the-BA : News in Brief

Vanessa Spedding is the Shorts editor

Strategy for science in society

The eight UK Research Councils have published their joint Science in Society strategy, providing for the first time a framework for the Councils to cooperate on communicating with the public. The strategy document, available at www.rcuk.ac.uk/sis/strategy.htm, outline four main strands: finding out what people think; reaching young people and teachers; encouraging researchers to engage with the public and keeping people informed.

EU funding has hidden costs

A report released by Universities UK and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) highlights the relatively low cost recovery and high levels of bureaucracy associated with EU projects compared with UK research council projects. Although there are benefits of European research funding, higher education institutions must look carefully at the costing and future sustainability of EU-funded work, says the report.
See: www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/research

Better humans?

Demos and the Wellcome Trust have called for a public debate about the implications of new technologies such as including memory-enhancing drugs, genetic selection of children, and dramatic increases in life expectancy. Their report, ‘Better Humans?’ makes a number of policy proposals including the establishment of a Schools and Universities Anti-Doping Agency and a Commission on Emerging Technologies and Society. See www.demos.co.uk/catalogue/betterhumanscollection

Technical centre to fight terrorism

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is to create a new ‘Science and Technology Counter-Terrorism Centre’ to inform and coordinate its technical response to terrorist threats. It will be ‘a world class hub’ drawing on the chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive threats expertise of scientists from across the MOD, and the academic and industrial communities, according to Defence Secretary John Reid.

Classifying illegal drugs

The Commons Science & Technology Committee has published a report on the way the government classifies illegal drugs. It concludes that drugs are not being classified according to the harm they cause. The report also says that the gateway theory, that the use of drugs like cannabis leads on to the use of harder drugs, has little evidence to support it.

Creationism spat continues

The Royal Society has issued a statement opposing the misrepresentation of evolution in schools to promote particular religious beliefs. The statement says that while ‘many people both believe in a creator and accept the scientific evidence for how the universe and life on Earth developed … some versions of creationism are incompatible with the scientific evidence’.

Drug testing faces test

Research reported in Nature, as well as an alliance of seven organisations, has suggested that the terrible outcomes of the TGN 1412 drug trials, in which six people suffered severe allergic reactions despite no forewarnings from tests on monkeys, highlight the inadequacies of animal tests. ‘Antibody-based medicines such as TGN 1412,’ said Focus on Alternatives, ‘are particularly likely to cause side effects that cannot be safely predicted from one species to another.’ See http://www.focusonalternatives.org.uk;
www.nature.com/news

Countering research fraud

A panel has been set up to tackle research fraud in the UK. Announced by UniversitiesUK, the UK Panel for Research Integrity in Health and Biomedical Sciences has been welcomed by the British Medical Association and the Committee on Publication Ethics. It will be supported by the funding and Research Councils and the Department of Health.

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	SPA Archive

	June 2006

	SPATalk

	Science and Peace in Antarctica

	Twin tracks to tackle climate challenge

	Budget throws sensitivities into relief

	News in Brief

	Morality,theology and action on climate change

	What are we going to do about the decline in chemistry students?

	The psychology of terrorism

	Science meets policy

	Where did texting come from?

	The self-sorting tendency

	Physics in the City

	Young people and gambling problems

	Deaf people and linguistic research

	Food labelling in Europe - We need information for the majority

	Food labelling in Europe - We want nutrition labelling

	Food labelling in Europe - It's a mess

	Mobile phones and children - Voluntary Code

	Mobile phones and children - Children face risks

	Mobile phones and children-UK code of practice

	And then there was one

	Joys and duties of a scientist

	Scientists in the pay of industry

	Creationism reviving; science recruitment declining

	All hail the new Science Supremo