I was at a conference recently where someone with a degree in science repeated the erroneous claim that humans use 10 per cent of their brains. I was shocked that someone with scientific training would make such a statement and I wondered both about the quality of the science degree and about this person's ability to think critically.

Shortly after I joined the Ministry of Health as an aide to the Minister, cabinet was shuffled. Environment and Energy were split in two and I followed my Minister to the Ministry of Energy, Science and Technology.

This was the first time that science had its own Ministry in Ontario rather than being a junior, toothless sub-Ministry or secreted away, lost in a bureaucratic labyrinth. For a few weeks, we excitedly cobbled together some semblance of a science mandate, thinking big thoughts about what we could achieve.

Time passed, little happened other than our attending some science conferences, and the whole thing fizzled. After the next cabinet shuffle, science was quietly ushered out the door.