This week, Francis Collins stepped down from his post at NHGRI; members of Congress continued work on a supplemental funding bill that could include more money for R&D; the first World Science Festival kicked off in New York City.
David Michaels speaks at a Center for American Progress event to discuss his book, Doubt Is Their Product, explaining the “tricks of the trade” used by cigarette makers, drug companies, and climate change deniers to delay regulation that would make Americans safer.
This week, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute stepped in with $600 million in grant funding to 56 biomedical researchers pursuing high-risk, high-return work. The federal government should also fund researchers who “swing for the fences.”
CLIMATE
Why the economic side of the global warming debate needs a more balanced ledger.
COMPUTER SCIENCE
It won’t be long before computers will outsmart humans and take over basic problem-solving tasks. But because we don’t understand the exponential growth of computational power, we can’t see it coming.
PUBLIC HEALTH
As food worries grow, so does the appeal of a single federal Food Safety Administration to deliver effective oversight of what America eats.
President Bush signed the Genetic Information Non-discrimination Act into law on Wednesday, which will protect Americans from prejudicial treatment by employers or insurance companies based on their DNA. But this groundbreaking piece of legislation isn’t just important because it allays public concern.
Presidents and candidates for the office voluntarily release their medical records. But with advances in screening and treatment for many kinds of medical conditions, how do we know we’re getting the full story on the health of the Commander-In-Chief? (And do we want it?)
SCIENTIFIC INTEGRITY
In his new book, Doubt Is Their Product, Michaels chronicles the “tricks of the trade” that mercenary scientists and product defense firms employ to delay or prevent regulation of chemicals that kill. Their tactics put them in the good company of cigarette companies and global warming deniers.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration released new numbers this week on U.S. carbon dioxide emissions from energy sources, and it turns out that our surprising 1.3 percent emissions decrease in 2006 was, indeed, a fluke caused by a milder winter and summer.
CULTIVATING SCIENCE
New proposals to revive literary scholarship with scientific methods could build a bridge between two long-separated academic worlds. The result could be a better understanding of both science and literature.
The British parliament has passed a bill that authorizes inserting genetic material from humans into cow eggs in order to study diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
As Congress considers the supplemental funding request and the spending earmarks that will accompany it, it’s worth looking at what states themselves spend on R&D.
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
The Environmental Protection Agency identifies key steps to cope with the shrinking Rocky Mountain snow mass and subsequently depleted sources of water in the West.
The global food crisis is the result of many intersecting factors, and alleviating the current hardships and preventing future crises will require a multi-pronged slate of solutions, including additional investment in agricultural research to increase food production yields in a safe and transparent manner.
A roundup of some of the science and technology policy events happening around Washington D.C. from May 19 to May 23.
Ramping up computing power for climate modeling can help researchers better understand and predict meteorological phenomena around the world, answer policy questions about the impact of climate change, and save lives from natural catastrophes.
The media is abuzz with news of researchers at Cornell University successfully creating the first genetically engineered human embryo, and critics argue that this is a first step towards “designer babies.” But this is not necessarily a slippery slope, and we must consider that the potential rewards of this work are immense.
Yesterday, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles B. Rangel (D-NY) introduced H.R. 6049, the Energy and Tax Extenders Act of 2008. Among other extensions, the bill would renew the Research and Development Tax Credit for the 13th time since its inception in 1981. But extending the R&D tax credit for one more year is insufficient; it should be made permanent.
SCIENTIFIC INTEGRITY
Two writers claim there is no assault on the scientific information that informs public policy and don’t even bother engaging the facts of the case.
Science Progress and American Progress's Doing What Works project teamed up to produce a set of policy proposals that the Obama administration and Congress can adopt to reinvest in the building blocks of American science, innovation, and economic competitiveness. Read the overview of the five reports.
Science Progress proceeds from the propositions that scientific inquiry is among the finest expressions of human excellence, that it is a crucial source of human flourishing, a critical engine of economic growth, and must be dedicated to the common good. Scientific inquiry entails global responsibilities. It should lead to a more equitable, safer, and healthier future for all of humankind.