A recent article published in PLoS Medicine reported that human fetal neural stem cell injections used to treat the neurodegenerative disorder ataxia telangiectasia in an Israeli boy caused a multifocal brain tumor four years after his first injection. While it [...]
Noam N. Levey reports in the LA Times and the Chicago Tribune that the Obama administration may soon open a 30-day comment period before rolling back the Health and Human Services “conscience” rule finalized at the tail end of the [...]
A quick glance at a couple early takes on R&D funding in President Obama’s budget request outline for FY2010: Science Insider: NIH details are sketchy, but include increases; NSF would see 8.5 percent bump; more for scientific facilities though DOE’s [...]
SCIENCE, CULTURED
If a major media outlet can’t even correct facts about global warming, is it still socially relevant?
BIOETHICS
Questions about whether to regulate fertility treatments differ in distinct ways from debates over the regulation of abortion care.
WEISS'S NOTEBOOK
A recent conference examining the legal protections corporations are taking to defend themselves in the event their products turn toxic should raise regulatory questions.
Last week acting NIH director Raynard Kington described the outlines of the Institutes’ participation in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, popularly known as the stimulus package. New NIH funding totals $10.4 billion. Conservatives with a limited understanding [...]
A few weeks ago, we blogged on why the administration should fund the development of high speed rail networks that can serve as the foundation of regional centers of innovation. According to a New York Times article, at the last [...]
The American economic geography is changing, argues urban theorist Richard Florida in a recent article for the Atlantic. Analogous to how the Great Depression precipitated a flight to the suburbs and how the post-industrial economic anemia of the 1970’s shriveled [...]
A small group of moderate Republican Congress members, according to CNN.
Watching another episode of CBS’s CSI: Crime Scene Investigation might not be as harmless an activity as you think. According to a report released this week by the National Academy of Sciences, the millions of people who watch CSI every [...]
Good science policy depends upon good science journalism. As Chris Mooney has pointed out, the federal government alone spent $142 billion on research and development last year. But “informed citizens deserve to understand more about what they’re getting from that [...]
RESEARCH ETHICS
If the end goal is to encourage high quality science, we need to better understand the impact of financial conflicts of interest and get more information about whether existing policies to manage them are effective.
Last week, Jonathan Moreno called for international standards governing reproductive technologies. But if we want to ensure that frightening decisions about genetic modification are not being made around the world, we should first focus on developing strict regulatory standards here [...]
The stimulus package President Obama will sign into law today contains $1.1 billion for comparative effectiveness research. The money will support work to determine what treatments are effective for various conditions and which are boondoggles that unnecessarily increase healthcare costs. [...]
PUBLIC HEALTH
Last week, the British Sunday Times reported that the original study which sparked a ten-year debate about vaccine safety and autism was based on faulty data. Days later, a special U.S. court ruled that there is little to no evidence linking vaccines to autism. Together, the two events may cool a simmering debate about how to protect young children’s health.
WEISS'S NOTEBOOK
Several science budgets fared well in the Recovery and Reinvestment Act compromise, but cross your fingers that we won’t need additional resources to combat bird flu.
Here’s a glance at science-related R&D in the recovery package. Note that the “FY2009 Stimulus Final” is a one-time addition to FY2009 funding. But as FY2009 appropriations are incomplete, these agencies are operating under a continuing resolution at FY2008 funding [...]
Connecting universities and professors with the companies and venture capitalists that help turn their ideas into viable businesses, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation has launched a new website, iBridge Network, which aims to foster collaborative networks to streamline the innovation [...]
…Not creating them, that is, but using the issue as a stepping stone into complex bioethics issues we have to address now or will have to tackle in the near future. From her post at the Women’s Bioethics Blog: Moving [...]
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.