for the research came from the US army, the Department of Defense and US defence supplier Raytheon, among others.
It is high time there was a real discussion in the scientific community of the ways that defence funding of research can distort science. Not only does it change the questions that we ask, directing us towards problems that are applicable to warfare, it also changes how we perceive the utility of our most general and useful discoveries.
Is finding new and improved ways to kill each other the best use we can think of for science?
