11/20 Fri News Monitoring

科学技術政策及びヘルス： １３件
高等教育：１件
環境・エネルギー４件
その他：３件

S&T POLICY, HEALTH

University Weighs Tighter Limits on Stem Cell Research (NY Times, NOv. 20)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/us/20stem.html?_r=1&ref=science
In an unusual pushback against President Obama's expansion of federal financing of human embryonic stem cell research, the University of Nebraska is considering restricting its stem cell experiments to cell lines approved by President George W. Bush. The university’s board of regents is scheduled to take up the matter on Friday, and if it approves the restriction, the University of Nebraska will become the first such state institution in the country to impose limits on stem cell research that go beyond what state and federal laws allow.

A similar article appeared on the AAAS blog:
University of Nebrask May Restrict Stem Cell Use (Science Insider, Nov. 19th)
http://blogs.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2009/11/university-of-n.html
but it does not include any new information.

New NIST Director, plus Big Budget Put Measurement Science in Public Eye (Sci Am, Nov. 20th)
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=patrick-gallagher-nist
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Commerce confirmed Patrick gallagher as the 14th director of its Naitonal Instiute of Standards and Technology (NIST). How important is NIST? Important enough for the Obama administration to promise the agency $610 million in funds through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to pay for research, grants and new equipment as well as the construction of new facilities and laboratories. (NIST's total budget for fiscal 2009 is $1.6 billion.) ScientificAmerican.com recently spoke with Gallagher about this dramatic increase in funding, NIST's plans for that money, and the importance of high school math and science. An edited transcript of the interview follows.

New Website Tracks Stimulus Dollars for Science (from a link on the USA Today Science Fair page)
http://www.scienceworksforus.org/
this is the website mentioned in the article below..

Members of Congress, Scientists, Leaders launch ScienceWorksForUS (Science Works for Us Press Room, Nov. 17) http://www.scienceworksforus.org/press-releases/members-of-congress-university-leaders-scientists-launch-scienceworksforus November 17, 2009 – Representatives of the nation’s leading public and private research universities, joined by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Members of Congress, today announced the launch of ScienceWorksForUS, an initiative that will highlight the scientific research and related activities that have been made possible by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), also known as the stimulus. The centerpiece of the initiative is a website that highlights Recovery Act-sponsored research in all 50 states, telling the stories of the research and the researchers contributing to America’s recovery. The website went live today.

U.S. Takes Step Toward Isotope Independence (Science Progress, Nov.19)
http://www.scienceprogress.org/2009/11/isotope-independence/
Earlier this month, the House passed a bill that will protect as many as 50,000 nuclear medical procedures a day in the United States. That’s how many procedures rely on nuclear isotopes produced by foreign reactors. With H.R.3276, introduced by Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) and seven co-sponsors, the federal government will now begin to support isotope production at home. The bill appropriates $163 million for fiscal years 2010 through 2014 to the Department of Energy so that it can support industry and universities in the production of the isotope known as molybdenum-99 (Mo-99). ... The United States has been at risk of experiencing a shortage of these isotopes since the Chalk River Reactor in Ontario, Canada shut down this summer—and the shortage could get worse with the closure of the High Flux Reactor in Petten, the Netherlands. Those reactors supply 60 percent and 40 percent, respectively, of the medical isotopes used in this country.

NIH Slammed for Lax Oversight of Conflict of Interest (Science INsider, Nov.19)
http://blogs.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2009/11/nih-slammed-aga.html
The National Institutes of Health is again being taken to task for doing too little to manage researchers' potential conflicts of interest, such as consulting for drug companies. This time federal investigators say NIH should tighten up rules that now give faculty with NIH funding too much leeway in what they must report. The criticism comes from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Inspector General (IG), which in 2008 found that NIH wasn't paying enough attention to how its grantee institutions manage conflicts of interest.

NIH Undergoes Behavior (Research) Modification (Science Insider, Nov. 19th)
http://blogs.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2009/11/nih-undergoes-b.html
Social and behavioral research is finally getting some of the high-level attention it has sought for years at the National Institutes of Health. Yesterday NIH Director Francis Collins announced that $10 million in recovery money will go to support the launch of the Basic Behavioral and Social Science Opportunity Network – they're calling it OppNet, an initiative to support and coordinate basic behavioral research throughout NIH.

