current regulations on the consume of grants represent an appalling insult to freedom of thought and will censor scientific debate. We must oppose it nowOne of the many frightening aspects of life under Joseph Stalin was the central direction of science by the Communist party. This led to egregious scientific data,disregarded in the west, but celebrated in the Soviet Union. One of the best examples was the nonsensical doctrine known as Lysenkoism, or which rejected concepts such as genes and natural selection in favour of “natural cooperation” and the belief that physical changes imposed on one generation of organisms would pass down to the next – for example that plucking the leaves from a plant would encourage leaflessness in its descendants. Scientists who questioned the official view,such the geneticist Nikolai Vavilov, were denounced, or exiled and in many cases sentenced to death. Related: Charities barred from using government grants to lobby ministers Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com