Science Policy
scientificactivist | January 16, 2008As the 2008 elections swing into full gear, Scientists and Engineers for America (SEA) today launched a new resource--the Science, Health And Related Policies (SHARP) Network--which allows you to track how various elected officials and candidates stack up on a variety of science and health policy issues. SEA was formed a couple of months before the 2006 election in order to support science-friendly candidates, advocate for the proper use of science in formulating government policy, and to oppose political interference in science. SEA made quite a splash then, but its newest endeavor looks…
ddobbs | January 16, 2008The public will soon start getting quicker access to research results it sponsors. From BioMed Central Blog : NIH Public Access Policy to become mandatory:
NIH Public Access Policy to become mandatory
Many open access advocates will already have heard that NIH's Public Access Policy, until now voluntary, is set to become mandatory following President Bush's approval on Dec 26th 2007 of the latest NIH appropriations bill, which includes the following wording:
"The Director of the National Institutes of Health shall require that all investigators funded by the NIH submit or have submitted…
grrlscientist | January 11, 2008tags: ScienceDebate2008, Science Friday, Ira Flatow, National Public Radio, NPR, podcast
Remember how we have been lobbying for a presidential debate that specifically focuses on each candidate's planned policies regarding science and technology? And remember how things were picking up momentum fairly rapidly in the main stream media? Well, now National Public Radio's Science Friday with Ira Flatow is hosting a one hour call-in discussion regarding this very topic! [free podcast]. This show is being broadcast TODAY at 2pm EST, so be sure to call them in support of ScienceDebate2008! If you…
evolgen | January 7, 2008Matt Nisbet thinks that Francis Collins should be the next presidential science advisor. He does this after rejecting excellent popularizes of science, such as Neil deGrasse Tyson and E.O. Wilson, on the following grounds:
Most science popularizers such as Wilson or Tyson don't have the years of government experience to understand the machinations of Federal science policy. Moreover, they have a paper trail of strong opinions on issues that might make appointment politically tough.
I'm not sure what exactly those issues upon which they have strong opinions are. Is it that they're both…
scientificactivist | December 10, 2007Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum of The Intersection (along with Derek Araujo, Matthew Chapman, Austin Dacey, Lawrence Krauss, Shawn Lawrence Otto, and John Rennie) are spearheading a grassroots movement called Sciencedebate 2008 to try to convince the powers that be of the need for a presidential debate on science in 2008. For a comprehensive list of the reasons why this is a good idea, I would have to rehash almost everything I've written on this blog... and then some. The point is that science is playing a growing role in society and politics, affecting in some way almost every issue…
evolgen | December 10, 2007Are you bothered by the total disregard for science shown by some US presidential candidates? Mike Huckabee does not heart evolution. Other candidates aren't saying much. Would you like to see where the candidates stand on various science and technology issues?
Sheril and Chris at the Intersection have put together a campaign for a Science Debate amongst the presidential candidates in 2008. They have the support of many top notch scientists and science advocates. You too can sign on if you agree with the following statement:
Given the many urgent scientific and technological challenges facing…
evolgen | December 9, 2007The Scientist blog reports that a representative of the National Science Foundation (NSF) was at the annual meeting of the America Society for Cell Biology (ASCB). The NSF representative pointed out a couple of things things:
If your proposal describes research designed to find a cure for some disease, the NSF will not fund it. Well, duh! The NSF is about funding basic research. If you want to cure diseases, go ask the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for money. Research about human diseases and human health are not fundable by the NSF.
If your lab is well funded, don't expect the NSF…
revere | November 24, 2007As you will see from the account below the fold, the flu summit was a contentious and complicated affair. Only time will tell if it was even a qualified success, but there are reasons to be hopeful. Tip of the hat to Ed Hammond, one of the NGO participants, who provided the public health community with his perspective at a time when no one else was talking. This involved late hours for him at the end of long days. We are grateful.
Here's his wrap-up:
Influenza Meeting Ends in Qualified Success
At the end of contentious meetings like the one on policies for sharing flu virus it is tempting to…
scientificactivist | October 27, 2007On November 6th (and now during early voting) Texans have the chance to vote on a variety of amendments to the Texas Constitution. One of these is Proposition 15:
The constitutional amendment requiring the creation of the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas and authorizing the issuance of up to $3 billion in bonds payable from the general revenues of the state for research in Texas to find the causes of and cures for cancer.
The full text of the resolution as passed in May by the Texas House and Senate can be read here and additional information is available here. Upon…
scientificactivist | October 13, 2007Recently I came across a Nature commentary article (subscription required) by Robert May, former president of the Royal Society. Published in June of this year, May's article commented on the state of UK science as the government transitioned from the leadership of Tony Blair to Gordon Brown.
