President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology Next Meeting.    31/12/09

    The first meeting of the US President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) for 2010 is scheduled for January 7; the agenda as issued on December 15, 2009 is available. [More]

US Government Report Questions International Space Station Research Capability.    29/12/09

    Dated November 25 the report, INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION: Significant Challenges May Limit Onboard Research, by the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) has only recently been made public. [More]

UK Higher Education Hit with £500 Million Budget Cut.    28/12/09

    The £533m cut reduces universities' governmental allocation to £7.3bn, i.e. a cut of about 7%. [More] 

Higher Education Issues Paper: Review of Regional Loading – Issues for Regional Provision.    24/12/09

    It is not unlikely that the outcome of this assessment will have the most profound effect on Australia's higher education sector since the 1987 Dawkins green paper. [More] 

If the Danes Can Do it Why Don't We?    24/12/09

     Mr Friedman asked how come Danish politicians have the bottle "to do the right things — even if painful." [More]  

Australia's Chief Scientist Notes the Year of Biodiversity.    24/12/09 [More]

Professor Charles Birch, Dead at 91.    24/12/09

    Through much of his life he travelled parallel intellectual universes of science and religion attempting to meld them into a philosophical whole. [More]

Quotes out of Copenhagen.    23/12/09

A weak international climate agreement leaves room for science to shape the next round of negotiations. [More]

US Scientists Aid  Primary and Secondary School Teachers in STEM Education.    22/12/09

    We already know that project-based, hands-on learning works; the challenge now is to scale up. And the only way to do that is through massive partnerships. [More] 

Australian Academy Notes What Direction Australia Should Pursue to Mitigate Global Warming.    21/12/09

    In March of last year the Australian Academy of Science held a two-day workshop on the Future directions of Australian climate change science; there followed a lecture series and in January 2010 a report to government. [More]

The Copenhagen Accord: A Considered Report.    21/12/09

    In amongst all the hyperbole alluding to the outcome from the climate talks in Copenhagen over the past thirteen days Jeff Tollefson gives a judicious account. [More]

US Congress Passes a 2010 Spending Bill giving for Several U.S. Science Agencies.    19/12/09

     Stimulus package postponed until next year most of the usual battles over each science agency's annual appropriations. [More]

Science's Breakthrough for 2009, Ardipithecus ramidus.    18/12/09

    Only a handful of individual fossils have become known as central characters in the story of human evolution. [More] 

Professor John H. Marburger, III Returns to Gainful Employment.    18/12/09

     John Marburger has agreed to serve as the Interim Vice President for Research at Stony Brook University. [More] 

Two Research Teams to Share $50 Million for Bionic Eye Research.    15/12/09

     The funding is in response to an initiative approved at the 2020 Summit following the election of the Rudd Labor government in April 2008. [More]

Ructions at the University of California Set to Continue.    15/12/09 [More]

Sixty "Path-Breaking" Papers from the Royal Society, 1666 - 2008.    11/12/09

    The Royal Society's trailblazing website contains 60 papers from 1666 through 2008. [More]

Australian Chief Scientist Professor Penny Sackett's Blog for December.     11/12/09 [More]

Troubles at the Australian Synchrotron the Subject of Increasing International Coverage.    11/12/09

    The two prestigious scientific weeklies, Nature and Science are featuring reports of the turbulent ructions at the Australian Synchrotron. [More]

Minister for Education Talks the Talk -- What Next?    09/12/09 - update:11/12/09

    "The Government will establish sector wide targets and indicators of performance which reflect the Rudd Government’s dual objectives of extending reach and enhancing quality." [More]

Nature Highlights Six Scientists' Views for COP 15.    09/12/09

      Prior to COP 15, Nature asked researchers "from around the world" about their plans for taking part. Here are the responses of six of them. [More]

The Science and Politics of Climate Change 1820 - 2009.    09/12/09

    The New York Times has published a timeline noting significant events from 1820 through 2009 with respect to the analyses of Earth's changing climate. [More]

An Open Letter to Congress from U.S. Scientists on Climate Change and Recently Stolen Emails.    06/12/09

    The content of the stolen emails has no impact whatsoever on our overall understanding that human activity is driving dangerous levels of global warming. [More]

Journal Refutes CSIRO Chief Executive's Claim of No Attempted Censorship of Spash Paper.    05/12/09 [More]

Global Warming and the Two-Ton Limit.    04/12/09

     Sir David King, director of Oxford's Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment and the former UK Chief Scientific Adviser "speaks" out. [More] 

Chief Scientist Gives Keynote Address on Climate Change to Australian Davos Connection in Melbourne.    03/12/09

    I imagine that regardless of the outcome of the Copenhagen meetings, there will be those who hail it as a success and those who describe it as a failure. [More] 

Clive Spash Resigns from CSIRO; Calls for Senate Inquiry.    03/12/09

    The question arises as to which is worse the attempted censorship, or the collective stupidity of those perpetrating it? [More]

First Overall Results of Restricted ERA Trials Publically Released.    02/12/09

    ARC chief executive Margaret Sheil said the new results showed that ERA could produce high-level data that allowed Australia's performance to be measured against international benchmarks. [More] 

University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit Update.    02/12/09

    In the wake of the unauthorised released of several thousand emails held on the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit server, the university has now published an evaluation with regard to the research of the CRU. [More]

James Hansen Asks -- Copenhagen Summit: Is There Any Real Chance of Averting the Climate Crisis?    01/12/09

    His opinion piece in Britain's Sunday Observer, with his title and affiliation noted, is highly critical of the cap and trade approach to greenhouse gas mitigation. [More]