You may notice the NSF logo on our blog. That stands for the National Science Foundation. The National Science Foundation funds the research that we do. They are a government organization that funds a large portion of federally-supported basic research. Basic research is important because it provides the fundamentals from which technologies are made. For example, without Michael Faraday's fundamental research into electricity and magnetism, we wouldn't have the electric motor and a wide variety of electric and/or magnetic appliances. We also wouldn't have cell phones and the entire telecommunications industry. Einstein also did fundamental, state-sponsored research that has fed into a wide variety of disciplines including the computer that you use to read this website. In order for companies to put money into developing a product, there first needs to be basic research to give them a reason to put money in a given direction. Without basic research, there is no fundamentally new technology. At the same time, basic research tends to be a high-risk/high-reward scenario. Not all basic research pays off and we generally do not know at the onset what will pay off and what will not.
If you are interested in learning more about the NSF, check out their Tumblr, facebook, or website.