Genetic Testing 101: Easy Access to DNA is Changing Medicine and Research (Science Progress, Nov. 20th)
http://www.scienceprogress.org/2009/11/genetic-testing-101/
This Saturday, Title II of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act goes into effect. This means that most employers in the U.S. will not be able to make decisions regarding hiring, firing, promotions, compensation, or terms of employment based on genetic information. Also, aside from a few specific exceptions, employers will not be allowed to knowingly request, require, purchase, or acquire an employee’s genetic information. In light of this milestone, the author examines the current landscape of genetic testing. Questions addressed: What is genetic testing? What are the different uses of genetic tests?How will genetic tests change medicine, and how are they already changing it? What are the privacy concerns? How do Scientists and regulators assess the reliability of genetic tests? What are the gaps in oversight in direct-to-consumer genetic tests?

Screening debate Reveals Culture Clash in Medicine (NY Times, Nov. 20th)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/health/20assess.html?em
Two new medical recommendations, calling for delaying the start and reducing the frequency of screening for breast and cervical cancer (see the two articles below), have been met with anger and confusion from some corners, not to mention a measure of political posturing. The backers of science-driven medicine, with its dual focus on risks and benefits, have cheered the elevation of data in the setting of standards. But many patients — and organizations of doctors and disease specialists — find themselves unready to accept the counterintuitive notion that more testing can be bad for your health.

Guidelines Push Back Age for Cervical Cancer Screening (NYTimes, Nov. 20th)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/health/20pap.html?ref=health
New guidelines for cervical cancer screening say women should delay their first Pap test until age 21, and be screened less often than recommended in the past. The advice, from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, is meant to decrease unnecessary testing and potentially harmful treatment, particularly in teenagers and young women. The group’s previous guidelines had recommended yearly testing for young women, starting within three years of their first sexual intercourse, but no later than age 21.

Panel Urges Mammograms at 50, not 40 (NY times,Nov. 17th)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/health/17cancer.html?ref=health
Most women should start regular breast cancer screening at age 50, not 40, according to new guidelines released Monday by an influential group that provides guidance to doctors, insurance companies and policy makers. The task force is an independent panel of experts in prevention and primary care appointed by the federal Dept of Health and Human Services. The new recommendations, which do not apply to a small group of women with unusual risk factors for breast cancer, reverse longstanding guidelines and are aimed at reducing harm from overtreatment, the group says. It also said doctors should stop teaching women to examine their breasts on a regular basis.

Nelson to Vote to Advance Senate Health Bill (WSJ, Nov. 20th)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125873899099757651.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLETopStories
The Nebraska senator said he will vote to advance the health bill in a procedural vote, the first of three Democratic holdouts to back the measure. Mr. Nelson reiterated Friday that he had not yet committed to supporting health-care legislation in a final vote. "Throughout my Senate career I have consistently rejected efforts to obstruct. That's what the vote on the motion to proceed is all about," Mr. Nelson said. "It is not for or against the new Senate health-care bill released Wednesday."


EDUCATION

Awards of U.S. Doctorate Degrees Rise for Sixth Straight Year (NSF, Nov. 18)
http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=115964&org=NSF&from=news
U.S. academic institutions awarded 48,802 research doctorate degrees in 2008, the sixth consecutive annual increase in U.S. doctoral awards and the highest number ever reported by the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Survey of Earned Doctorates. The Survey of Earned Doctorates is a census of all individuals who receive a research doctorate from a U.S. academic institution in a given academic year.Specifically, 32,827 science and engineering (S&E) doctorates were awarded in 2008, an increase of 3.2 percent over 2007, and a 20.4 percent increase since 1998.. . At the other end of the spectrum, the number of doctorates awarded in non-S&E fields fell to 15,975 in 2008, 2.1 percent below the 2007 total.... The proportion of temporary visa holders among doctorate recipients continues its upward trend, increasing from 23.3 percent in 1998 to 33.1 percent in 2008.


ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT

Dept of Energy Announces more than $104 million for Laboratory facilities (DOE, Nov. 18th)
http://www.energy.gov/news2009/8297.htm
Eight Projects Will Support Growth of Clean Energy and Efficiency through Research, Development and Testing

Energy & Change: Introduction to the Special Issue on Energy & Climate Change (Harvard Belfer Center for Science & International Affairs, Nov. 20th)
http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/publication/19700/energy_for_change.html
This is an introduction to an article by John Holdren (Director of OSTP and Former Director and Faculty Chair of Science, Technology and Public Policy Program at Harvard) that appears in the fall 2009 issue of the journal Innovations (vol.4, issue 4, pp. 3-11). Dr. Holdren writes, "Without energy, there is no economy. Without climate, there is no environment. Without economy and environment, there is no material well-being, no civil society, no personal or national security. The overriding problem associated with these realities, of course, is that the world has long been getting most of the energy its economies need from fossil fuels whose emissions are imperiling the climate that its environment needs. Compounding that predicament are emissions from land-use change..."

Sea Grows Less Effective at Absorbing Emissions, New Research Suggests (NY Times, Nov. 19th)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/19/science/earth/19oceans.html?ref=science
The earth's oceans, which have absorbed carbon dioxide from fuel emissions since the dawn of the industrial era, have recently grown less efficient at sopping it up, new research suggests. Emissions from the burning of fossil fuels began soaring in the 1950s, and oceans largely kept up, scientists say. But the growth in the intake rate has slowed since the 1980s, and markedly so since 2000, report the authors of a study published in Thursday’s issue of Nature. The research suggests that the seas cannot indefinitely be considered a reliable “carbon sink” as humans generate heat-trapping gases linked to global warming. According to lead author Dr. Khatiwala, “What is fairly clear and important in the long term is the trend toward lower values, which implies that more of the emissions will remain in the atmosphere.”

Industrialized Nations Unveil Plan to Rein In Emissions (NY Times, Nov. 20th)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/science/earth/20climate.html?ref=science
With less than three weeks remaining before negotiators gather in Copenhagen to hammer out a global response to climate change, a rapid-fire succession of countries are unveiling national plans that serve as opening bids for reining in heat-trapping emissions.This week, South Korea said it would cut emissions by 30 percent from “business as usual” by 2020. Russia’s president said his country would try to reduce emissions by 25 percent by then, instead of 15 percent as announced earlier. Last week, Brazil promised eductions of about 40 percent below current projections by 2020.


OTHER

Science News Roundup (Science Insider, Nov. 19)
http://blogs.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2009/11/roundup-1119-wo.html
-Paul Alivisatos has been named director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California.
-Experts told a congressional panel today that the United States is losing its lead in spaceflight.
-The Senate Energy Committee will explore the economics of the climate bill next Wednesday.

Young Entrepreneurs Visit White House (OSTP Blog, Nov. 20th)http://blog.ostp.gov/2009/11/20/young-entrepreneur-visits-white-house/

The 2009 OppenheimerFunds/National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) National Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge was held in New York City on October 7th. The competition selects the best business plans from among those submitted by 24,000 students who completed a semester- or year-long course designed by NFTE and taught in high schools across the United States. After a day-long competition where the top students were given a chance to pitch their business plans to a panel of distinguished judges, three winners were chosen. OSTP and the Administration have put a great amount of effort and emphasis on spurring innovation in today’s youth, and last month the three winners were given the chance to come to the White House and meet with President Obama...

Japan's Scientists Fight Proposed Budget Cuts (Science INsider, Nov. 20th)http://blogs.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2009/11/japans-scientis-1.html
There are several articles on Japan's potential science funding crisis on Nature's blog, too.

