I’m a bit behind in my dead tree reading, but I still think the SEED magazine feature, The State of Science, is worth posting about.  Sadly, I think it reads better in the print magazine than the online version, but you work with what you have.  The feature includes snapshots of five rising scientists and five science cities, as well as perspectives from a science historian (Steven Shapin) and a science innovator (Craig Ventner).  The survey of scientists is not yet online but should be soon.  Scattered throughout the feature are discussions of underlying issues integral to all of science – intellectual property, resources, publishing, measurements, and public perception.

Each reader will probably take away something a bit different from this work, there’s so much there to choose from.  I was particularly taken with the section on measurements and informatics, as well as the different ways various points where represented graphically.  With so many assumptions and models throught science and science policy, new ways of seeing and questioning what we do and how we do it are welcome.