Message for Obama: Politicians believe the problem with nuclear waste is technical in nature. The scientists and engineers believe the problem is political. Mr. Obama, you need to explain the numbers to the public, because you are probably the only person in the United States who can convince citizens that nuclear waste storage really is a solved problem.

NASA/ Getty Images

Space

Conventional wisdom: Sending humans into space is indispensable. Astronauts saved the United States hundreds of millions of dollars by repairing the Hubble Space Telescope. Astronauts were essential during the Apollo missions to the moon.

The hard science: Manned space flight might be a great adventure, but don’t fool yourself into thinking that the presence of humans helps advance science. The greatest scientific achievements of the space program have been the unmanned missions to the planets and the use of remotely controlled instruments to measure the cosmos. All of our greatest space science has come from robots. Yes, Hubble was fixed by humans, but building a telescope that was safe for humans to repair was actually far more expensive than just building a spare one that could have been launched if things went wrong.

Most scientists roll their eyes when NASA talks about the need for human astronauts. Numerous missions have been delayed (and made substantially more expensive) when NASA decided they had to be launched with the space shuttle instead of cheaper unmanned rockets. NASA’s circular rationale: to justify the cost of the shuttle.

Message for Obama: Explain to the public that putting humans in space is not only very dangerous; it usually slows the advance of science. If the public just wants the adventure, then let them know that that is the real purpose.

China Photos/Getty Images

Global Warming

Conventional wisdom: Because the United States is responsible for about one fourth of the excess carbon dioxide that drives the greenhouse effect, the key to solving the problem is for America to go green.

The hard science: Yes, it is true that the United States is responsible for one fourth of past global warming. However, U.S. emissions are growing relatively slowly today.

So why are we so worried? It’s the rapidly growing greenhouse gas emissions of the developing world. China has already surpassed the United States in annual emissions. Its economy has been growing at 10 percent per year (pessimists think the recent economic crash may slow it to 8 percent), but its carbon dioxide emissions are growing 12 to 13 percent per year. Soon it will far outpace the United States as a contributor to global warming. The rest of the developing world is following.

Some say the United States needs to set an example. But it already has: Once a country is wealthy, it can afford to cut back on carbon dioxide. Unfortunately, by the time China is as wealthy as the United States, the world will very likely be 5 to 7 degrees Fahrenheit warmer.

Message for Obama: If we want to stop global warming, then our focus must be on the developing world. Wealthy countries could start by financing clean coal in China. For $50 billion per year, we could at least make sure that new coal plants in China are capable of sequestering carbon dioxide. Sending that kind of money to China would have been a tough sell during the election, but now that the campaign is over, it is time to come clean—about getting clean—to the American people.