Kudos to our modernity: how science continues to transform our lives for the better, to the point that now is the greatest time in history to be alive. From the editorial:

This kind of progress hasn’t happened on its own. It happened because people organized and voted for better prospects; because leaders enacted smart, forward-­looking policies; because people’s perspectives opened up, and with them, societies did too. But this progress also happened because we scienced the heck out of our challenges. Science is how we were able to combat acid rain and the AIDS epidemic. Technology is what allowed us to communicate across oceans and empathize with one another when a wall came down in Berlin or a TV personality came out. Without Norman Borlaug’s wheat, we could not feed the world’s hungry. Without Grace Hopper’s code, we might still be analyzing data with pencil and paper.

That’s one reason why I’m so optimistic about the future: the constant churn of scientific progress. Think about the changes we’ve seen just during my presidency. When I came into office, I broke new ground by pecking away at a Black­Berry. Today I read my briefings on an iPad and explore national parks through a virtual-­reality headset. Who knows what kind of changes are in store for our next president and the ones who follow?

Update 10/15/16: see also the President’s Weekly Address (10/15/16): excerpt:

Innovation is in our DNA.  And today, we need it more than ever to solve the challenges we face.  Only through science can we cure diseases, and save the only planet we’ve got, and ensure that America keeps its competitive advantages as the world’s most innovative economy.