Increasing “fake news” and declining trust in science are challenging academia, US National Academy of Sciences foreign secretary John Hildebrand told a gathering at Academia Sinica in Taipei yesterday, where he called on researchers to avoid bias and political actions.
Twenty academics from 15 countries attended the International Scientific Leaders’ Forum held by Taiwan’s highest academic research institution as part of its 90th anniversary celebrations on its campus in Taipei’s Nangang District (南港).
In his keynote speech, titled The Origins and Roles of Academies, Hildebrand said that contemporary populist movements see science as part of an elite order, which leads to politicization of science, decline of trust in scientists, and the spread of fake news and “alternative facts.”
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
To address these challenges, researchers should step up interaction with the public and improve general science literacy, while avoiding overt political actions and biased speeches, he said.
Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology president Peter Gruss, a researcher in gene regulation and embryonic development, gave a speech titled Can We Survive Without Science?
He said that more technological innovations are needed, as the world would be facing great transitions over the next three decades.
For example, artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted diagnostics and precision medicine could trigger a shift from therapy to prediction and prevention of diseases, he said.
Taiwan has a unique opportunity to boost its healthcare system by developing AI technologies, especially as National Health Insurance Administration data provide researchers with a wealth of information, Gruss said, adding that his institute is keen to collaborate with Taiwan.
Taiwan devotes less public funding to its basic research than South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia, Gruss said, adding that the government should allocate more funding to basic research to create momentum for technological progress.
Academia Sinica President James Liao (廖俊智) said that researchers should move forward with ambition, responsibility and wisdom, and become leaders in their research domains.
Identifying major problems facing the world, Liao said researchers should propose new solutions to control climate change, use energy and fix carbon without affecting the environment, and achieve healthy longevity in aging societies.
Areas such as AI, memory and consciousness, psychological stress alleviation, connection between past and present, and prediction of events are also worth exploring, Liao said.
Also speaking at the forum, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said that the government would continue to support basic research.
She said she hoped that the National Biotech Research Park inaugurated in Nangang last month would attract innovators from around the world.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and