"Once we come up with a position, I don't want to hide it in the closet." -- Ralph Cicerone, New President of the US National Academy of Sciences.    (29/07/05)

    The newly installed president of the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS), Ralph Cicerone, took over from Bruce Alberts just a month ago. [More]

FASTS' Analysis of Trends in Science Tertiary Education 2001 - 2004.    (28/07/05)

    The Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies has made available an analysis of trends in tertiary science education from 2001 - 2004. [More]

When You're Number 3 or Even Number 8, Why Bother.    (25/07/05)

    the Oxbridge universities are undertaking campaigns to raise significant amounts not only to enhance their bursaries but to attract outstanding academics and improve infrastructure. [More]

Telling It Like It Is.    (23/07/05)

    US missile defence - the latest word: According to Dow Jones Newswires, Air Force Lt. Gen. Henry A. Obering III, director of the Missile Defense Agency, told a Defense Writers Group breakfast on Wednesday: "We have a better than zero chance of successfully intercepting, I believe, an inbound warhead. That confidence will improve over time." [What more is there to say?]

Federal Government Support to Develop New Approaches to Science, Technology and Mathematics Education in Schools.    (21/07/05)   

    The Minister for Education, Science and Training, Brendan Nelson, today announced the first round projects to be funded by the Australian Schools Innovation in Science, Technology and Mathematics (ASISTM) Project. [More]

European Commission Releases the Names of 22 Scientists, Appointed to the Newly Formed Scientific Council of the European Research Council.    (21/07/05)

    In January 2002 TFW reported The European Union May Be Growing Meaningful in More Ways Than Introducing the €. Forty-two months down the track it looks like the European Research Council may come to pass. [More]

FASTS Executive Director on Co-funding.    (19/07/05)

    The Executive Director of the Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies, Bradley Smith, gives his views regarding co-funding as it pertains to Australian Research. [More]

Australia's Next Chief Scientist to be Part Timer.    (17/07/05)

    Early last year the Senate's Employment, Workplace Relations and Education References Committee was directed by the Senate to examine the workings of the Office of Chief Scientist. [More]

Minister Tightens the Reins on the ARC.    (15/07/05)

    It was about as close to a sure thing that could be imagined. [More]

Terminator Turns Illuminator.    (15/07/05)

    California turns toward solar power. [More]

John Cain: In the 15 years to 2002, Commonwealth support for the cost of higher education had dropped from 90% to between 40% and 45%.    (11/07/05) [More]

CSIRO Media Release Tells it Like it is.    (11/07/05)

    The Hendra (HeV) and Nipah (NiV) viruses belong to the paramyxoviruses and have the ability to fatally infect a number of mammalian species including humans. [More]

Research Co-Funding, a Canadian View.    (10/07/05)

    On June 24 Science published a letter signed by forty Canadian researchers titled "Problems with co-funding in Canada". The letter highlights certain concerns which the writers believe can and do lead to some undesirable distortions in the fabric of support for research. [More]

European Scientists Partition EU Leaders to Get Their Act Together.    (08/07/05)

Howard Hughes Names First Seven Group Leaders for Janelia Farm.    (08/07/05)

   The first seven group leaders have been recruited by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's (HHMI) Janelia Farm, a US$500 (A$678) million research campus set to open in mid-2006. [More]

Australian Physicists Go Interdisciplinary to Reveal the Secrets of Didgeridoo Virtuosity.    (07/07/05)

    The researchers have made acoustic measurements showing how a player can extract a range of timbres from this primitive instrument. [More]

Two Year Old "Review of the Corporate Governance of Statutory Authorities and Office Holders" Surfaces to Disquiet the Australian Research Council.    (06/07/05)

    In November of 2002 the Federal Coalition Government appointed John Uhrig AC, Chairman of Westpac in the early 1990s,  to conduct a review of the corporate governance of Commonwealth statutory authorities. [More]

UK's Financial Times Highlights Views of FASTS' President on Australia's Funding Cuts to R&D.    (05/07/05)

11 New ARC Centres of Excellence to be Established in 2005.    (05/07/05)

    On June 15 the Minister for Education, Science and Training, Brendan Nelson announced the awarding of $122 million of public funding over the next five years for eleven new centres of excellence at eight Australian Universities. [More]

A Lesson from Ireland?    (05/07/05)

    New You Times columnist Thomas Friedman recently spent some time in Ireland and was impressed by what he learned. [More]

Ructions in French Science Set to Continue.    (05/07/05)

    Six weeks ago Science reported that the much discussed reforms to France's Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), the largest basic research agency in Europe, were beginning to move toward realisation but not without significant disquiet in the French scientific community. [More]

The Journal Science to Celebrate the Anniversary of its 125^th Year of Publication on July 1 has published a list of 125 "big questions that face scientific inquiry over the next quarter-century".    (04/07/05) [More]