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The support and policies of DOD and NSF, for example, led to the creation of the 

 Internet: several agencies have contributed to the U.S. strength in the optical sci- 

 ences. 



At the same time, one agency may be the primary, if not sole, patron of a field 

 of national importance; for example, DOE is the largest supporter of academic 

 research in nuclear physics. DOD's support of computer science and engineering 

 and materials science and engineering enabled the creation of Silicon Valley, and 

 support by NIH facilitated the emergence of modern biotechnology. 



The federal budget allocation process allows for this diversity of approach in 

 which budgeting is handled mainly by agencies who Icnow well the purpose and 

 content of R&D projects and need their results. Budget decisions are thus specific 

 to programs rather than generalized and across the board, and good science can find 

 sustenance wherever it first arises. 



Stable and thoughtful research investments can contribute to 

 controlling federal costs. 



Continuing technological superiority' enables the United States to maintain a 

 reduced but highh- effective military force without compromising national security; 

 new nondestructive testing techniques reduce the costs of maintaining highways; 

 and information technologies help federal agencies, such as the Social Securin- 

 Administration and the Internal Revenue Service, control the costs of serving very 

 large populations. Through prevention of disease and development of new thera- 

 pies, biomedical research has the potential to reduce significantly the costs of 

 disease, injur}-, and health care. 



Major advances in technology often are based on research whose 

 eventual outcomes and applications could not have been predicted 



The de facto postwar policy of "poised to pounce"— that is, the readiness to 

 respond made possible with support across a wide spectrum of the sciences, 

 complemented by funding targeted to particular opportunities and priorities as they 

 become apparent — has worked. Major advances have come from unexpected 

 sources. For example, fundamental work on atomic clocks led to the concept and 

 development of the global positioning system (Box II. 2); work on the microwave 

 spectrum of ammonia enabled the development of lasers; and studies of magnetic 

 moments and nuclear spin were the basis for the development of magnetic reso- 

 nance imaging and dramatic new forms of medical diagnosis. Research on the 

 genetics of bacterial viruses and harmless bacteria that live in the human gut con- 

 tributed to advances in biotechnology, and the study of large biological molecules 

 by x-ray diffraction has greatly aided the effort to design new drugs. 



Decades of separate lines of work in biology, psychology, linguistics, and 

 anatomy have converged to create neuroscience, in which fundamental work holds 

 the potential for enormous rewards — from better treatments for mental illnesses to 

 improved ways of teaching and learning to the design of radical new computer 



