News & Views Index
October 2004

 

 

 

Spanish Government's Support for Basic Research Sacrificed to Military R&D.    (30/10/04)

    In the run up to Spain's March 2004 election  socialist leader José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, promised to double Spain's €4-billion (A$6.8-billion) annual research and development budget by 2008. But... [More]

 

Australian and Indonesian Palaeoanthropologists Discover "A new small-bodied hominin from the Late Pleistocene".    (28/10/04)

    Peter Brown from Australia's University of New England and T. Sutkna from the Indonesian Centre for Anthropology are the senior authors of the lead article in today's  Nature which has engendered world-wide interest by the popular media. [More]

 

ARC's New CEO, Peter Hřj, Speaks in Generalities as Regards Possible Sweeping Changes in Research Funding.    (27/10/04)

    The question of the appropriate balance between discovery and linkage grants, i.e. the funding ratio between basic and applied research, was the first point mentioned. [More]

 

Labor Leader Drastically Reshuffles Research and Industry Portfolios in Shadow Cabinet.    (26/10/04)  [More]

 

"It Could be Worse, He Might Have Made Tony Abbott Minister for Education, Science and Training."    (25/10/04)

    At least that was the expressed opinion of a silver-haired academic noted for her phlegmatic view of academe, life, the universe and everything. [More]

 

New South Wales Seeks to Cede Total Control of Universities to Commonwealth.    (23/10/04)

    According to The Sydney Morning Herald the New South Wales Minister for Education, Andrew Refshauge, said yesterday almost all university funding came from the Commonwealth and the states' role was "a relic of the past. [More]

 

Prime Minister Announces New Cabinet; Includes Rejigging of Education, Science and Training Portfolio.    (22/10/04)

    The Prime Minister, John Howard, announced the make up of his revamped cabinet this afternoon. Peter McGauran relieved of Science portfolio moved to Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs. [More]

 

"Bush vs. the Laureates"    (21/10/04)

    In February of this year TFW published a News and Views "Pre-eminent US Scientists Protest Bush Administration's Misuse of Science". Now The New York Times in a three-thousand word feature by Andrew Revkin provides a follow up. [More]

 

Nominations for Abel Prize Close November 15, 2004.    (14/10/04)

    Destined to be the "Nobel Prize for mathematics" the NOK 6 million Abel Prize honours a remarkable Norwegian. Peter Hall reports. [More]

 

Flies Get a Grip.    (14/10/04)
    How does the fly that's been annoying you by crawling up your window manage to hold on? [More]

 

Indexation of Block Funding Considered the Most Critical Issue for Universities.    (13/10/04)

    The newly installed Chancellor of the University of Technology, Sydney, Professor Vicki Sara, former CEO of the Australian Research Council: Indexation [of wages and other costs] is a really critical issue for the universities and it has to be met by the Government... [More]

 

Keeping Your Eye on the Ball.    (11/10/04)

    Alan Leshner is Chief Executive Officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). His editorial in the October 8 issue of the journal  Science "U.S. Science Dominance Is the Wrong Issue" while aimed at his US readers has some worthwhile matters for the Australian scientific community as well as Australia's fourth term Coalition government to ponder. [More]

 

Brain Power Rather Than Military Might is Fast Becoming the Way Countries Exercise Their Sovereignty, Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin. (10/10/04)

     Ten days ago Paul Martin, Prime Minister of Canada, officially opened the new home of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario. It has the potential to become the most important new institute in theoretical physics since the founding of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. [More]

 

Labor Scrubs Plan to Raise R&D Tax Break.    (07/10/04)

    Today's Australian Financial Review reports that Labor's avowed intention to return the tax concession for business research and development investment to 150% has been shelved. [More]

 

Labor Ups its Higher Education Promises $1.6 Billion to $5.6 Billion.  Education Minister Nelson Comments: [It's a] rehashed policy that will remove billions of dollars from universities.    (06/10/04)

    The Australian Labor Party yesterday released its revamped policy paper for higher education, Aim Higher: Learning, Training and Better Jobs for more Australians. The twenty page policy document's principal promises include... [More]

 

Creationism, Intelligent Design, or the Surreptitious Hand of Evolution?    (06/10/04)

    The journal Science reports in its September 24th issue that the East Japan Railway Company has found a novel way of discouraging pesky critters from meandering onto its tracks. [More]

 

Research in the University Enterprise.    (06/10/04)

    How do I convince the leadership of my university that the employment of a foreign post-doc contributes to the increase of the institution's return to the nation? [More]

 

Sydney Morning Herald's Matt Thompson Analyses Problems Facing Australia's University Sector.    (05/10/04)

    The Herald's Matt Thomson looks at some of the problems currently confronting Australia's universities and brings out some salient points. [More]

 

Scientists and Engineers Make Common Cause in Support of Enabling Sciences.    (03/10/04)

    A joint media release between the National President of Engineers Australia, Doug Jones and the President of the Federation of Scientific and Technological Societies, Snow Barlow, marks the first time the two umbrella organisations have issued such a joint statement, and suggests that the matters discussed are considered acutely serious. [more]

 

Say it Ain't So, Brendan...  John?    (01/10/04)

    The Canberra Times' redoubtable Emma MacDonald has grabbed a bit of the front page today with ANU's $22m loss may be payback. [More]