Latest and Breaking Science Policy News

New climate change mitigation schemes could benefit elites rather than the rural poor
2 September 2010, 4:00 am
(Burness Communications) With governments across Latin America preparing to implement a new financial mechanism aimed at mitigating climate change by curbing carbon emissions from the destruction of tropical forests, experts gathering here today warned against a "one-size-fits-all" approach, calling instead for flexible, balanced solutions to the thorny dilemmas surrounding this new mechanism. Among the experts' chief worries is that the wealthy and powerful could capture many of the benefits, largely at the expense of rural communities, including indigenous groups.

Medicinal cannabis review highlights dilemmas facing health care professionals
2 September 2010, 4:00 am
(Wiley-Blackwell) Patients who use cannabis for medicinal purposes pose a wide range of legal, ethical and medical dilemmas for the health care professionals looking after them according to an in-depth review just published. The study also found extreme caution about integrating cannabis derivative medications into mainstream medical use.

American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology reacts to stem-cell ruling
2 September 2010, 4:00 am
(American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology) The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology expressed its disapproval and disappointment this week in response to the Aug. 23 court ruling that temporarily bars federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research.

Report: Discovery networks hostage-taking a rare terror event
2 September 2010, 4:00 am
(University of Maryland) A new report by University of Maryland terrorism researchers concludes that the deadly hostage-taking incident at the Discovery Networks in suburban Washington, D.C. meets the criteria of a terrorist act - a rare one for media organizations and the nation's capital region. Hostage-taking, though, is a familiar pattern in D.C. terror cases, the researchers add. There has never been U.S. environmentally inspired suicide eco-terrorism, they say, but don't draw conclusions about whether that occurred at Discovery.

Biomedical research policy needed for therapies, economic growth, education and security
2 September 2010, 4:00 am
(Georgetown University Medical Center) Bold and coordinated leadership at the federal level is essential to create secure, long-term, sustainable biomedical research funding policies based on strategic priorities, say the authors of a commentary about America's fledgling biomedical research framework published in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association.

Sight-saving research halted by stem cell ruling
2 September 2010, 4:00 am
(Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology) The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology has released a statement that expresses opposition to the Federal District Court injunction that froze federal funding for human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research. ARVO supports technological developments and policies that encourage all facets of stem cell research, including research utilizing hESCs.

Networks of WoW gamers, Etsy crafters to be focus of NSF-funded study of creative collaborations
2 September 2010, 4:00 am
(Indiana University) Using two of the planet's largest, creative online communities -- World of Warcraft gamers and Etsy artists -- as their laboratory, two Indiana University Bloomington researchers hope to understand how the inner workings of such massive, networked collaborations could benefit scientists, corporations and the very IT designers who facilitated the success of the two online communities.

New discovery could pave the way for identification of rogue CFC release
2 September 2010, 4:00 am
(University of East Anglia) A new discovery by scientists at the Universities of East Anglia and Frankfurt could make it possible in future to identify the source of banned CFCs that are probably still being released into the atmosphere. They have also discovered the largest chlorine isotope enrichment ever found in nature.

Melding Wi-Fi with digital TV 'white space'
2 September 2010, 4:00 am
(Rice University) Rice University researchers have won a $1.8 million federal grant for one of the nation's first, real-world tests of technology that uses dynamic spectrum access -- including dormant broadcast television channels -- to deliver free, high-speed broadband Internet service. The five-year project calls for Rice and Houston nonprofit Technology For All to add "white space" technology to the wide-spectrum Wi-Fi network they jointly operate in Houston's working-class East End neighborhood.

UK youth justice system treats ethnic groups differently
1 September 2010, 4:00 am
(Economic & Social Research Council) New research from the Institute for Criminal Policy Research at King's College, London, examines whether the police and the youth justice system treat young people from different ethnic groups in different ways.