On March 9 US President Barack Obama offered an olive branch to scientists promising an end to political interference. His administration would listen to them "even when it’s inconvenient – especially when it’s inconvenient", he declared. The carrot seems to have worked.

In the lead editorial in America’s top science journal, Science, titled "The Enlightenment Returns", two leading figures called upon their colleagues to give full cooperation to the Obama administration. "The president has taken a large and inspiring step to restore the historically beneficial balance between science and government; we should all now offer to help with the enlightened effort just launched."

The authors are Kurt Gottfried, a physicist from Cornell University and cofounder of the Union of Concerned Scientists, and Nobel laureate Harold Varmus, a former director of the National Institutes of Health. Dr Varmus was so enthusiastic enough that he is now on the payroll of the Obama administration, serving as co-chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. ~ Science, Mar 20