Please aim gun away from foot

With the Nobel prizes about to be announced this week, it's worth noting that America's dominance of the prizes is unprecedented in all of history. No country spends as much money on research as we do, and no other country has the university system to lure the best and the brightest. This last factor may be more important - a quick glance at the physics Nobel prize list will show that a large percentage of American winners were immigrants or children of immigrants. They came here to do their science because we opened our doors, and because we were the best.

That's why American dominance in science may soon be a thing of the past. Ever since 9/11 we've been turning scientists and engineers away from our borders in droves. This is not just stupid, it's insanely stupid. We're taking our nation's competitive advantage and flushing it down the toilet for no point whatsoever, and it's got to stop.