News & Views Index
July
2012

 

 

 

ARC Announces 17 Laureate Fellowship Awards.    31/07/12

    The Group of Eight universities will accommodate 15 of the 17 fellows, the remaining two will work at James Cook University. [More]

 

Nominations Called for New South Wales Scientist of the Year as well as Eight Prizes for Specific Categories.    30/07/12 [More]

 

UK House of Lords Reports on Higher Education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Subjects.    30/07/12

    The report calls for "immediate action to ensure enough young people study Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) subjects..." [More

 

Science's NextGen Voices.    29/07/12

    This past April Science asked young scientists to describe specific experiences that changed their scienctific training, or career goals. [More

 

The Royal Society's Video on the Wonders of Chemistry.    28/07/12

    The 24 minute video is Dr Liddle's entertaining exploration of some of the wonders of the science. [More

 

German Universities' Excellence Initiative Seven Years On.    27/07/12

     The approach is to significantly raise the attractiveness of selected German institutions so as to attract top international research talent. [More]

 

Office of the Chief Scientist Outlines Some of the Maths That Keeps Your Money Safe.    27/07/12

    Mathematics is expected to play an increasingly important role in protecting personal information and safeguarding e-commerce. [More]

 

Reduction of Red Tape in the Offing for European Researchers.    27/07/12

    EU promises: "European taxpayers will be getting more output from their investments as scientists' time is freed up for the real work." [More]

 

PCAST Releases Report on Advanced Manufacturing.    26/07/12

    US President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology makes recommendations aimed at maintaining the U.S.'s leading position in advanced manufacturing. [More]

 

Australian Research Council's New Chief Executive to Re-Examining Stance on Open-Access Publication.    25/07/12 [More]

 

ARC Allocates $151 million for 209 Future Fellowships Commencing in 2012.    25/07/12

    12 are Australians returning from overseas, 23 are international researchers and 174 are current Australian residents. [More]

 

Sheep and the Centripetal Force of the Herd.    24/07/12

    Attach GPS backpacks to 46 sheep and 1 trained Kelpie; record 47 positions at 1-second intervals -- then model. [More]

 

Is American Science in Decline?    24/07/12

    Yu Xie and Alexandra Killewald -- Harvard University Press 240 pp -- ask the question rhetorically. [More]

 

Genomics X Prize Competition -- Sequence Genomes of 100 Centenarians Within 30 Days -- Collect $10M.    24/07/12

    Craig Venter, co-chairman of the competition says: “The trivial part of the equation to solve is the sequencing technology. It’s necessary, but not sufficient.” [More

 

European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, Talks Up European Basic Research.    21/07/12

    There is a real risk that science might be seen as a luxury as governments look for budget cuts. [More]

 

Has the Australian Synchrotron Found a Protector from the Bureaucratic Tyrannosaurs?    21/07/12

     Can ANSTO remove the real-world pressure [the Australian Synchrotron staff] have been enduring. [More]

 

Canada's Budget Cuts Damned as Anti Science.    21/07/12

    Nature: "Critics say that the government is targeting research into the natural environment because it does not like the results being produced." [More

 

Open Access, arXiv and the Higgs Particle.    20/07/12

    Does progress by the theorists have next to no dependence on journal open access, gold or green, or even commercial paywalls? [More]

 

Archive of the PCAST July 19, 2012 Webcast.    20/07/12

    This is the Webcast of the 18th public meeting of US President Obama's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). [More]

 

Top US University Presidents Plead for Bipartisan Long-Term Adequate Support.    20/07/12

    153 leading US universities sent a letter urging President Obama and bipartisan congressional leaders to prevent deep across-the-board spending cuts... [More

 

Obama Requests $20,000 Salary Increase for "Master" Science and Maths Teachers but will Congress Pay Ball?    19/07/12

    "The STEM Master Teacher Corps will begin with 50 exceptional STEM teachers established in 50 sites and will be expanded over 4 years to reach 10,000 Master Teachers." [More

 

24th Meeting of  Prime Minister's Science, Engineering and Innovation Council (PMSEIC) Issues 2nd Communiqué.    17/07/12

    The mills of PMSEIC grind exceeding slow; whether or not they will grind fine or with purpose remains to be seen. [More]

 

UK Government to Mandate Open Access of Publicly Funded Research Within Two Years.    16/07/12

    David Willetts: "If the taxpayer has paid for this research to happen, that work shouldn't be put behind a paywall..." [More] 

 

NSF Early Career Researchers to Spend Time at European Research Council Labs.    14/07/12

     About 100 recipients of NSF's CAREER awards per year will be offered the opportunity. [More]

 

Where Are All the Science Jobs?    12/07/12  [More]

 

Research Funding Cuts in Canada and Italy Provoke Protests.    11/07/12

    "News about these cuts came out of the blue, and it's outrageous," National Institute of Nuclear Physics President Fernando Ferroni. [More]

 

Arsenous Highly-Tolerant Bacteria Do Require Phosphorous.    10/07/12

    It's taken 1½ years, but two papers in last week's Science Express have demonstrated no phosphorous = no growth. [More

 

The Challenge of Science Teaching in Middle School.    07/07/12

    Why good science teaching requires not only dedication but also a comprehensive-multidisciplinary understanding. [More]

 

National Union of Students Conference Hosts Stoush Between Senators Rhiannon and Cameron.    06/07/12 [More]

 

Cambridge University Press Launches Open Access Maths Journals.    06/07/12

    They are to be alternatives to the leading generalist and specialist mathematics journals. [More]

 

U.S. Federal Appeals Court Sides with Environmental Protection Agency.    06/07/12

    The court ruled: EPA is not required to re-prove the existence of the atom every time it approaches a scientific question. [More]

 

University Funding - 1996 - 2010 a Group of Eight Snapshot.    05/07/12

    The Group of Eight gives an overview of university funding through the Howard and Rudd years. [More]  

 

Solid Evidence for a Newly Discovered Boson -- Is it the Higgs?    05/07/12

    Read the carefully worded press release from CERN and view the graphs using the data obtained by the CMS and ATLAS detectors. [More]  

 

Mark Walport, Director of Wellcome Trust, to be Next UK's Chief Scientific Advisor.    01/07/12

    will the straight talk Mark Walport move forward "evidence-based policy-making in the way it was designed to rather than its advice fall on deaf ears". [More