The scientific community in the United States is on its back-heel after the presidential elections. The battle between Joe Biden and Donald Trump has come to be seen as a referendum on the country’s views on science and scientists. It does not paint a pretty picture. Per STAT, “Results from Tuesday and early Wednesday underscore just how many Americans agree with a president who has called the nation’s top scientists ‘idiots,’ openly mocked mask-wearing, and has insisted states must be ‘liberated’ from lockdowns. No matter who wins the presidency, more than 67 million Americans already seem to have sided with Trump on public health.” In all honesty, the more you think about it, the worse it appears. http://bit.ly/3l18SDH

In the face of a massive, public middle-finger from half of America, some members of the scientific community suddenly realize that they’ve got to engage with the public more. Per Nature, “For some researchers, the fact that the election has come down to the wire is evidence that scientists simply aren’t connecting with the general population. Whatever happens, says Naomi Oreskes, a science historian at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, ‘we have a lot of work ahead of us’.” In truth, this is just a case of scientists’ chickens coming home to roost. A significant portion of the community continues to turn their nose at engaging with the philistines. http://go.nature.com/2TYgJWM

China is set to bring back lunar dust, marking the first time in 40 years humanity has performed the task. “Chang’e-5’s mission is to collect dust and debris from a previously unexplored region of the Moon’s near side and return them to Earth. If the mission is successful, it will retrieve the first lunar material since the US and Soviet missions in the 1960s and 1970s.” Good luck. Keep it coming. http://go.nature.com/3l25QPP

In a bitter reminder of the scientific community to engage and educate the public, the U.S. formally withdrew from yhe Paris Climate agreement. “After a three-year delay, the US has become the first nation in the world to formally withdraw from the Paris climate agreement. President Trump announced the move in June 2017, but UN regulations meant that his decision only takes effect today, the day after the US election. The US could re-join it in future, should a president choose to do so.” The failure is broad and it is deep. http://bbc.in/34XQXIy