Spending on science is one of the best ways to generate jobs and economic growth, say research advocates. But as Colin Macilwain reports, the evidence behind such claims is patchy.
The economist Paul Krugman suggested in his New York Times column earlier this month that the BP oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico could provide the flagging environmental movement with the renewed impetus it so badly needs. The modern movement, he pointed out, gained a great deal of momentum from a fire on the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio, on 22 June 1969.
