| Feds appeal order blocking stem cell research By JESSE J. HOLLAND 2010-08-31T22:43:58ZWASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration on Tuesday asked a federal judge to lift a restraining order that it says could undercut federally funded embryonic stem cell research.... hosted.ap.org |
My Pod Delusion Live! talk ('From fan death to penis panics') | Martin Robbins Here's a podcast of the talk I gave at The Pod Delusion Live earlier this weekEarlier this week I gave a short talk on culture-bound syndromes – from fan death to penis panic – at a special live recording of popular podcast The Pod Delusion. The whole show is worth a listen (and subscribing to!), but you can catch my segment at around 30 minutes in:Immediately after the talk I took part in a live Q&A session, but it swiftly degenerated into a surreal trip into the world of wizard pigeon penis snatchers:Catch the rest of the show, and fifty previous episodes, here!Martin Robbinsguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Science funding in the UK: how will it be hit by the cuts? Visualised and as a spreadsheet The Comprehensive Spending Review could have a far-reaching impact on UK research. See how science funding works now• Get the data• Interactive graphicBritain is facing a major brain drain as scientists abandon the country for better-funded jobs abroad. Leading researchers, including an Oxford professor of physics and a stem cell researcher seeking a cure for the commonest form of blindness, say they are poised to quit Britain. Meanwhile the heads of several prestigious universities warn that proposed government cuts to Britain's science budget threaten "an insidious grinding down of the UK research community".So, where does the money come from now? Basic university funding for research in the UK comes in two streams from government. In 2008/09, £3.3bn came via the research councils and £2.2bn came via the higher education funding councils.The former is distributed through competitive grants for specific research projects and pays for equipment and PhD and postdoctoral students. The latter is distributed to universities via a formula that takes into account their scores in the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), a rating of university departments on the quality of their output. This funding stream, called qualitative research (QR), is used to pay for basic infrastructure and staff at universities.An additional £2.2bn comes from the R&D budgets of government departments, including medical research funds from the NHS.Despite a decade of increases in science research funding, thanks to a booming economy and a progressive Labour administration sympathetic to research and innovation, the UK still spends a smaller amount of its GDP on R&D than other advanced countries. In 2007, the UK's public spend on R&D was 1.8%, while German's was 2.54%, France got to 2.08%, Japan was at 3.44% and the US at 2.68%. This research, from BIS, shows exactly how much money is spent on scientific and other R&D. You can also get some great statistics from the Campaign for Science and Engineering. The full data is below. What can you do with it?Download the data• DATA: download the full spreadsheetWorld government data• Search the world's government with our gatewayDevelopment and aid data• Search the world's global development data with our gatewayCan you do something with this data?Flickr Please post your visualisations and mash-ups on our Flickr group• Get the A-Z of data• More at the Datastore directory• Follow us on TwitterCuts and closuresTax and spendingLiberal-Conservative coalitionLabourConservativesResearchResearch fundingResearch and developmentHigher educationScience funding crisisScience policyAlok Jhaguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
US, China blame each other for slow climate talks By TINI TRAN 2010-10-09T12:47:02ZTIANJIN, China (AP) -- Modest progress at U.N. climate talks Saturday was overshadowed by a continuing deadlock between China and the United States, clouding prospects for a major climate conference in Mexico in less than two months' time.... hosted.ap.org |
Q & A: Pelicans in Training Young pelicans learn to feed themselves through a combination of trial and error, imitation of experienced adult birds and instinct, bird experts suggest. feeds.nytimes.com |