As I read it I couldn't help but wonder whether Robert May had been reading my mind. A better explanation, though, is that May is actually in touch with the issues that UK scientists face on a daily basis and has summed them up in a comprehensive and thoughtful way. This article is an excellent read…
evolgen | October 10, 2007Please God, don't let it happen. Please don't let Franky Collins win this stupid award. I don't usually make pleas to you, but, given that this is a matter regarding a man of faithTM, I figured it's a good time to plea to the sky fairy. So, do whatever you can to prevent Congress from awarding Frank the medal.
As for my more terrestrial readers, here's the skinny. The Genetic Alliance is petitioning the US Congress to award Collins the Congressional Gold Medal. Why? Because he's in charge of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI). Now, the NHGRI has done a great job in promoting…
scientificactivist | September 12, 2007Via A Blog Around the Clock comes news that the Senate will be voting on mandatory public access to NIH research later this month (on September 28, apparently). Such a bill has already passed the House (in July 2007). The Alliance for Taxpayer Access is urging citizens to contact their Senators in support of this legislation. Check out the site for more information and for Senator contact information.
The Alliance for Taxpayer Access offers these talking points:
American taxpayers are entitled to open access on the Internet to the peer-reviewed scientific articles on research funded by…
revere | August 30, 2007I don't suppose I can sue somebody for negligence resulting in impairment of my mental health. But if I could, I would surely go after the assholes at the PRISM coalition, an alleged grassroots group (such front groups for industry are often called astroturf groups) whose task in life is to lock up tax payer financed research under copyright laws they and their cronies wrote for their own benefit. And THEY ARE MAKING ME CRAZY! So there was at least some therapeutic benefit to the discovery of my SciBling Dave Munger at Cognitive Daily that these hypocrites were violating copyright on their…
scientificactivist | August 28, 2007Or, at least that's what I thought when I read this article from Saturday's Guardian:
Universities and medical schools have been criticised for increasing the number of animals used in research by more than 50% since 1996 while industry has reduced its procedures by 20% over the same period.
Campaigners say that a cultural inertia has meant that academics have been slow to adopt options such as tissue cultures or computer models. They argue there should be more funding to encourage researchers to find other options.
Gill Langley, director of the Dr Hadwen Trust for Humane Research, said: "…
revere | July 30, 2007When it comes to controversial reports, one that said it would be good to include combatting widespead disease as an element in foreign policy would hardly seem to qualify. And ordinary person might be forgiven for thinking that was already something that was considered. You'd think. But then you'd think a lot of things that wouldn't be true, for example, that if you were going to start a major war you'd have thought it through pretty carefully. Back to global health:
The draft report itself, in language linking public health problems with violence and other social ills, says "we cannot…
revere | July 28, 2007If your country had thousands of cases of a potentially fatal disease, spread by mosquitoes, would you panic? Not if you lived in the US, apparently. Last year there were over 4200 cases of West Nile virus infections with 177 deaths. I don't remember panic gripping the nation. So I had to laugh when Canadian public health officials tell their citizens that with a particularly bad West Nile Virus (WNV) season underway south of the border, "There is no need to panic":
"There's no need to panic," Jean Riverin, a [Public Health Agency of Canada] spokesperson, told CBC News. "Many variables need…
scientificactivist | July 20, 2007In my post earlier today, I stressed the need for the NIH to mandate open access to research publications supported by its funding:
As the largest supporter of biomedical research in the US, the NIH has a special obligation to make sure that its (taxpayer funded!) research is published in the public domain. Since May 2005, the NIH has had an optional open access program that revolves around PubMed Central. Specifically, the NIH "requests and strongly encourages all investigators to make their NIH-funded peer-reviewed, author's final manuscript available to other researchers and the public…
scientificactivist | July 20, 2007I've been tagged by Hope for Pandora (who was tagged by DrugMonkey, who was tagged by Writedit) in a blog meme regarding the NIH's request for feedback on its peer review system. I'm not huge into these blog memes, so I'm not going to pass this along to seven others, but I will share a few thoughts.
Being only in the second year of my Ph.D. (and studying overseas), I haven't applied for an NIH grant before, so I'm not intimately familiar with the NIH's peer review system and can't offer much in the way of constructive criticism there. I can, however, speak generally about some of the major…
evolgen | July 18, 2007
Remember that new species of leopard that was "discovered" earlier this year? Well, it wasn't really discovered so much as recategorized as a unique species (it was originally discovered in the early nineteenth century). That's a picture of it on the right if you don't remember.
Anyway, there's an Editorial in PLoS Biology arguing that we're creating too many damn species. We're not really "creating" them, mind you, but categorizing what were previously subspecies as distinct species. The authors of the editorial think that this is getting out of hand; they're taking the lumping position in…
scientificactivist | July 9, 2007Over at A Blog Around the Clock, Bora has posted an interview he conducted by email with Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards on science and science-related issues. The fact that John Edwards participated is a good indication that the 2008 candidates (at least the Democratic ones) are taking scientists, bloggers, and even science bloggers seriously. Props to Edwards for playing ball, and a big "well done" to Bora for arranging this.
Bora asked Edwards eight questions on some of the more important and timely science-related issues facing America, including global warming, health…