European Union

Courtrooms are generally not a good place to decide issues of science. I've said this more times than I can remember. Admittedly, courts can at times do pretty well with issues of science. The Vaccine Court is a good example, as is the Autism Omnibus decision, which ruled that the test cases brought before the Vaccine Court to determine if there was a plausible case to show a potential causative relationship between vaccines and autism. The court ruled against the test case complainants, even though the rules of evidence are those of a civil court, in which "50% and a feather" are all that is…
Thousands came to the Weizmann Institute yesterday evening for Researchers' Night activities. Researcher's Night is sponsored by the EU, and it takes place all over Israel and across Europe. In addition to lab tours and showings of 3-D films of molecular structures, the Clore Garden Science -- an outdoor science museum on the Weizmann campus -- swarmed with activity. Especially popular were the fire juggler, hands-on educational activities in the EcoSphere, and the telescopes set up especially for the event. Israel's Minister of Science and Technology gets a lesson in physics Atop the…
The European Elections are taking place this week, when millions of people will go to the polls to decide how they are represented in Europe. The European Parliament is a stage on which countless battles are played out, influencing aspects of our economy, law, judiciary, technology, environment, trade, culture, immigration, research, education, and many more. However, in the lead up to the elections, European politics have been eclipsed by the furore over our own MPs' expenses. Those who with an appetite for political debate over Europe have been forced to subsist on the amuse-bouches of…
I've suggested before that the idea of Turkey entering the EU is a farce. One could make the economic case that it is far too large and poor to be absorbed easily (unlike the Eastern European nations Turkey is nearly as populous as Germany). But there is a strong cultural case too. Turkey is a very religious nation in a European context. It is more Creationist than the United States. Though Turkey is secular for a Muslim nation, it is not secularfor a European nation. But many people seem to be intent on accusing Europeans of racism or discrimination based on their evident disinclination to…