11/18 Wed News Monitoring

科学技術政策　７件
環境・エネルギー　７件（ただしホワイトハウス・ブログから１件、オバマ訪中関係１件も含んでいます。）
IT　１件
ナノテク　１件
その他　４件


S&T Policy

California Requires TV's to be More Energy Efficient in 2011 (USA Today, Nov. 18th)
http://www.usatoday.com/money/media/2009-11-18-california-tv-energy-use_N.htm
Power-hungry TVs will be banned from store shelves in California after state regulators adopted a first-in-the nation mandate to lower electricity demand. On a unanimous vote, the Californai Energy Commission required all new televisions up to 58 inches to be more energy efficient, beginning in 2011. The requirement will be tougher in 2013, with only a quarter of all TVs currently on the market meeting that standard.

S&T Committee Passes Legislation to Improve Cyber-Security R&D (House S&T Committee, Nov. 18th)
http://science.house.gov/press/PRArticle.aspx?NewsID=2684
The House Committee on Science and Technology passed H.R. 4061, the Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2009, by a voice vote. H.R. 4061 will improve the security of cyberspace by ensuring federal investments in cybersecurity are better focused, more effective, and that research into innovative, transformative technologies is supported. H.R. 4061 does this by reauthorizing and expanding the Cyber Security Research and Development Act (P.L. 107-305) passed by the Committee on Science and Technology in 2002.

Editing Scientists: Scientists and Policy Makers at the White House (Sci American, Oct. 22nd) (this is a bit dated but still relevant, as it is analysis, not news)
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=white-house-editing-scientists
The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform found that significant editing of science documents had occurred during [former Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ)] Connaughton's tenure and the issue remains fraught with controversy: Just how much editing of government-funded science was done, and will it continue in future?"CEQ reviews and provides comment on innumerable documents inside the White House and under development at the agencies," Connaughton says. "I don't know how you provide expert commentary on presidential documents without having a hand in writing down what those views are.... Every policy document and actually every major regulation goes through intensive interagency and even inter–White House process of review. Every person with a perspective has the opportunity and the obligation to provide comment

Confirmation hearing Today for OSTP Association Director for National Security and International Affairs (OSTP blog, Nov. 18th)
http://blog.ostp.gov/2009/11/18/confirmation-hearing-today-for-ostp-associate-director-for-natl-security-and-intl-affairs/
Philip E. Coyle III, President Obama’s nominee for Associate Director for National Security and International Affairs in the OTP, was confirmated in a hearing today at 2:30 p.m. A live webcast is available on the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee’s Web site. Mr. Coyle currently serves as a Senior Advisor to the President of the World Security Institute, and to its Center for Defense Information, a Washington D.C.-based national security study center. In 2005 and 2006, Mr. Coyle served on the nine-member Defense Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC), appointed by President George W. Bush and nominated by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

Federal Agencies and Research Agencies Pledge to Speed Medical Advances to Developing Nations (Science Progress, Nov. 13th)
http://www.scienceprogress.org/2009/11/universities-pledge/
Last week six research universities announced a set of shared principles for increasing access to new medicines in poor countries. The statement of principles, which aims to guide licensing decisions for medical technology patents developed by academics at the institutions, commits the signatories to “make vigorous efforts to develop creative and effective licensing strategies that help to promote global access to health-related technologies,” affirming that “intellectual property should not become a barrier to essential health-related technologies needed by patients in developing countries.” It also outlines a commitment to investing in research and development on diseases that affect poor countries. In addition to the first six signatories --Boston U, Brown, Harvard, the OR Health and Science U, the U of Pennsylvania, and Yale--, NIH, the U of Illinois Chicago, the U of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and the CDC have also endorsed the princples.

Health-Care Overhaul (WSJ, Nov. 16th)
http://online.wsj.com/public/page/health-care-overhaul.html
This section of the WSJ provides comprehensive coverage and analysis of health care reform, updated daily.

European Research lagging U.S. although Corporate R&D Grew (by more) (Science Insider, Nov. 16th)
http://blogs.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2009/11/europeans-take.html
The article compares R&D spending in the EU to the U.S and Japan:
European companies are laggards in spending on R&D—but a new report shows a few upward trends. E.U. companies' R&D grew by 8.1% in 2008, ahead of the United States (5.7% growth) and Japan (4.4%) according to the EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard, an annual list compiled by the European Commission. Although the United States still spends more in the sectors that depend most on R&D (pharma, biotech, and information and communication technology), Europe is leading in the up-and-coming alternative energy sector. However, the most impressive statistics don't come from the European Union or the United States, but from China, where corporate R&D grew by 40% last year, and from India, with 27.3% growth.


Environment/ Energy

Forget Emissions, Focus on research (Finantial Times, Nov. 17th)
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2cc64f26-d3b6-11de-8caf-00144feabdc0.html
International negotiations to cut emissions of the heat-trapping gases driving climate change are gridlocked in part because of a fundamental misunderstanding about what is fair. .... We need to redefine what is fair. Our research suggests the focus should not be emissions – not even per capita – but access for people everywhere to basic energy-related services such as safe and convenient meal preparation at home, pleasant ambient temperatures indoors and convenient transportation.... Our key finding is that improvements in technology (or reductions in the emissions-intensity of energy produced and used) at historical rates provide little hope of meeting the broadly agreed global target of cutting emissions by 50% by 2050 from 1990 levels. ... Finally, the major emitters – developed and developing countries – should put public funds into green energy research. ... And they should focus on the tough challenge of an agreed global intellectual property regime for clean energy.

World's Carbon Emissions Continue Rise, Despite Recession (USA Today, Nov. 17th)
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/environment/2009-11-17-global-carbon-emissions_N.htm
Despite a global economic slump, worldwide carbon dioxide pollution jumped 2% last year, most of the increase coming from China, according to a study published online Tuesday. The numbers are from the U.S. Dept of Energy (DOE)'s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and published in the journal Nature Geoscience. According to the study, the 2008 emissions increase was smaller than normal for this decade. Annual global pollution growth has averaged 3.6%. This year, scientists are forecasting a nearly 3% reduction, despite China because of the massive economic slowdown in most of the world and in the USA.

US Expanding Cities Contribute More than Thought to Global Warming (USA Today, Nov. 6th) (sorry I missed this last week)
http://blogs.usatoday.com/sciencefair/2009/11/expanding-cities-contribute-to-global-warming.html
The USA’s expanding cities and suburbs are contributing more to global warming than previously thought, says a new study. "We found that most land-use changes, especially urbanization, result in warming," said study co-author Eugenia Kalnay. .. Our results suggest that land-use change can effect surface temperatures as much or more than what has been simulated by the global climate models as being due to added CO2 from human activities. ... The study recommends that the predicted land-use changes be incorporated into the computer models designed to forecast changes in climate conditions. Among the study's findings:

The Race is On for Clean Energy Jobs (White House blog, Nov. 18th) (Scroll down to the second entry, by Steven Chu)
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2009/11/18/race
I was honored to be a part of President Obama’s trip to China this week. We made important progress strengthening our partnership with China on clean energy – a partnership that will create jobs in the United States. President Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao announced a series of steps the two countries are taking in this area. Let me highlight three...

More Important than Copenhagen? U.S.-China Deal on Energy and Climate (Sci American, Nov. 17th)
http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=more-important-than-copenhagen-us-c-2009-11-17
Barack Obama and Hu Jintao on Monday and Tuesday stated flatly that emission reduction targets should be set at an international negotiation on climate change in Copenhagen this December, along with financial assistance figures to help poorer countries mitigate emissions and adapt to a changing climate. During their summit, Jintao and Obama also laid out a comprehensive program to address the clean energy challenge facing both nations, which would go a long way toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions...

Don't Bet on a Hydrogen Car Any Time Soon (Washington Post, Nov. 16th)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/16/AR2009111602668.html?sub=AR
This article is critical of the Senate's recent decision to restore funding for H-car research in its appropriations bill:
Just in time for Thanksgiving, the hydrogen-powered car is back on the national policy table. The Obama administration had flatlined funding for President George W. Bush's pet initiative, and most Americans had managed to forget the whole thing. But then last month the Senate improbably restored $187 million for H-car research programs to an appropriations bill....
After explaining about the challenges of hydrogen full cell technology, the article concludes that an H-powered car is probably difficult, if not pointless, and that "for the foreseeable future, the hydrogen car will remain a tailpipe dream."

