Archive for February, 2008
NIH advisers call for an overhaul of the peer-review process; Craig Venter wants carbon dioxide to drive a new generation of fuels within 18 months; CDC advisers call for universal flu vaccinations for children over six.
While patent reform legislation sits in Congress, the biggest hurdle to protecting intellectual property may simply be the lack of satisfied, qualified examiners at the U.S. Patent Office, says a new GAO report.
A roundup of some of the science and technology policy events happening around Washington D.C. from Mar. 3 to Mar. 7.
A company in Irvine, California reported that it has developed a “non-viral” method of reprogramming human adult cells to behave like stem cells. Other scientists are showing caution after the announcement, but the company is keeping the research under wraps until it “finalizes an agreement with a corporate partner.”
A hearing reviewed a recent scandal over beef safety and raised questions about the ability of the Department of Agriculture to keep food-borne pathogens out of the food supply.
Two stories this week describe two different approaches to plant genetic resources. Tuesday, researchers from Washington University and Iowa State university announced a completed draft of the corn genome. The same day, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, which will store seeds from around the world in the event of catastrophic loss, opened on a remote Norwegian island.
Members of the House Committee on Science and Technology met the President’s FY2009 budget request for the National Science Foundation with general praise during today’s hearing.
Genetic nondiscrimination legislation has been around since 1995 and has been introduced in both chambers of every Congress since then. It’s time to pass the bill and protect patients.
Communicating the importance and public good of scientific research is a responsibility of scientists and policy makers alike. To do so, we must draw clear connections between the policy issues that attract public attention and the technological innovation that underscores them.
Good news for large-scale solar power generation arrived yesterday with bad news for photovoltaic technology; we need names for the next administration’s science advisors; and Google launches a pilot program for electronic medical records.
A roundup of some of the science and technology policy events happening around Washington D.C. from Feb. 25 to Feb. 29.
The U.S. government has poured money into this experimental new vaccine alongside private investors. The effort just might carry the vaccine all the way to the marketplace.
The LA Times has several recent stories on the latest Los Angeles green energy initiatives and contention over a proposed cap-and-trade system for California emissions.
Texas A&M settles for $1 million in a lab safety investigation; the Supreme Court rules in favor of medical device makers; how does the CDC pick the right flu vaccine?
Edward Markey (D-MA) and Chip Pickering (R-MS) introduced the “Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2008″ bill last week, the most recent legislative foray into the “net neutrality” debate. A look at the competing interests.
Jeffrey Sachs helped launch a new student-led journal of sustainable development,
Consilience, on Monday by detailing a vision of goal-driven innovations that cross the public-private line. He advocated an “organizational ecology” approach to addressing global challenges.
A strong judicial rebuke to the Bush administration’s indefensible behavior on mercury pollution may mark the end of an embarrassing era during which the toxin poured into our ecosystems.
The improbability of an HIV vaccine, possibilities for improving scientific communication, and cheap laptops all made news at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting held this past weekend in Boston.
A roundup of some of the science and technology policy events happening around Washington D.C. from Feb. 18 to Feb. 22.
AAAS president critiques U.S. science and tech policy; researchers map human impacts on ocean ecosystems; new materials for carbon capture; harnessing the tides and waves for energy; biodefense watchdog shuts down.
A new paper published today in
Science describes advances from the Kyoto University iPS cell team, led by Shinya Yamanaka, facilitating production of pluipotent cells that are much less likely to form tumors than iPS cells created with previous methods.
Last week, the House authorized funding for a new learning center dedicated to researching and developing innovative digital learning and information technologies for the nation’s education system. The Higher Education authorization bill includes a provision to create the National Center for Learning Science and Technology Trust Fund which will provide public funding for research in educational technology.
Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences made a unanimous decision Tuesday to require faculty members to submit their published articles for inclusion in an open-access database. Unless scholars request a waiver to the policy, they must submit digital copies of their works to the provost’s office.
The techniques of computer gaming could reform our classrooms and our education system and test 21st century skills.
