TOP 100 SCIENCE SITES
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| The Evolution of the God Gene New research is pointing to a new perspective on religion, one that seeks to explain why religious behavior has occurred in societies at every stage of development. feeds.nytimes.com |
Drilling Into Ice to See Into Earth's Past, Future Paleoclimate researcher studies Greenland ice cores to see how Earth's climate has changed. feedproxy.google.com |
Royal Institution in crisis • Neuroscientist faces redundancy or cut in role• Proposals split governing body as senior figures quitOne of the country's greatest scientific institutions has been plunged into crisis after senior figures drew up proposals that could force the departure of Britain's most prominent female scientist from her position as its director.Lady Greenfield, head of the Royal Institution, was appointed a decade ago to modernise the 200-year-old organisation where Michael Faraday changed the world by demonstrating the power of electricity. Greenfield, an Oxford neuroscientist, now faces redundancy or the option of staying on in a part-time role if plans drawn up by the advisers are approved.The management advisory committee said the director's job should be sacrificed or "much reduced" during a review of senior roles to be completed by the end of the month. The plans were drawn up to save money at the institution amid the financial downturn.Greenfield is understood to have originally agreed to a revised job description but later changed her mind. The advisory committee has suggested that even the revised position may be untenable in view of the institution's parlous finances.The proposals, which were thrashed out between April and September, are believed to have split the institution's governing council. Two prominent members, Lord Rees, the astronomer royal and president of the Royal Society, and Lisa Jardine, professor of Renaissance studies at Queen Mary, University of London, resigned their posts shortly after, citing time pressures. Neither was available for comment yesterday.One source familiar with the proposals described them as a "disgraceful" and suggested a small "cabal" of advisers opposed Greenfield's moves to modernise the oldest independent research organisation in the world.Greenfield is regarded as a forthright and colourful character whose love of neuroscience, entrepreneurial drive and determination not to conform to the stereotype of dull scientist secured her position as a role model for female scientists. She has donned designer outfits for Vogue and Hello, and on being ranked 14th most influential woman in Britain by Harpers and Queen, quipped: "Dolly Parton came ninth." She was awarded the CBE in 2000 and made a "people's peer" in 2001.As director, Greenfield raised eyebrows among some members of the institution when she ordered a £22m refurbishment of the premises in Mayfair, London. The strategy, which covered a complete refit of the historic Faraday lecture hall and an upmarket bar and restaurant, was criticised by some on the governing council and board of trustees as a risky financial gamble. She also drew up plans to use the Institution for weddings and parties. The Institution was reopened by the Queen in May last year.The spat is the latest to thrust Greenfield into the headlines. Her nomination but subsequent failure to be named a fellow of the Royal Society – the highest honour for any scientist, short of winning the Nobel prize – was leaked in 2004, prompting allegations that she had been blackballed. She made news again when in 2005 she ended her marriage to the Oxford chemist Peter Atkins. More recently, she courted controversy by suggesting Twitter, Facebook and Second Life "alter the way our minds work".The advisory committee approved the three other senior management positions at the Institution, which include the development director, the CEO and the director of the Davy Faraday Research Laboratory. The job of director was identified as the most costly of the positions.Sir John Ritblat, vice-president of the Royal Institution, said he was unaware of any moves to diminish the director's position. "I'm not up to speed with any of the internal things," he told the Guardian. Lawyers acting for Greenfield are understood to be handling the dispute.According to documents circulated to the governing council, "the currently defined role of director … is unaffordable", and the revised job "would be completely different from the current role."Most probably, it suggests, the revised position would be part-time and centre on hosting institution events and fund-raising. The documents suggest the institution consider offering the new role to Greenfield, but if she declines, a new appointment should be made in the next six months.The Royal Institution is most well known for its Christmas lectures, which were introduced by Michael Faraday in 1825 as a way of exciting children about science when organised education was scarce. The lectures have continued every year since, breaking only for the second world war. Greenfield could not be reached yesterday and the Royal Institution declined to comment.A life of brainsSusan Greenfield was born in Hammersmith in 1950 and educated at Godolphin and Latymer School for Girls. As a child she alarmed her parents – an electrician and a dancer – when she arrived home one day with a dead animal from the local butchers. She wanted to see its brain, she explained. And so began Greenfield's interest in neuroscience.She studied experimental psychology at St Hilda's College, Oxford and studied in Paris before joining Green College, Oxford as a junior research fellow. Greenfield's passion for research – she once said she was motivated by a desire to understand the neuroscience of love – quickly established her as a role model for young women and ensured her place on the science lecture circuit.She became professor of pharmacology at Oxford in 1996 and took over as Director of the Royal Institution in 1998. She was made a life peer by the Blair government in 2001. Greenfield has written several popular science books and is behind three research companies, Brainboost, Synaptica and Neurodiagnostics. Her research focuses on understanding the physical basis of consciousness and brain functions and disorders, such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases.NeuroscienceIan Sampleguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Famous San Francisco sea lions leave in droves Two mysteries surround a huge herd of sea lions that were hanging out on a pier in San Francisco Bay: Why did so many show up, and why did so many leave at once? rssfeeds.usatoday.com |
Russia may send spacecraft to knock away asteroid MOSCOW (AP) -- Russia's space agency chief said Wednesday a spacecraft may be dispatched to knock a large asteroid off course and reduce the chances of earth impact, even though U.S. scientists say such a scenario is unlikely.... hosted.ap.org |