Obama Hobbled in Fight Against Global Warming (NY Times, Nov. 16th)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/16/science/earth/16climate.html?_r=1&ref=science
President Obama came into office pledging to end eight years of American inaction on climate change under President George W. Bush, and all year he has promised that the United States would lead the way toward a global agreement in Copenhagen next month to address the warming planet. But this weekend in Singapore, Mr. Obama was forced to acknowledge that a comprehensive climate deal was beyond reach this year. ... Mr. Obama has found himself limited in his ambitions by a Congress that is unwilling to move as far or as fast as he would like. American negotiators have been hamstrung in talks leading to the Copenhagen conference by inaction on legislation supported by the administration that would impose strict caps on carbon dioxide emissions. The House passed a relatively stringent bill in June, but the Senate is not expected to begin serious debate on the measure until next year.


IT

An Interview with Andrew Feenberg on the Power of Online Communities (Science Progress, Nov. 16th)
http://www.scienceprogress.org/2009/11/feenberg-interview/
Feenberg is a professor of the philosophy of technology at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada, and he recently joined CAP Senior Fellow Andrew Light for a podcast discussion about the democratic power of online communities. The lessons Feenberg learned from the French Minitel network in the 1980s are still important as the FCC considers net neutrality today.


Nanotechnology

Nanodevices Bend Under the Force of Light (Scientific American<>http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=optical-force-gradient
A team of researchers has fabricated a micron-scale device that deforms significantly under the force of light, a technology that could form the basis for tiny light-actuated switches or filters in future optical devices. The new approach, described in a paper published online Sunday in Nature, uses a pair of wagon wheel–shaped ring resonators, separated by a gap, to achieve much greater displacement than previous methods.


OTHER

NASA Receives TIME MAgazine's Best Invention of the Year Award for its Ares Rockets (House S&T Committee page, Nov. 16th)
http://science.house.gov/press/PRArticle.aspx?NewsID=2682House Committee on Science and Technology Chairman Bart Gordon (D-TN) and Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee Chairwoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) congratulated National Administration of Space and Aeronautics (NASA) on making TIME’s List of 50 Best Inventions of 2009. NASA’s Ares rockets placed number one among the best inventions of the year. The Ares rockets placed before several remarkable inventions – the Smart Thermostat (#4), the AIDS vaccine (#8), and Tweeting by Thinking (#9), among others.
Shuttle Atlantic Lifts for 11-Day Mission (NY Times, Nov. 16th) http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/science/space/17shuttle.html?ref=science
Space Shuttle Atlantis Launches Toward ISS (USA Today, Nov. 16th) http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/2009-11-16-shuttle-launch_N.htm
Science News Roundup (Science Insider, Nov. 17th)
http://blogs.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2009/11/roundup-1117-pa.html
-Is NASA girding for a 10% budget cut?
-The House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will tackle commercial space flight in December.
-The lifetime effects of coal on humans—from mining to climate change—gets attention at the National Press Club.
-Nature reports on large cuts proposed for Japan's shrinking science budget.
-ClimateScienceWatch has posted the first in a series of investigative pieces on the U.S. climate science budget. (see US Global Change Research Program; Budget Reporting Impedes Meaningful Oversight http://www.climatesciencewatch.org/index.php/csw/details/usgcrp_budget_reporting_impedes_meaningful_oversight/)

11/13 Fri News Monitoring

環境・エネルギー：７件（うち、１件はDOE/USDAによるバイオ燃料開発プロジェクトの採択）
ライフサイエンス：５件
ナノテク：１件
科学技術政策：３件

Environment & Energy

Pollution's Toll on the Brain (Sci Am, Nov. 09)
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=pollutions-toll-on-the-brain
It is common knowledge that substances exhaled by autos and coal plants are harmful to our respiratory system. What may be surprising is the degree to which they may harm the brain—in some instances, as much as exposure to lead. A recent string of studies from all over the world suggests that common air pollutants such as black carbon, particulate matter and ozone can negatively affect vocabulary, reaction times and even overall intelligence.

