Scientists at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Australia’s national science agency, are concerned by a management announcement that may see hundreds of contract and casual employees let go in coming months. Read more
India’s first Mars mission, a probe named Mangalyaan that lifted off on 5 November, has hit its first rough pocket early today, before even leaving Earth orbit. Read more
Omid Kokabee, a physics PhD student jailed in Iran since January 2011, was awarded yesterday the 2014 American Physical Society’s Andrei Sakharov Prize for “his courage in refusing to use his physics knowledge to work on projects that he deemed harmful to humanity, in the face of extreme physical and psychological pressure.” … Read more
Norway’s government is cutting off support for a facility that by 2020 was to capture and store carbon dioxide emissions at a commercial scale. After years of delays and mounting costs, the plan to capture 1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year from an oil refinery and gas power plant at Mongstad would be halted, said oil and energy minister Ola Borten Moe on 20 September. Read more
A very brainy area of research has scooped up one of this year’s $250,000 Lasker prizes, announced today: The Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award has gone to two researchers who shed light on the molecular mechanisms behind the rapid release of neurotransmitters — findings that have implications for understanding the biology of mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, as well the cellular functions underlying learning and memory formation. Read more
Two scientists are among the four new senators for life appointed today by Italy’s president, Giorgio Napolitano. Particle physicist and Nobel Prize winner Carlo Rubbia and stem-cell specialist Elena Cattaneo will become permanent members of the Italian Senate, along with the orchestra conductor Claudio Abbado and the architect Renzo Piano, whose appointments were also announced today. Read more
A Taiwanese court will rule on 4 September in a libel lawsuit filed by a petrochemical company against an environmental engineer whose studies had suggested that a plant operated by the company was causing higher cancer rates in its vicinity. Read more
John Mainstone, who for 52 years tended to one of the world’s longest-running laboratory experiments but never saw it bear fruit with his own eyes, died on 23 August after suffering a stroke. He was 78. Read more
In a judgment with far-reaching consequences, India’s Supreme Court on Tuesday put a moratorium on the construction of new hydro-electric dams in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand. Read more
The credibility of Japan’s clinical research system has come under fire as investigations report manipulation of data and conflict of interest involving the pharmaceutical company Novartis. Six published papers have been retracted, but Novartis has denied any wrongdoing. The country’s health minister has now started its own investigation, which is due to release its findings at the end of September. Read more
Recent comments on this blog
Experiments reveal that crabs and lobsters feel pain
US research ethics agency upholds decision on informed consent
Chemistry credit disputes under the spotlight
Chemistry credit disputes under the spotlight
Contamination created controversial ‘acid-induced’ stem cells