A new paper released today from researchers at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute offers data on the length of time cells must be exposed to reprogramming factors in order to induce the cells into behaving like stem cells. According to an email announcement from the HSCI, this allows scientists to “narrow the field of candidate chemicals and proteins that might be used to safely turn these processes on and off.”
Allegations of professional baseball players abusing human growth hormone have raised the profile of this heavily regulated substance. The House on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing yesterday to sift through misinformation on HGH and get the scientific facts.
Before we need more biofuels, writes Alex Farrell in an op-ed in today’s San Francisco Chronicle, we need better biofuels. He suggests reorienting our thinking about biofuel production to focus on how we use the land available, so that fuel does not compete with wilderness or food production.
The latest research on biofuel production suggests that previous studies failed to fully account for the role uncultivated lands play in keeping carbon out of the atmosphere. But with this new guidance, says Alex Farrell in an interview with
Science Progress, we see that while not all biofuels are created equal, growing them the right way can help stop global warming, keep food prices down, and preserve our forests.
Students and teachers alike must understand how systems of knowledge creation and archivization are changing. Encyclopedias are no longer static collections of facts and figures; they are living entities. Just check the entry on Global Warming.
Scientists working in developed and developing nations will soon have a new organization to integrate their efforts; the New York Academy of Sciences is spearheading the formation of “Scientists Without Borders.”
A roundup of some of the science and technology policy events happening around Washington D.C. from Feb. 11 to Feb. 15.
Two new studies highlight the need for tight environmental standards for biofuels to help us solve global warming.
Recently, researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute announced the creation of the first synthetic genome. Deamer, a chemist at UC Santa Cruz, downplays concerns about the dangers of the research and explains that synthetic biology can teach us about the origins of life.
The recently unveiled blog at the new Scientists and Engineers for America Action Fund website has a column from Gerald Epstein questioning a $2 billion request in the FY2009 budget for the Department of Homeland Security.
President Bush’s final Federal budget for FY 2009 contains significant boosts for physical sciences and programs supported by the Administration’s American Competitiveness Initiative, but proposes flat lining funding for National Institutes of Health, the largest source of funds for life sciences research. Today, the American Association for the Advancement of Science releases its preliminary analysis of R&D in the budget.
Rather than pretending there are more broadband links across our country, as the administration does in its latest report, we should instead get down to the business of creating a networked nation.
How are Americans supposed to figure out the candidates’ stances on matters of science and technology policy? Answer: They won’t unless they strongly care to know in the first place—and even then, they can’t learn much of anything directly from the candidates themselves.
Researchers at Newcastle University in England report that they have created embryos with the DNA from three people: a sperm donor, an egg donor, and a second female donor whose contribution to the embryo is a packet of genes that lie outside the egg’s nucleus, called mitchochondria. If adopted in the U.S., the procedure could test FDA authority over
in vitro reproductive research.
The Bush Administration released its final budget request today. It includes significant cuts to the budgets for the Centers for Disease Control, stagnant funding for the National Institutes of Health, and moderate boosts to the Department of Energy.
In her latest book, Davis tackles the convoluted history of cancer research, revealing the extent to which governmental anti-cancer efforts were spearheaded by leaders from the very industries producing cancer-causing materials and products.
The DOE Basic Energy Sciences program is forced to cut grants after a meager budget increase. Are iPS cells ready to replace embryonic stem cells? A new report in
Science on climate change and reduced global food production.
A roundup of some of the science and technology policy events happening around Washington D.C. from Feb. 4 to Feb. 8.
“The answer to the question of how the U.S. manages its great scientific resources and potential,” wrote Dan Greenberg this week at the Chronicle’s Brainstorm blog, “is that it doesn’t.” The Federal government has a responsibility to support scientific and technological research, and the President must lead the way.
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration issued a report from the alternate reality of the Bush administration yesterday, cheering “the nation’s broadband success story.” Despite President Bush’s suggestion in 2004 that the United States should have “universal, affordable access to broadband technology by the year 2007,” we have nothing resembling this system.
