September 8, 2006

So Many Labs, So Little Money

By DANIEL S. GREENBERG

Research universities across America are building new laboratories on an unprecedented scale. The new buildings should make possible many important contributions to science, but the construction boom involves serious, often overlooked risks for academe. A bubble is swelling, and the similarities with dot-coms and the real-estate market suggest that science could easily be in for some painful economic shocks.

The problem is that as the laboratories are going up, the money for research

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