News & Views Index
January 2010

 

 

10 a.m. Monday, the 2011 US Federal Budget to be Released.    30/01/10 [More]

 

The Science Prize for Online Resources in Education.    29/01/10

    Announcement of the first of the twelve 2009 winners of a competition for Web sites that best promote science education. [More]

 

Australia’s Chief Scientist Discusses Certainty and the Science of Climate Change.    28/01/10

    Australia's Chief Scientist, Professor Penny Sackett, today released the following statement, introducing an apologia for the science of climate change by pointing out that the process of science is inherently self-critical and must continue to be. [More]

 

ScienceInsider's Eli Kintisch asks: "Is a Full-Economy Cap-and-Trade Program [for the US] Dead in the Water?"    28/01/10 [More]

 

UK Universities Told the Time Has Come to Forage.    26/01/10

    Britain's universities will have to find new sources of money from industry and abroad to see them through a "good few years". [More]

 

Synthetic Biology and Multidisciplinary Science.    23/01/10

    "[B]iological knowledge will require synthetic approaches if it is to become a mature and reasonably predictive science." [More]  

 

Just Maybe Those Boffins are Good for Something.    21/01/10

    Could raining food on the survivors of last week's earthquake be a better way to help starving Haitians? [More]

 

Science Minister Announces Distribution of $1.42 Billion for Higher Education Research.    20/01/10

    $610 million to go to the Research Training Scheme, $321 million for Joint Research Engagement. [More

 

CSIRO Hydrologist States Current Data Insufficient to Link Decade of Tasmanian Drought to Global Warming.    19/01/10

    At this stage, we'd prefer to say we're talking about natural variability. [More]

 

Britain's Million+ Universities Call for Fair Funding For All.    18/01/10

    We aim to develop and shape public policy and funding regimes on a non-party basis... [More

 

African Physicists Gather in Dakar: The  SKA a Topic for Discussion.    15/01/10

    The reality of Africa's bid is that its chances to win the SKA will require "unprecedented regional scientific cooperation..." [More]

 

University of California Claims a Record 134,000 Undergraduate Applications up 6% from Last Year.    15/01/10

     Although planning a 32% increase in undergraduate fees for the coming academic year but applications rose from 127,000 to 134,000. [More]

 

UK Conservative Shadow Universities Secretary Promises REF Delay If Tories Win Government.    15/01/10

     Mr Willetts made the personal observation that he was in favour of delay because it would allow academics to spend more time on research and teaching. [More]

 

Britain Looks to Australia's RQF as a Model for Assessing Research Impact.    14/01/10

    It could be "a promising basis" for Britain's Research Excellence Framework (REF) but place a major burden on institutions and create "undesirable perceptions and incentives". [More]

 

Assessing the Quality of University Teaching.    13/01/10

    Perhaps start with the requirement that instructors should know, understand and have an interest in their subject(s). [More

 

Bob Park and the Mobile Phone.    11/01/10

    The vigorous opponent of pseudoscience asks: So does the miniscule energy deposited by the cell phone cook your brain? [More

 

PCAST January 7, 2010.    09/01/10

    The first meeting of the US President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) for 2010 took place on January 7. Video clips of the meeting are now available. [More]

 

Academics' Criticism of UK's Research Excellence Framework Escalates.    08/01/10

    Where are the next generation of Albert Einsteins going to come from if we seek to control research in this way? It is wrong to try and measure projects purely on their economic potential. [More

 

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in His Final State of the State Address Proposes to Shift Funds from Prisons to Higher Education.    07/01/10

    Governor Schwarzenegger said: "Spending 45% more on prisons than universities is no way to proceed into the future." [More

 

US President Barack Obama Publicises Science Education.    07/01/10

The United States needs "to move from the middle to the top of the pack in science and math education over the next decade." [More]

 

Nature Asked Stanford's President What He Sees for Universities Come 2020.    07/01/10

    Among a group of researchers and policy makers the journal Nature spoke with Stanford University's president John Hennessy and asked his opinion of whither universities come 2020. [More]

 

Pro V-C Cambridge Says HEFCE's Proposals Would Turn "First-rate Universities into Second-rate Companies".    04/01/10

    HEFCE received a petition signed by over 12,000 academics opposing the plan. [More

 

Governance of Australian Synchrotron Continues to be at Issue.    03/01/10

    Whether or not Ms Walter and the board are able to learn from what appear to be serious errors in their methods of governance or remain simply in denial is unresolved. [More]

 

The Receding Prospect of Effective Implementation of Greenhouse Gas Emission Legislation.    03/01/10

     In the US Senate a two-thirds majority is needed to ratify any international treaty. [More]