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/)