Oakes, you are clearly well of the mark as to what I was saying. Let me repeat it.
""I have always thought that a great payoff for our investment dollars would be if the US government ratcheted up money for material science research.""
You come back with ""my nitpicks: 1. why should the US gov't do this if the material development is a benefit to industry 2. you obviously don't know enough materials scientists. Solyndra on. ""
I suggest you don't know any basic researcher or know anything about basic research. There is a great deal of difference between basic research and final applied research to generate or refine a product for sale. There would be no internet and no biotech industry without the government investing billions in basic research that no company would do.
The report about the single atom transistors was basic research that a company didn't or wouldn't do. Just as recent breakthroughs in lower temperature superconductors were done at universities funded by government dollars. For the latter, I would ramp up government funding so that we can get closer to the dream of room temperature super-conductors. Just one application that would benefit all of is if such material could be used to make electrical transmission lines to virtually eliminate transmission inefficiencies and resultant waste, and for energy storage.
As for your point #2, I don't understand what you are driving at as Solyndra is irrelevant to my point about basic research. So a small company with some government loans failed, so what? That company appears to be the new whipping boy for those wishing to avoid serious debate about the government and its essential role in US energy policy. If you whine about Solyndra, you should be screaming at the top of your lungs about the travesty of tax breaks given to highly profitable fossil fuel companies.
If you are interested in reducing US energy dependency on fossil fuels, then you should be pushing for tax breaks for geothermal energy and overall energy efficiency in old buildings and for new construction.
