SCIENCE, CULTURED

The Year in Science, 2009

It was a banner year for scientific progress and progressive science policy. But sadly, it was also the year for the rebirth of what is now a wide-ranging war on science.

More Cells are Good, More Diverse Cells are Better

Eleven of the Bush-era human embryonic stem cell lines are of European origin. Of the 40 lines newly approved by the National Institutes of Health, at least 22 are of European origin. Five of the Bush lines are from two [...]

H1N1

Public Relations and Public Health

The vaccine, while safe and effective, has provided a vehicle for the anti-vaccine movement to launch attacks on some of our most vital tools for protecting public health.

INNOVATION CLUSTERS

Bringing New Ideas to Market

The Obama administration’s push for innovation to boost economic competitiveness requires better strategic links between federal agencies and universities.

BIOETHICS

The Areas of Our Expertise

Evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould famously suggested that science and religion deal with non-overlapping areas of knowledge. The idea is useful for quelling debates about creationism, but it’s a mistake when developing public policy for the life sciences.

More Stem Cells Lines Approved, Process Proves Smart

The National Institutes of Health have added 27 more human embryonic stem cell lines to the 13 approved two weeks ago. These new lines come from Harvard University and have some interesting stipulations attached to them that illustrate the diligence [...]

BLOGGING COPENHAGEN

Can Copenhagen Succeed?

An analysis of the warming in store, and the warming we can hope to prevent, shows that proposed policies will have to stretch to put us in a climate “safe zone”— especially for developing nations.

INNOVATION FINANCE

Angels Sometimes Need Help, Too

Early-stage investors in innovation companies—angel investors—and the founders of start-up companies they support financially, warrant investment support. Here’s one intriguing idea.

Research Parks and Job Creation: Innovation Through Cooperation

Jonathan Sallet, co-author of the report, “The Geography of Innovation: The Federal Government and the Growth of Regional Innovation Clusters,” testifies today before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation. He explains in his written testimony that Congress should [...]

How the Global Warming Story Changed—Disastrously

By Chris Mooney Back in 2006, the year of the release of An Inconvenient Truth, it felt as though serious and irreversible progress had finally been made on the climate issue. The feeling continued in 2007, when Al Gore won [...]

SCIENCE CAREERS

Voting with their Wallets

Although the numbers of young Americans studying science, technology, engineering, or math in high school and college are as strong as ever, the very best of those students are less likely than in decades past to stay in STEM fields when they leave college.

Reason is a Casualty in the Ongoing War on Climate Science

In yesterday’s Wall Street Journal editorial section, Daniel Henninger took exaggeration of the scandal over emails stolen from scientists at the University of East Anglia to new heights, arguing that the incident undermines the entire centuries-old scientific enterprise. But the [...]

Line Up for the New Lines

Yesterday, the National Institutes of Health approved 13 new embryonic stem cell lines according to the rigorous ethical guidelines that went into effect July 7th. The lines will now be eligible for use in federally funded research. The 15-point rules [...]

Not so Swift, Hackers: Why the scandal sometimes called “ClimateGate” is overblown

Chris Mooney contributes this post. And now, the climate change deniers will claim a scalp. Yesterday, climate researcher Phil Jones, director of the Climate Research Unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia in the UK—which is responsible for one [...]

SCIENCE CAREERS

Get a Life

Researchers with families need more than childcare. They need a culture of professional assessment that looks for their contributions as teachers, scholars, and citizens—not just an unrelenting rate of work.