Temperature Records: More Highs than Lows (Washington Post, Nov 12th)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/12/AR2009111208751.html
According to a new study, between Jan. 1, 2000 and Sept. 30, this year the continental United States set 291,237 record highs and 142,420 record lows at various locations. In other words, record high temperatures are occurring more than twice as often as record lows according to this research by scientists at NCAR, the Weather Channel, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Results are being published in Geophysical Research Letters.

Record Highs Far Outpace Record Lows (NSF, Nov. 12th) [this is the same news as reported above in the Washington Post]
http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=115905&org=NSF&from=news
Spurred by a warming climate, daily record high temperatures occurred twice as often as record lows over the last decade across the continental United States, new research shows. The ratio of record highs to lows is likely to increase dramatically in coming decades if emissions of greenhouse gases continue to climb.

Physicists Firm on Climat Change (Nature blog, Nov. 12th)
http://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbeyond/policy/
The American Physical Society (APS) has overwhelmingly rejected a petition by a group of physicists asking the organization to reverse its position on climate change. The petition, which was signed by 160 physicists, essentially said that there has been a lot of natural variation in climate change over the past centuries, and that natural variation can explain the recent rise in global temperatures. The statement also pointed out what it calls the "beneficial effects of increased levels of carbon dioxide for both plants and animals." ... More interesting, John Mashey, a computer scientist and APS member, has done a thorough analysis of who signed the petition. He found that signers tend to be predominately older and big contributors to the Republican and Libertarian parties. More interestingly the supporters seem to be centered around the Northeast, particularly Princeton University's department...

DOE and USDA Select Projects for more than $24 million in Biomass R&D Grants (DOE news site, Nov. 12th)
http://www.energy.gov/news2009/8283.htm
The U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Energy today announced projects selected for more than $24 million in grants to research and develop technologies to produce biofuels, bioenergy and high-value biobased products. Of the $24.4 million announced today, DOE plans to invest up to $4.9 million with USDA contributing up to $19.5 million. Projects selected must contribute a minimum of 20 percent of matching funds for R&D projects and 50 percent of matching funds for demonstration projects. Funding is provided through USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and DOE’s Biomass Program. Selected projects are aimed at increasing the availability of alternative fuels and biobased products that are produced from a diverse group of renewable sources of biomass.

What's Ahead, Week of Nov. 16 (U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources homepage, Nov. 13th)
http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease_id=69b84995-e485-4592-a4b3-03269e517428&Month=11&Year=2009
On Tuesday, Nov. 17, the full committee will explore the international aspects of global climate change. Witnesses include...

Gloomy Energy Reports Set Stage for Climate Talks (NY Times, Nov. 11) [this is an international report by IEA, not a U.S. report]
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/business/energy-environment/11oil.html?ref=scienceAs the world heads for tough negotiations over a global climate deal next month, the International Energy Association reported on Tuesday that current energy policies were not sustainable, and that a vast transformation of energy use was required to fend off the worst consequences of global warming. The warning was contained in the annual World Energy Outlook, a 698-page publication that focuses this year on policies needed to reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide. “Continuing on today’s energy path, without any change in government policy, would mean rapidly increasing dependence on fossil fuels, with alarming consequences for climate change and energy security,” the agency said.


Health & Life Sciences

Global Impact of America's Health Care Reform (Harvard Belfer Center for Science & International Affairs, Nov. 7th)
http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/publication/19686/global_impact_of_americas_healthcare_debate.html?breadcrumb=%2Findex
President Barack Obama's proposals for reforming the financing of American health care are meeting strong opposition from fiscally conservative Democrats as well as from Republicans, owing to their potential impact on future fiscal deficits. Because those deficits are the primary cause of America's current-account deficit - and thus of global imbalances - the health-care debate's outcome will affect governments and investors around the world.

