TOP 100 SCIENCE SITES
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| Expert rubbishes solar storm claims Australia's leading body responsible for monitoring space weather has dismissed claims that a massive solar storm could wipe out the Earth's entire power grid. abc.net.au |
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 |
Whale carcass sparks shark attack fears Swimmers and surfers are being warned to keep their distance from a dead beached whale near Bulli, on the New South Wales south coast, to avoid shark attacks. abc.net.au |
Russian spy Anna Chapman turns up at Baikonur Anna Chapman, one of 10 Russian spies deported from the US in July, makes an unexpected public appearance at the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. bbc.co.uk |
Science funding: Back the boffins | Editorial The slender margin between painful but unavoidable cuts and economic masochism is the difference between success and failureIf anything keeps the chancellor, George Osborne, awake on the eve of tomorrow's spending review, it should be worrying over the link between the decisions he has taken about where his axe will fall and the prospects for future recovery. The slender margin between painful but unavoidable cuts and economic masochism is the difference between success and failure. Luckily for Mr Osborne, an engine of growth is at hand that has hundreds of years of success behind it. It is called science.British science is efficient: for less government investment than any comparable European nation, its academic output is rated more highly than anywhere bar the US, while nearly a third of the UK's GDP comes from science-intensive industries. In these days when costs enforce co-operation, it is at the forefront of many of the most ambitious international projects: from the Large Hadron Collider to the giant observatories in Chile, British scientists are involved in research of global significance.But it is not only about the glossy high-status work of big science. The money the state invests in science is seed corn for innovation, new startup ventures and new jobs – and it attracts and magnifies cash from business and charities. The OECD points to the experience of Finland and Korea, which both chose to protect their science base in the downturns of the 1990s. Finland's technology investment arm became "a springboard for recovery". Korea saw corporate research and development labs increase from 100 to 11,000 in five years. British science already has a strong record. According to the Campaign for Science and Engineering, between 2003 and 2007, 31 university "spin-outs" were floated on stock exchanges, with an initial value of £1.5bn. Ten spin-outs were bought for a total of £1.9bn. Mr Osborne acknowledged some of this in his interview on BBC TV on Sunday morning when he said he would protect large infrastructure projects, including the diamond synchrotron at Harwell which has repeatedly proved its academic importance in the past two years.What the increasingly vocal science campaign argues is that all this cannot be turned off and then turned back on again. The Royal Society has assessed the impact of a standstill budget, 10% cuts and 20% cuts. No change would be bearable, they conclude. Cuts of 10%, they warn, would "seriously jeopardise" stability and productivity, and British science would lose its appeal to overseas scientists (already deterred by immigration caps). But 20% cuts would do "irreversible" damage. There will be many genuinely deserving causes aired in the next few weeks. What makes investment in science stand out is that it is the surest way to a recovery that benefits everyone.Spending review 2010Tax and spendingScience funding crisisScience policyEconomic policyguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |