| Global Update: Africa: Monkeypox Cases Surge in Rural Areas as Price of the Victory Over Smallpox Monkeypox is 20 times as common in parts of the Congo as it was 30 years ago, when smallpox vaccination was discontinued. feeds.nytimes.com |
Big quake aftershocks plague New Zealand city By ROB GRIFFITH 2010-09-08T11:35:10ZCHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AP) -- A strong aftershock rocked terrified residents of New Zealand's earthquake-stricken city of Christchurch on Wednesday, as officials doubled their estimate for repairing the damage following nearly 300 temblors in five days.... hosted.ap.org |
Ed Miliband's science challenge Labour's new leader will have to address several science issues, and the science community should make sure he keeps the subject at the heart of his agenda.This is a guest blog by Imran Khan, who is director of the Campaign for Science and EngineeringI don't know if we've ever had a self-confessed maths "geek" as leader of Her Majesty's Official Opposition before, but with threats to science funding as they are, perhaps it's not a bad time to start.The Campaign for Science and Engineering in the UK (CaSE) is pleased to congratulate Ed Miliband on becoming the new leader of the Labour party; he will be responsible for holding the coalition government to account on a range of issues. It's the job of everyone in the science and engineering community to make sure he puts these subjects at the heart of his agenda.So what are the key areas he'll need to address?Personnel The first is the appointment of strong and capable shadows to Vince Cable and David Willetts who together form the coalition's science team. Miliband's choice of Vince Cable's shadow is limited to those who come through the Labour party's shadow cabinet election process, so we should know his or her identity soon.But Miliband may have more freedom in appointing someone to take on the unenviable task of shadowing the universities and science minister, David "Two Brains" Willetts. Before the general election, we had three impressive science spokesmen 窶 Lord Paul Drayson, Adam Afriyie, and Dr Evan Harris 窶 who vied for the "science vote". Electoral misfortune and party politics have meant that all three are gone, and it's likely that the Lib Dems won't have an official science spokesman to replace Harris as it could undermine their coalition partners. This makes Miliband's choice all the more crucial.The Labour party is conspicuously blessed with MPs with a background or interest in science, technology, engineering or maths 窶 particularly those who aren't first-term MPs and are therefore more likely to be in line for a shadow ministerial role. But since the job also involves keeping an eye on the university sector, an understanding of higher education is equally important.Research funding and the economy Ed Miliband has said he doesn't intend to oppose every funding cut made by the coalition. But he has also said that "we, as politicians, have a responsibility to defend science". Hopefully he'll make his decisions in an evidence-based way 窶 and with the evidence clearly showing that investing in research and development can drive the economic recovery, it's vital that his economic plan takes that into account. We can be sure that there will be a lot of concerned scientists waiting for the opposition's response.And the Labour party needs to articulate a long-term vision for UK industry, too. CaSE strongly argues that given we're only going to get less competitive in low- and medium-skills sectors, it's unlikely we're going to find more stuff to dig out of the ground, and that over-reliance on the financial services sector has proven to be an unacceptable risk, we need a knowledge-intensive and technologically focused economy. That has to be a priority for Miliband and his shadow Chancellor.Policy and evidence Partly thanks to the efforts of former science ministers Lords Sainsbury and Drayson, New Labour enjoyed a reputation as being science friendly. It's a reputation that was helped by the party's stance on issues like animal testing, but tested and strained by an alleged failure of leadership over GM crops, and the sacking of David Nutt. Further tests will come, and probably from unexpected areas.How well Miliband and his team can respond to, say, the next drugs crisis or bioscience controversy 窶 either in a few years' time, or next week 窶 will largely depend on the efforts he puts in now to ensure that his policy-makers can quickly and effectively access evidence and advice from the scientific community, and treat it with due regard. Before he was elected, Miliband said he wanted to "revitalise the policy process" within Labour, including by "encouraging organisations like CaSE to bring their energy and expertise into the process"; clearly we hope he lives up to his word.Education In the long-term, science and maths education remains an absolutely critical policy area; if left unaddressed, all other efforts could be wasted. This year we've seen encouraging signs that more pupils are taking science and maths at A-level and GCSE, but worrying gaps in uptake and attainment between boys and girls and state schools versus the independent sector remain.The most important interventions to fix this and build upon gains will inevitably deal with teacher quality and quantity. Miliband and his forthcoming shadow education secretary will find lots of helpful voices in the science and teaching community to help them with ideas 窶 if they make it a priority.On teaching and in other areas both the Lib Dems and the Tories made firm commitments before the election 窶 some of which even chimed with each other. And yet we've seen very little from the coalition to meet those commitments. There's a lot out there for Labour to pin the government down on, and CaSE will continue to work with all the main political parties to make sure that the level of debate is as high as it can be.Imran Khan is director of the Campaign for Science and EngineeringScience policyEd MilibandLabour party leadershipLabourLiberal-Conservative coalitionImran Khanguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Foes Outspend Backers of Proposition 23 A coalition of environmentalists, investors and Silicon Valley technology companies is raking in the cash as they fight a move to repeal California's global warming law. feeds.nytimes.com |
New evidence found for flour in stone-age diet By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID 2010-10-18T20:13:51ZWASHINGTON (AP) -- The popular image may be of Stone Age people gnawing on a chunk of woolly mammoth, but new research indicates their diet may have been more balanced after all.... hosted.ap.org |