Argonne Ntl. Lab Shuts Down Online Ask a Scientist Program

[rhoenix]

In a surprising decision, Argonne National Laboratory has decided to pull the plug on its long-standing NEWTON Ask A Scientist Program. NEWTON is (soon to be was) an on online repository of science questions submitted by school children from around the world.

A volunteer group of scientists contributed grade-level appropriate answers to these questions. For the past 25 years, a wide range of topics ranging have been covered, including the classic "why is the sky blue" to "is there way to break down the components of plastics completely into their original form". Over the years, over 20,000 questions have been answered. According to ANL, the website will be shut down permanently on 1 March. There is no plan to make the content available in an alternate form or to hand over stewardship to another organization.

When contacted about transferring the repository to another institution or moving to a donation model, the response from ANL was simply: "Thank you again for all your support for Newton. Unfortunately, moving Newton to another organization is not a possibility at this time. Thank you again for your energy and support."

Well. This is a disappointment.

[Batman]

Good riddance. We don't want our children to talk to scientists. I mean what has science ever done for mankind?

[rhoenix]

Good riddance. We don't want our children to talk to scientists. I mean what has science ever done for mankind?

Sadly, I think something very much like that is the reasoning behind it. I might be taking a disproportionate sample size from the people I work with and around, but most of them take a special racy pleasure in sneering at scientists and their "nollij."

[General Havoc]

Maybe if people had supported the program instead of constructing straw men to sneer at in its wake, the damn thing would still be on.

Nobody here lifted a finger to save NEWTON, and I would consequently invite everyone present to look inward as to the reason for its failure, rather than make up yet more rednecks to feel superior to.

[rhoenix]

Maybe if people had supported the program instead of constructing straw men to sneer at in its wake, the damn thing would still be on.

Nobody here lifted a finger to save NEWTON, and I would consequently invite everyone present to look inward as to the reason for its failure, rather than make up yet more rednecks to feel superior to.

I take your point in the fallacy of attempting to be on a high horse about this, after having made no real efforts toward helping it personally - but things such as this are encouraging more activism in me recently.

I'm still not sold on the idea of simply throwing money at something you like and calling yourself a supporter, however much one's funds might help, because it doesn't encourage any actual personal investment - that of time, of effort, and of knowledge given for others' sake. On the other hand, I'm not sure how I would support such things, except by trying to not take them or the reasons for their existence for granted.

[Lys]

I find it difficult to believe that there's nobody out there willing and able to host the archives. Fucking 4chan has something like three different unaffiliated archives. If they want to shut it down they can shut it down, it's not like I'd heard of NEWTON before now, but the idea of losing a repository of over 20 000 scientific questions asked by schoolchildren and answered by actual scientists sits wrong with me.

[General Havoc]

I take your point in the fallacy of attempting to be on a high horse about this, after having made no real efforts toward helping it personally - but things such as this are encouraging more activism in me recently.

I'm still not sold on the idea of simply throwing money at something you like and calling yourself a supporter, however much one's funds might help, because it doesn't encourage any actual personal investment - that of time, of effort, and of knowledge given for others' sake. On the other hand, I'm not sure how I would support such things, except by trying to not take them or the reasons for their existence for granted.

There's the rub, really, and there's no one answer for something like that. Volunteering money is a nice panacea in that it allows for flexibility on the part of the organization and is sometimes the only practicable option. Activism of other sorts, be it lobbying, volunteering, or whatnot, must needs depend on the circumstances.

And Lys, by my researches, a number of people have offered to take on NEWTON, or at least its archives, but for some reason, the program runners have said no. I don't know if there's a rights block in the way or something else, but it does seem a bit odd that nobody can do anything at all.