To visualize and create linkages between the search for scientific truth, and the desire to achieve justice in our society, the scientific community must seek to establish a new contract with policy makers, based not on demands for autonomy and ever increasing budgets, but on the implementation of an explicit research agenda rooted in social goals.
—Representative George E. Brown, Jr.

Scientists are compelled to deal with politics as part of their daily labor. However, each researcher, teacher, or scientific organization must decide to what extent politics ought to be part of their day-to-day work. Recently, we have witnessed Nature’s commitment to politics. In a recent issue (16 April, 2007), the international journal included ten pages on the (at that time) imminent French elections. With that, Nature attempted to make known the diverse scientific policies that the three main candidates would carry out if elected, critically comparing their proposals. On the other hand, the journal’s deep analysis of the French scientific circumstances, together with the fact that the authors gave their own opinion on the matter, may be seen as a way of bringing pressure to bear on the candidates. Whether all this could have a real effect on the future government is open for debate. In any case, the scientific journal’s involvement in politics for the benefit of science is worthy of admiration. Will Nature and other top scientific journals dedicate similar efforts to look at the difficult scientific situations in other countries all over the world?