As a select congressional committee prepares its final recommendations on lowering the U.S. deficit, nearly 70 scientific and engineering societies and universities have urged the group to preserve R&D spending “as an area of U.S. investment too critical to be cut.”

Three Science articles—by staff writers Jennifer Couzin-Frankel and Erik Stokstad, along with psychologist Daniel Wegner—have been selected for The Best American Science Writing 2010.

The annual anthology, set for publication in September, this year will feature 22 articles from across the spectrum of science, including both up-and-coming writers and some of the most venerable voices in the field.