|
News & Views Index |
US President Obama's Plan for Science and Innovation Doubling Funding for Key Basic Research Agencies in the 2010 Budget. 31/08/09
The 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act signed by
President Obama has put the NSF, NIST and DOE-SC on a "doubling trajectory".
The Mystery of the Telescopes in Brueghel's Paintings. 28/08/09 [More]
President Emeritus of the Carnegie Institution of Washington Champions Great Teachers for STEM. 28/08/09
The quality of STEM teaching is of singular importance to the success of students, requiring "great teachers, who know the content." [More]
Australian Fields Medallist Terry Tao on Month's Tour. 27/08/09
Professor Tao will be in Australia from late August 2009 for just over a month giving public lectures in most capital cities. [More]
The Tyranny of the Czech Biblometric. 27/08/09
A letter in the correspondence section of today's Nature might encourage those working on Senator Carr's ERA to pause and reflect. [More]
Multitasking -- the Flip Side. 26/08/09
Several years back Time magazine interviewed a number of well known individuals from corporate high fliers to celebrities and even a Nobel Laureate... [More]
Watt Value of Plank's Constant is a Kilogram? 25/08/09 [More]
National Literacy and Numeracy Week 2009. 24/08/09
John Flanagan, author of the Ranger’s Apprentice adventure series and Simon Pampena, stand–up mathematics comedian, are to be the Literacy and Numeracy Ambassadors respectively during National Literacy and Numeracy Week. [More]
Royal Society Allocates £100,000 for Research to Develop Invisibility Cloaks. 22/08/09
"Harry Potter's invisibility cloak could potentially become a reality thanks to over £100,000 funding from The Royal Society." [More]
New Zealand Joins Forces with Australia in Bid for Square Kilometre Array. 21/08/09 [More]
NIH to Get a 5-Point Plan. 21/08/09
Frances Collins, the newly appointed Director of the US National Institutes of Health has laid out his priorities for the US$30.4 billion dollar organisation. [More]
Peer Review: an Irish Perspective. 20/08/09
...in a list of 'Top countries in all fields' (ranked by citations per paper) [w]e are now placed 19th, up from 36th place in 2003. [More]
Climate Gloom -- What Will, What Way? 20/08/09
An item from Nature to gladden the hearts of climate sceptics here and beyond. [More]
Eureka Prize Winners Announced. 19/08/09
The Australian Museum's Eureka Prizes acknowledge outstanding achievements in Australian scientific research, leadership and innovation, communication and journalism and school science. [More]
Chief Executive of New Zealand's Ministry of Research, Science and Technology Speaks at AAAS. 19/08/09
"We have a unique perspective that we can and, indeed, must offer in finding solutions to global environmental challenges." [More]
AUQA: Setting and Monitoring Academic Standards for Australian Higher Education. 18/08/09
This past May the Australian Universities Quality Agency released a 20 page Discussion Paper which brought forth 54 submissions many forthright in their assessments. [More]
India's Thirty Year, A$23 Billion Plan to Lead in Solar Energy. 17/08/09
The prime minister of India, Manmohan Singh, announced his intention to transform his nation into a global leader in solar energy. [More]
The Thrall of the Citation Index. 17/08/09
Last Thursday Zoë Corbin, writing in The Times, asked the rhetorical question, "Do academic journals pose a threat to the advancement of science?" and took some 4,000 words to answer it. [More]
Finland's Higher Education Sector Set for an Extreme Makeover. 15/08/09 [More]
Seven Paths Toward a More Efficient Use of Energy. 14/08/09
The August 14, 2009 issue of the scientific weekly Science has devoted its "News Focus" section to more efficient use of energy. [More]
Steven Chu Doesn't Go to Washington and Pays a Price. 14/08/09
President Obama's driving Secretary of Energy, Nobel Laureate Steven Chu got a lesson in Washingtonian etiquette the other day as he explained to the 21 members of PCAST. [More]
A Bit of Good News for the University of California. 13/08/09
An injection of US$200 million should help in slowing the descent of the University of California's ten campuses in the research university rankings. [More]
ANU Vice-chancellor Addresses the Lowy Institute. 12/08/09
I'm clocking up my 15th year as a vice-chancellor and... [I] have seen a lot of changes - some of them good, some not so good. [More]
Report on US President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology Inaugural Meeting. 12/08/09
All in all an interesting contrast to PMSEIC. [More]
Britain's House of Commons Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Select Committee Reports on "Students and Universities". 10/08/09
Its 109 recommendations received mixed reviews as it called for "a change of culture at the top in higher education" and accused universities of "defensive complacency". [More]
Are Your Cockroaches Maladjusted? 10/08/09
The avowed purpose of the Ig Nobel awards is stated as: "The Ig Nobel Prizes honour achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think." [More]
US Senate Confirms Geneticist Francis Collins as Director of NIH. 10/08/09 [More]
Inaugural Meeting of US President Obama's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). 06/08/09
The Council is expected to address issues including energy and environment, science education, health information technology, innovation, and international security. [More]
Commercialisation of Public Sector Research "Has Become a Cargo Cult". 05/08/09
Universities' commercialisation activity comes at the cost of broad knowledge transfer in the public interest. [More]
The Faith of the Proposed Director of the NIH. 04/08/09
Francis Collins claims to demonstrate “a consistent and profoundly satisfying harmony” between 21st-century science and evangelical Christianity. [More]
Call for Bids for a Share of $550 Million in Funding to Improve Infrastructure for the Benefit of Students and the Environment. 04/08/09
What remains to be dealt with is the staffing of our universities to make significant use of the facilities to be funded. [More]
Go8 Makes 1957 Murray Report on Australian Universities Available Online. 04/08/09 [More]
University of Melbourne's Economic Response Program. 03/08/09
Last week The University of Melbourne announced its response to the economic crisis it was facing as a result of the global economic recession. [More]
ARC Looks to Revising Peer Review. 01/08/09
At a meeting in Canberra last Thursday, the ARC's CEO got together with deputy vice-chancellors for research to discuss, at least in outline, the reforms the ARC has in mind. [More]