Archive by date | May 2013

California stem-cell agency discloses grant-review conflict

Leroy Hood

Leroy Hood, head of a prominent research institute in Seattle, Washington, violated conflict of interest rules when he reviewed a friend’s grant, California’s stem cell funding agency disclosed in a letter to the state legislature.  Read more

Seismic fault’s temperature implies deadly earthquake involved low friction

Researchers have come a step closer to understanding how and why the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan in 2011 were so surprisingly big. Temperature sensors installed in the fault last year now show that friction between the rocks during the quake was an order of magnitude smaller than previously assumed.  Read more

Updated: Italy reins in rogue stem-cell therapy

A controversial decree allowing severely ill patients to continue treatment with an unproven, and possibly unsafe, stem-cell therapy may be amended, if the Italian parliament’s Chamber of Deputies has its way.  Read more

US Senate approves Moniz for energy post and advances EPA nominee

US President Barack Obama’s science team gained a new member on 16 May as the Senate confirmed physicist Ernest Moniz to head the Department of Energy. Lawmakers also voted to advance the nomination of Gina McCarthy, Obama’s choice to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  Read more