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.