LAUSR

Scientists in Turkey face uncertain times. Some simple steps would help the country to build a future on research. removed — so, for instance, goods used in scientific research should be exempted from import rules. What can the academic community outside Turkey do to help support colleagues in Turkey? Moral support is welcome, for example public recognition for the independent national science academy, Bilim Akademisi, as an organization that upholds academic standards. It was created in 2011 when the government filled the Turkish Academy of Sciences with its own appointees. Bilim Aka-demisi has no government support, but on a shoestring it carries out the most important activities of an academy. It awards small but prestigious prizes to the best fledgling Turk-ish scientists, and issues honest statements about the current situation for academia in clear but non-inflammatory language. It is also keeping a sober record of the fate of academics in this state of emergency, which will serve posterity. ALLEA, the federation of European national academies, will have the opportunity in September to vote to upgrade Bilim Akademisi from associate to full membership. It should do so. When, in October 2015, Aziz Sancar became the first Turkish scientist to win a Nobel prize, astronomical events seemed to endorse the country's science potential. A celestial conjunction around that time meant that when the Moon was a thin crescent, Venus shone star-like below its curve to create the Turkish flag on high. Yet the government has yet to show the same endorsement, putting Turkey out of sync with its scientists as well as with the Sun. Winter is not just coming — it seems to have arrived. But science can help with the thaw. ■ T he temperatures in Istanbul are wintry, yet it is officially summer time. The Turkish government last year shifted the clocks to a permanent summer mode, aligning the country with Moscow time and forcing the majority of its citizens to live out of sync with the Sun. Scientists complain that it makes neither astronomical nor biological sense. Still, researchers have a lot more to put up with from their government , led by former prime minister and current President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is displaying increasingly authoritarian tendencies. But, as a News Feature notes this week (page 286), Erdoğan has high hopes for science, to support his grandiose plan for Turkey to be among the world's top ten …