In Fact

An Opportunity

With the coming of Spring this year, the Earth began its timeless renewal, heedless of the preceding winter that will cast its shadow over the world economy for the foreseeable future..We here at Biotrends turned our thoughts to another rebirth--our own—re-examining our priorities and focusing once again on what we care so deeply about: the health of science and math education in this country.

On the 2nd of February every year in the United States , Americans observe a tradition called the Groundhog Day, a practice stemming from similar beliefs associated with the days of early Christians in Europe when nature exerted a stronger influence in our lives. It is the day when the groundhog comes out of his hole in the heart of winter to look for his shadow. If he sees it, it portends six more weeks of bad weather and the groundhog returns to his hole. If the day is cloudy and shadowless, he regards it as a sign of spring and stays above ground.

A few years ago, Hollywood made a movie called Groundhog Day . The premise is that a team of reporters travels to Punxsutawney , a small town in Pennsylvania , to cover its claim-to-fame Phil the groundhog's emergence and subsequent prediction. The twist is that the lead reporter, Phil Connors, wakes up the morning after to discover that Groundhog Day is repeating itself, but only he is aware of it. He interacts with his team and the town's people, who behave just as they had the day before… unless , he comes to realize, he behaves differently. Day after day, Connors wakes up to Groundhog Day, any differences being those that he creates through the opportunity to repeat the experience. By altering his own actions and, as a result, others' reactions , he learns a lot about himself and the rewards of becoming a better and more thoughtful person. Naturally (this is Hollywood ), he finally wins the heart of the movie's heroine. Like many feel-good movies, this one ends with a lesson about life and love.

Does life, in one lifetime, repeatedly offer us the chance to do what we need to do; perhaps ultimately to do it better than before? I'm not a philosopher, and this story is intended allegorically; however, in the last several months as our team here at Biotrends has discussed the question and the possibility of renewing our efforts, I have wondered about our opportunities.

When we first undertook the task of creating Biotrends , we were a group of scientists who thought the poor state of science and math education in the United States mattered , and who were willing to volunteer their time and efforts to help find a way to change things for the better. There were like-minded scientists who stepped up and wrote articles for us, others who cheered us on, and some who cautioned us. Yet we were confident that our goal was crucial and timely. We received amazing responses from the public and non-science community who read our articles, sent our link to friends and family members and sent us encouraging emails. We also received communication from teachers who are working so hard every day with limited resources all over the country to promote the same goals. However, all of this was not enough, and our small volunteer team did not have sufficient support to persevere.

Two years later, our country's world status in science and math education has not improved, and the United States ' unprecedented economic predicament has further handicapped our ability to devote resources to ameliorate the situation.

However, maybe this “long winter” of enormous challenges secretes within it the opportunity to—as did Phil Connors--revisit, re-evaluate and readjust our efforts to educate and train the next generation. Perhaps by looking both backward and forward we can identify and predict future jobs in bio- and green technologies, life sciences, healthcare, and other fields of tomorrow.

In the last few months, we have revisited the communications which still come to us, and we have made the decision to relaunch our efforts through the platform of Biotrends to play a role in improving science and math education and reopen the discussion of how we could do this more efficiently. As did the protagonist of Groundhog Day , we are arriving at this decision with a better understanding of how we might accomplish this because of what has come before.

In the coming months, you will see fewer issues devoted to a single topic. However, you will see more frequent updates to the website with news and articles focusing on current events. We will continue to talk to leaders in their fields of science and technology, as well as policymakers who we will invite to be part of the dialogue. In addition, we will expand our science-education section and will have frequent conversations with teachers.

You will also notice two new areas of focus. As the United States struggles to convert to a more green- and technology-focused economy to meet the needs of the future and create jobs, we will add a section on careers in science and technology in which we will describe careers in the field and profile people working in them. We have also decided to broaden Biotrends ' international focus. Over the last few years I have traveled the world and visited biotechnology and life-sciences companies as well as schools, hospitals and clinics from Asia to Africa and from Europe to the Middle East . I have recognized that the United States has something to learn from the best practices worldwide. We must be cognizant of and grateful for our connection to the rest of the world and more than ever recognize that, in our global economy, what we do here and what others do in other parts of the world affects us all.

Finally, I am most pleased to tell you about a new addition to our team. Ms. Cyndi Sauvage joins us as an editor with more than 15 years of magazine- and book-publishing experience in New York City and Denver . We are very excited to have her as a member of our team. She will also bring her perspective as a non-scientist who understands the importance of supporting and promoting it— one she shares with many of our readers.

We take this new opportunity very seriously and invite all of you to join us. To those of you who stepped up and helped us in many different ways--writing articles, sending news pieces, and volunteering your time--we ask you to continue to be part of our team. To those of you who wished us well from around the world, we will continue to need your support. And for those of you who warned us of an uphill battle and sent us your words of caution and sat and watched on the sidelines to see where our efforts would lead us, we need your help, too. This is a time in our history we can no longer afford to sit out. We must learn from past experience and be proactive in doing so.

In fact, we look forward to seeing you and speaking with you again soon.

Shadi