Google, Yahoo call for Expanded Online Drug Ads (USA Today, Nov. 12th)
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2009-11-12-google-yahoo-drug-ads_N.htm
Google, Yahoo and other Web companies joined the pharmaceutical industry Thursday in urging U.S. government regulators to make it easier to sell drugs in online advertisements. The companies have complained that the FDA guidelines for traditional media — which require detailed lists of risks and side effects — have left them hamstrung on the Web. Drug makers spent more than $4.3 billion on patient-targeted advertisements last year, though online marketing represented about 3% of that amount. Industry says that its limited online marketing presence represents a lost opportunity for search engines, given strong demand for online medical information. The FDA has agreed to consider developing specific rules for online ads.

FDA Says It May Ban Alcoholic Drinks with Caffeine (NY Times, Nov. 13th)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/health/policy/14fda.html?ref=science
Top federal food regulators threatened today to ban caffeinated alcoholic drinks unless their makers quickly proved that the beverages were safe. The drinks, which combine malt liquor or other spirits with caffeine and fruit juices at alcohol concentrations up to about 10 percent, have become increasingly popular among college students. In a news conference, Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein, the FDA's principal deputy commissioner, said consumption was associated with increased risk of serious injury, drunken driving, sexual assault and other dangerous behavior. The F.D.A.’s action was prompted by a letter from 19 state attorneys general, who wrote to the agency expressing concern about the products’ safety.

New CDC Estimates say Swine Flu Worse than Thought in U.S. (Science INsider, Nov. 12)
http://blogs.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2009/11/new-estimates-s.html
Revised estimates from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggest that the novel H1N1 virus has spread much further in the country and taken a far greater toll than earlier analyses suggested. According to new CDC estimates, about 22 million Americans have been infected with the virus, 98,000 have been hospitalized, and 3900 have died. Those data account for cases since the pandemic surfaced in April and run through 17 October. Until now, CDC has been reporting only H1N1 cases and deaths confirmed by lab tests. Anne Schuchat, head of CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, explained that the new estimates come from improved methodology that does not strictly rely on laboratory-confirmed cases. “For influenza, it’s virtually impossible to find every single case with a lab test."

Drug companies Flagged for Biased Reporting (Science Insider, Nov. 12th)
http://blogs.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2009/11/drug-companies.html
The drug companies Pfizer and Parke-Davis (now a subsidiary of Pfizer) shaded clinical trial results in at least 12 studies in order to make the drug gabapentin appear more effective for off-label use, says a report in The New England Journal of Medicine. Drug companies are hardly alone in rigging their research results in this way. A report earlier this week in the Annals of Family Medicine found similar chicanery with many clinical trials: In 110 studies in top medical journals, primary outcomes had changed 30% of the time, secondary outcomes 70% of the time.

Nanotechnology

Nano-browsing on the iPhone (Nature blog, Nov. 13th)
http://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbeyond/2009/11/nanobrowsing_on_the_iphone_1.html
An on-line inventory of products that use nanotechnology has now been translated to the iPhone.The really cool part – if you come across something that isn’t in the inventory that you think should be, you can simply take a photo and email it to us directly from the app,” explains Andrew Maynard, who works at the Project for Emerging Nanotechnologies


S&T Policy

Hearing summary- The Future of Ocean Governance, Building our National Ocean Policy (U.S. Senate Committee on commerce, Science, and Transportation website, Nov 4th)
http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease_id=69b84995-e485-4592-a4b3-03269e517428&Month=11&Year=2009

Science News Roundup, Nov. 13th (Scienc Insider, Nov. 13th)
http://blogs.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2009/11/roundup-1113-ex.html
-U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton provides new confirmation that the climate change summit in Copenhagen next month will not produce anything close to an emissions reduction treaty.
-The Food and Drug Administration has sent a letter to manufacturers of alcohol-laced energy drinks asking them to prove that the combination of caffeine and alcohol is safe. [see article in health section below]

Science News Roundup, Nov. 12th (Science Insider, Nov. 12th)
http://blogs.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2009/11/roundup-1112-th.html
With both houses of Congress getting ready to take up legislation to overhaul the Toxic Substances Control Act, a new poll out today reveals that most Republicans and Independents, as well as Democrats, say that existing chemical control laws in the United States aren't strong enough. Richard Denison of the Environmental Defense Fund offers his thoughts here.