News & Views Index
October
2010

 

 

Australia's Office of Chief Scientist Issues 1st Annual Review.    29/10/10

    The review provides an overview of the activities of the Chief Scientist and her Office during the last financial year. [More

 

Former UK Chief Scientific Advisor Warns of a Bumpy Road Ahead for Research.    28/10/10

    The cuts threaten the country's ability to use the power of science to retain its international competitiveness. [More]

 

Minister for Tertiary Education Proclaims "Expert Panel for Higher Education Base Funding Review".    27/10/10

    According to the minister the government has the intention to establish enduring principles to underpin public investment in higher education, [More]

 

Australia's Chief Scientist Proposes International Conference on Science, Cities and Sustainability.    26/10/10

    I am proposing to use my office to catalyse a meeting of scientists, city planners, engineers and local policy makers... [More

 

University Sector Under Increasing Pressure -- Go8 Foresees Loss of Quality -- So What's New?    25/10/10

    Actually there is a simple solution... [More]

 

White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Sued Regarding Publishing Delay of Recommendations Ensuring Scientific Integrity.    22/10/10 [More]

 

Four Years Flat Funding for Core UK Research Budget to the Relief of Many British Scientists But Funding for University Teaching Slashed.    21/10/10 [More]

 

Excellence in Research for Australia and the Polyunsaturated Cow.    20/10/10

    Once upon a time a CSIRO division undertook to develop cattle with a high percentage of polyunsaturated fat so that the beef could be marketed as a healthy product... [More

 

The President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology Scheduled to Meet November 4.    18/10/10

    Among the agenda items: National Academies' Study: Rising Above the Gathering Storm, Revisited: Rapidly Approaching Category 5. [More]

 

A Physical Chemist Shows the Way But Will Australia Follow?    16/10/10

    On the other hand we don't have to put up with scientists being heads of government or leaders of the opposition. [More

 

Soft Money Projects Hard Times for Universities.    15/10/10

    Overall we are witnessing a remarkable example of a corollary of Gresham's Law... [More

 

The U.S Needs a Science and Technology-Enhanced Congress, But Will It Happen?    14/10/10

    In the Republicans 45-page policy document the words "tax", "taxes" and "taxpayer" appear 56 times, "science", "research" and "education" not once". [More]

 

The Economic Prize in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2010 Awarded to Peter Diamond, Dale Mortensen and Christopher Pissarides For Analysis of Markets With Search Frictions.    12/10/10 [More]

 

Projected Changes in the Cost of Electrical Energy.    11/10/10

    What price electrical energy by 2020? [More]

 

Scientific American and Nature: Five Questions of Their Readers.    11/10/10

    Scientific American together with its sister publication, Nature, polled their readers online. Not unexpectedly, the responses tended to be supportive of science and scientists. [More]

 

Why Haven't You Patented Graphene?    09/10/10

    "In my case it would have been a waste of taxpayers' money." [More

 

A Message from Australia's Chief Scientist, Professor Penny Sackett.    08/10/10 [More]

 

UK Charities and Firms Tell Government They Won't Make Up Its Research Cuts.    08/10/10

    In a non-too-subtle warning the director of the Wellcome Trust says: "We have a clear strategy, which says we are a global funder and international help is an increasing part of our portfolio... [More]

 

Chemistry Nobel for Discovering Catalysts Used for Carbon-Carbon Bonding of Complex Molecules.    07/10/10

    Without this chemical tool the modern pharmaceutical industry couldn't exist. [More]

 

From the Sublime to the Ridiculous.    06/10/10

A media release from the Office of the Premier of Queensland, The Honourable Anna Bligh is reprinted in its entirety. [More]

 

Discoverers of Graphene Awarded Nobel Physics Prize.    06/10/10

    University of Manchester pair score "for groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene". [More]

 

Old Wave -- New Power -- What Support?    05/10/10

     Is there yet an overall strategy for sight analysis and location as well as appropriate development of suitable technologies? [More]

 

2010 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Awarded for Development of In Vitro Fertilization.    05/10/10

    The Nobel Prize for 2010 in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to now Cambridge University professor emeritus Robert Edwards. [More

 

Australian Deans of Science Voice Serious Concerns Regarding Proposed National Science Curriculum for Schools.    05/10/10

    Listen to the 5-minute interview. [More]

 

Dance Your Ph.D. and the Three Minute Thesis.    04/10/10

    Two items that crossed the TFW screen last month came to mind while the MHR representing the electorate of Lyne was pressing the major parties to agree to more relevant and civilised behavior during parliamentary sessions. [More]

 

Are the Greens and the Independents Up to It?    04/10/10

     "We have to rip open this two-party duopoly and have it challenged by a serious third party..." [More

 

Times Higher Education Reports on the Coming of Australia's ERA.    01/10/10

    The ERA's disciplinary codings has the potential to create dissension and jealousies within universities, and not just between them according to University of Melbourne's pro vice-chancellor, research. [More]

 

The 2010 Ig Nobel Prize Winners.    01/10/10

    The 2010 Ig Nobel Prizes were awarded Thursday evening at a ceremony, at Harvard's Sanders Theatre. [More]