A well nourished ecosystem around science beginning with the early school system, the high shool, up to university and the proper funding and attention to science at the high academic levels is one of the backbones of creating wealth and prosperity in a society.

Science can make smaller countries and societies punch above their weight class - but what happens when societies don't invest in science, and why don't they?

In this episode I will take you through Nobel prizes as the indicator for quality science in a country, the Arabian golden age, DARPA, NASA, Richard Dawkins, Nokia and Novo Nordisk, religion, NBA basketball, tyrannical leaders, the H1B visa and many other things.