Archive for September, 2008
If Congress resumes Thursday and passes a financial rescue plan, it will have a significant impact on discretionary spending next year. Yesterday,
Science and
National Geographic both reported on the potential effect a budget crunch will have on federal science funding. (But unless we solve the unfolding financial crisis, there won’t be enough money to fund much of anything.)
Drugs that improve attention or prevent fatigue raise ethical questions in many workplace settings. But what about hospitals, where med students can supply themselves with the pills that let them work harder?
The impact of Hurricane Ike on the research labs in the storm’s path is generating a small number of headlines. At the end of last week,
Science reported on the state of things at the University of Texas Medical Branch. Fortunately, the Center for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Biocontainment BSL-4 Lab at UTMB suffered minimal damage.
Here’s a roundup of some of the science and technology policy events happening around Washington, D.C. from September 29 to
October 3.
The face of stem cell research is changing as research moves towards the clinic and commercialization, and as patients demand access to experimental treatments.
When James Thomson’s and Shinya Yamanaka’s research teams published their ground-breaking papers last year on induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells, one of the major hurdles to clinical application was the propensity of the cells to cause cancer. Now, scientists from Harvard University have successfully introduced the pluripotency-inducing genes into mouse somatic cells by way of adenoviruses, which are less harmful than retroviruses.
This afternoon, the Senate Environment and Public Works committee will hold a hearing examining the Bush administration’s environmental record. Our Center for American Progress colleagues took a hard look at the president’s legacy on this issue earlier this year. Their conclusion? “Seven Years of Failure: Bush gets an F for the Earth.” While the interactive timeline they prepared only runs through May 2008, you still get a pretty clear picture.
The Department of Health and Human Services to propose a rule that would ostensibly protect healthcare workers who object to performing abortion and sterilization procedures. The catch is that there are already federal laws in place that do just that. The regulation would instead open the door to denying patients access to all sorts of potentially controversial health care services. The comment period closes tomorrow.
When the public hasn’t been monitoring developments in science, people can fall back on Hollywood images of big strange projects that go badly awry. If scientists monitored public perceptions, they could engage before misinformation spreads.
The MacArthur Foundation today announced its annual list of 25 fellows. Recipients of the award get $500,000 to spend over the next five years with no strings attached. Many of the fellows are distinguished scientists working in fields as diverse as plant genetics, astrophysics, and epidemiology. One neuroscientist, Sally Temple, works extensively with stem cells.
No one is expecting an executive order mandating federal regulation of greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act between now and January, but it is promising to have the Senate Committee on Environmental and Policy Works addressing the issue this morning.
The National Academies have just offered a report detailing the most critical presidential science appointments in the executive branch and ways to streamline the process of getting new hires into their posts. Their first recommendation, however, is to hire the top science adviser at the level of assistant to the president.
HereHere’s a roundup of some of the science and technology policy events happening around Washington, D.C. from September 21 to September 27.
Since April, researchers publishing work done with NIH support must submit manuscripts for access in a free database. The experiment is working, but large journal publishers aren’t satisfied with the results.
In addition to a stumbling automotive industry, Michigan is home to some of the most restrictive regulations on stem cell research in the country. A new report from the Michigan Prospect calculates the scale of the negative economic impact of the hobbled biotech research on the state.
About two million patients take warfarin, or coumadin, each year to prevent blood clotting during medical procedures. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services of the Department of Health and Human Services invited public commentary on whether Medicare should fund genetic tests to determine a patient’s warfarin response. This possible change in policy might save thousands of lives and highlights the need for a more comprehensive approach to the field of personalized medicine.
In the past year, stem cell research has taken great strides forward. Advocates and researchers alike are pushing for the federal government to expand its support.
Early this morning, the new Minneapolis bridge on interstate 35W opened. What you can’t see in this CNN video is the network of electronic sensors that will monitor the bridge, allowing engineers to forestall major damage from future wear and prevent catastrophes like the bridge’s collpase that killed 13 people and injured 145 last August.
Today the FDA released its long-awaited—and in some quarters, long feared—proposed new rules for marketing foods from animals that have been genetically engineered to have particular traits.
The Environmental Protection Agency announced today that Dr. Deborah Swackhamer will be the new chair of the EPA Science Advisory Board. Unfortunately, the only thing that may save the EPA is a new administration.
Both presidential candidates have now answered 14 questions about science policy—but it’s not enough.
At the beginning of the month, NIH pulled pooled GWAS data from its website and began encouraging other institutions to follow suit, because a team of scientists have figured out just how to identify a single person’s DNA from a sample of hundreds.
Major innovations in the United States are often driven by collaborative research. Regenerative medicine is no different, and the federal government can help coordination.
We risk losing what makes the world’s oceans a valuable natural resource: their rich biodiversity. It’s time to get the concept on the cultural radar.
Here’s a roundup of some of the science and technology policy events happening around Washington D.C. from September 15 to September 19.
How can FDA reasonably protect public health in the interim period before researchers completely understand the science of nanotechnology?
Art Caplan offered his “Six Easy Pieces” for improving medicine and life science in a recent column. But we’re not the only science publication looking forward to the possibilities of the next administration.
A recent RAND Corporation report called the country a “dominant leader” in global science and technology, but according to a paper released yesterday, the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation found the RAND study off-color, offering a rosy assessment where none was warranted.
We should use hurricanes to discuss global warming, but we have to do it with rigorous fidelity to the current state of scientific understanding.
The biggest scientific experiment in human history is getting hyped like a Harry Potter book release. But instead of nine-year-olds lining up outside of the bookstore for hours, a generation of physicists watched the live Web cast of CERN’s Large Hadron Collier as it started up today at 3 a.m. EST.
Federal dollars and leadership drive energy innovation in the United States. That was true in 1942, when Enrico Fermi’s team of physicists and engineers created the world’s first sustained nuclear reaction, and it is true today. One of the many things that U.S. government must do to move the economy towards a low-carbon future is to support research and development in energy technologies.
Americans know that the future fortunes of the country rest on scientific and technological advances, so Mr. President, let’s take biomedical science policy seriously.
The battle over teaching evolution is still far from won in this country, despite the overwhelming mass of scientific evidence that supports this model of how the biological universe works.
Congress is back in session after the August recess. Here’s a roundup of some of the science and technology policy events happening around Washington D.C. from September 8 to September 12.
Good news this week from the Centers for Disease Control: the vast majority of children in the United States have received nearly all the recommended vaccines. CDC’s new report indicates that immunization rates are “at or near record levels.” The survey data landed just after a new study reinforcing the fact that the measles vaccine has no connection to autism.
Crippling our nation’s future economic competitiveness and military preparedness by crimping scientific learning and denigrating authoritative science puts our nation at risk.
Milk and meat from cloned animals could be in the U.S. food supply, and the Food and Drug Administration and U.S. Department of Agriculture can’t detect it, says an FDA official, despite a USDA “voluntary moratorium.” But products from cloned animals may have been in the food supply for a while.
If we’re focusing attention on storms in 2008, then let’s also pay serious attention to oft-neglected matters of hurricane preparedness policy.
Climate change is driving average temperatures upward, and the unmistakable long-term trend is toward a warmer, drier West. Firefighting alone can’t contend with growing fire danger; investment in strategic fuel reduction is the key.
In today’s NYT Science Times, Carl Zimmer profiles Will Wright’s latest game, Spore, which follows the evolution of new life forms from single-celled organisms to galaxy-hoping civilizations. Spore raises the possibility that video games could help illuminate for players the basic premises of the life sciences.
