WASHINGTON (AP) — The world saw brain power take a different form Saturday.

From the Washington Monument to Germany's Brandenburg Gate and even to Greenland, scientists, students and research advocates rallied on an often soggy Earth Day, conveying a global message about scientific freedom without political interference, the need for adequate spending for future breakthroughs and just the general value of scientific pursuits.

They came in numbers that were mammoth if not quite astronomical.

"We didn't choose to be in this battle, but it has come to the point where we have to fight because the...