Along with the colours of the political map, Tuesday鈥檚 midterm elections will change science in the US.
Researchers in a broad range of disciplines, from embryonic stem cells to climate change, stand to benefit from the tide of voter anger that has swept Republicans out of power in the US House of Representatives and the Senate, handing control to the Democrats, according to latest reports.
Democrat representative Nancy Pelosi, who is set to become speaker of the House, has already promised to broaden the types of stem-cell research allowed with federal funds in the first 100 hours of her majority leadership, which is set to begin in January 2007. Missouri voters also approved an amendment to the state鈥檚 constitution sanctioning human embryonic stem-cell research by a 51% majority. (See Stem-cell researchers welcome midterm results).
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Here is a summary of how the election outcome is predicted to affect other science-related issues in the US. (For background see Decision time for America)
Climate change and energy
Many of the winning governorship and congressional candidates support efforts to boost sources of renewable energy and reduce carbon emissions. In Massachusetts the race for governor was won by Deval Patrick (Democrat), who believes the state should join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, an effort to bring the north-eastern states of the US together along with eastern Canada to fight global warming by capping emissions.
In California, Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger retained his governorship in a landslide victory. He has gained the support of environmentalists by campaigning for the reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions from factories, utilities, refineries and other industrial sites (See the Cool thinking interview with Schwarzenegger for more of his views on the environment).
Eric Antebi of the Sierra Club, a US environmental watchdog group, says that the votes in favour of politicians calling for action on climate change and energy conservation will have a nationwide effect. 鈥淭he momentum has already increased at state and local levels.鈥� He adds that 鈥渋t鈥檚 broken the ground to make it much easier for the federal government to step forward鈥� on issues such as climate change.
Environmental ballot initiatives had mixed outcomes: Voters approved a ballot in Washington state to require state utilities to produce 15% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020. But in California a proposition to tax oil companies and use the money to invest in renewable energy failed.
Science education
Voters also sent a mixed message on whether students should be taught about intelligent design in publicly funded schools. In Ohio a prominent critic of evolution, Deborah Owens Fink, lost her seat on the state board of education to a candidate backed by the pro-evolution group Help Ohio Public Education. And many expect Democrat Ted Strickland, who won the governorship, to appoint more people to the education board who favour teaching evolution.
鈥淪trickland is behind science education. So I believe we can expect we鈥檙e going to have a board that鈥檚 much less sympathetic to teaching intelligent design in the classroom,鈥� says Glenn Branch, deputy director of the National Center for Science Education in Oakland, California.
In Kansas, however, two proponents of intelligent design held onto their seats on the state鈥檚 education board. Jack Krebs, head of Kansas Citizens for Science, says that the outcome will not have an immediate impact. 鈥淭he good news is that we鈥檇 already taken back a majority in the primary elections back in August,鈥� he says. (See our earlier coverage: Kansas schools set to re-embrace evolution)
Krebs says that when the new board convenes in January it will overturn the anti-evolution standards adopted earlier. But he adds that Tuesday鈥檚 outcome makes it less certain that pro-evolutionists will hang onto the majority in 2008 when three seats are up for election. 鈥淲hat happens in 2008 will be much more critical than if we had won the two seats in this election,鈥� Krebs says.
Endangered species
Seven-term Republican incumbent Richard Pombo lost his seat in the House, an outcome celebrated by watchdog groups that say he has an abysmal record on protecting wildlife habitat.
鈥淧ombo鈥檚 loss was a tremendous victory for the environment,鈥� says Jamie Clark of the Washington DC-based Defenders of Wildlife. But one of the greatest defenders of endangered species, Republican Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, also lost his seat in the Senate. Chafee has opposed oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.
Abortion
Voters in South Dakota rejected the toughest abortion ban in the US by a 55% majority. The law, which had been signed by Governor Mike Rounds in March 2006, would have prohibited abortions at all stages of pregnancy and did not make exceptions in cases of rape, incest or poor maternal health.
A petition by abortion-rights advocates delayed the law from going into effect until voters had had their say in a ballot. Anti-abortion groups have vowed to keep up efforts to ban abortion in the state.
Funding
Experts say it is unclear exactly how science funding will change with Democrats taking the reins in the House and Senate. Democrat Bart Gordon of Tennessee, who is set to head the House Science Committee, has criticised NASA in the past, and Democrat John Dingell, who would likely head the Committee on Energy and Commerce, has previously sided with Republicans on climate change.
For now, the only clear change is that Democrats will have a much greater say. 鈥淭hey get to set the agenda and the policy they choose to pursue,鈥� says Joanne Carne, who directs the Center for Science, Technology and Congress of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.