Ones that got away

Pharma company Pfizer is purportedly trying to buy rival Wyeth for $60 billion dollars, but a Wyeth spokesman refuses comment. Jules Duga has co-authored a report suggesting that the US will spend less on R&D in 2009, the first decrease in decade. An appeals court has upheld a ruling that Nathaniel Abraham’s lawsuit, claiming he was asked to resign from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute for telling his supervisor that he didn’t believe in evolution, was not filed in time. Daphne Zohar, founder of PureTech, says Johnson & Johnson is the latest to join a global consortium of pharma companies that will fund research together and co-own the results. The total in the pot is now $52 million.

Ones that got away

William Weldon, Chief Executive of Johnson & Johnson, explains why his company has seen its first revenue decline in 76 years. A sea level rise of 1 meter could potentially displace about 10.8% of the Vietnamese population, according to a World Bank report. Ravenous caterpillars are destroying crops and terrorizing villagers in Liberia, says Agriculture Minister Christopher Toe.

On Nature News

ESA seeks to join US dark energy mission; deal would boost JDEM budget but scupper Europe’s Euclid. Hong Kong inaugurates Institute for Advanced Study; Nature talks to university president Paul Chu about his vision of a ‘mecca for great scholars’. Europe set to crack down on pesticides; controversial rules that could ban many agents are a step closer to approval. FDA ready to regulate transgenic animals; agency unveils path to approval after decade-long delay.

Science wins big in US economic plan

Congressional stimulus package includes billions in extra research funding.