LiveScience has an interesting article called 9/11 Science: 10 Ways Terrorist Attacks Rocked America
Research that was energized or changed due to the 9/11 attacks:
Climate impact (of airplanes)
Memory
Dreaming
Impact on temperature of planes
Lowered drug and alcohol abuse
Blood pressure
Stoicism good
Closer involvement = raised alcohol abuse
Storage of memories for dementia patients
Collective trauma makes people sick
ScientificAmerican also has an article, called Science After 9/11: How Research Was Changed by the September 11 Terrorist Attacks.
research direction blossomed as a result of 9/11. Scientists and science policy experts say the federal government’s response to terrorist events in 2001, both the September attacks and the anthrax letters in October, have had a profound effect on U.S. research in areas as diverse as forensics, biodefense, infectious diseases, public health, cyber security, geology and infrastructure, energy, and nuclear weapons. Even the social sciences have been affected by the emergence of “terrorism studies” and the new emphasis on the threat in the field of risk analysis.
I don’t see how having planes out the sky for a few days can tell us the impact of planes. The temperatures in Texas have been the highest ever in the history of the state. Does that mean that ten years after 9/11 we are seeing the results of more flights? If so, then the average temperatures will continue to go up for the rest of time until flights drop down. It won’t though.
Others of the scientific breakthroughs or foci are interesting though.