I attended the launch of a new Science and Human Rights Coalition at the American Academy for the Advancement of Science in Washington, DC last week, where I witnessed an amazing spectacle: a bunch of top scientists grilling scruffy human rights activists…on possible collaborations. It’s an interesting time for scientists to be throwing their hat into the human rights struggle, after eight years of science being perverted by our political leadership to serve right-wing ideology! Look for my story on the coalition, and what it means for public debate around human rights, in an upcoming issue of The Nation.