Is there the real political will to let the scientists fund the much needed research?
All of science is based on research, most bad policy decisions are made because of the lack of basic research and understand and also unfortunately often made in a panic and a hurry to unfolding events.
wise planing can only come about with understanding gained from research.
Most good research takes time, expertise and money, even though many breakthroughs have been serendipitous they still need to be recognised by astute minds trained in the sciences.
Pratical Science Research
Research into Alternative energy shows that not only do we need new ways of generating energy, we need better ways of storing it. We also need to reduce damage to the environment.
Research into water use, food production, energy production.
Some technological areas of research
Example1: research using spacecraft, should it be financed? is it worth the risk? can the resources be better used? you decide:
Space Power energy from the sun using spacecraft.
A ESA spacecraft that might help our understanding around 2020 has less than a 1 in 3 chance of being funded, Solar Orbiter would circle the Sun, flying to within 35 million km of our star to make detailed measurements of the activity from the equator to the poles. The multi-instrumented probe would both observe the Sun and take in-situ measurements of its environment. "We want Solar Orbiter to help us understand how magnetic storms happen on the Sun and how they reach Earth, so we can predict them" are we really interested in the science? (waste or not? see youtube video)
Example2: should we spend millions or even billions on this research? how much greener will we be? what are the risks?
Nanotechnology is leading to improved, environmentally-friendly batteries and supercapacitors.
Some nanotechnology supporters claim that it will provide solutions to all our problems in time.