Decline in government funding for science and technology in Canada
The amount of government funding for science and technology in Canada is expected to decline for another year.
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Ivy League's huge debts revealed
Eleven of the most selective universities in the US have a combined $26 billion (£16.8 billion) in debt on the books, according to a new analysis.
US studies may overestimate effect sizes in softer research
US studies may overestimate effect sizes in softer research
Many biases affect scientific research, causing a waste of resources, posing a threat to human health, and hampering scientific progress. These problems are hypothesized to be worsened by lack of consensus on theories and methods, by selective publication processes, and by career systems too heavily oriented toward productivity, such as those adopted in the US.
Does "science" make you moral? The effects of priming science on moral judgments and behavior
Does "science" make you moral? The effects of priming science on moral judgments and behavior
Science stands as an ideological force insofar as it offers the answers to a variety of fundamental questions and concerns; as such, those who pursue scientific inquiry have been shown to be concerned with the moral and social ramifications of their scientific endeavors.
Survey highlights barriers to interdisciplinary environmental science
Efforts to promote interdisciplinary research that addresses complex interactions between humans and their environment have become commonplace in recent years, but success is often elusive.
Raising money for scientific research through crowdfunding
The main factors determining the success of crowdfunding campaigns, and a comparison with the use of traditional funding sources.
New forms of open peer review will allow academics to separate scholarly evaluation from academic journals
New forms of open peer review will allow academics to separate scholarly evaluation from academic journals
Today's academic publishing system may be problematic, but many argue it is the only one available to provide adequate research evaluation. Pandelis Perakakis introduces an open community platform, LIBRE, which seeks to challenge the assumption that peer review can only be handled by journal editors.
ETH top, Uni Zürich flop
Auf der neusten Rangliste der weltbesten Universitäten ist die ETH in die Top 20 vorgerückt. Die Uni Zürich dagegen ist zurückgefallen - zum vierten Mal in Folge.
€70 billion on the horizon for European researchers
The European Union's Horizon 2020 research program will offer researchers a generous source of funds for projects to resolve the challenges of today's society.
Error and Discovery: Why Repeating Can Be New
The fascinating story of the discovery of nuclear fission began with an error that earned Enrico Fermi (see picture) a Nobel Prize for the apparent but incorrect discovery of the transuranic elements. Careful repetition and extension of the experiments finally led to the correct interpretation by Hahn, Meitner, Strassmann, Frisch, and Bohr as an effect from nuclear fission of the “small impurity” of (0.7 %) contained in natural uranium.
Twitter Offers Entire Data Pool, but Some Wary of Diving In
With the announcement of its new Data Grants program, Twitter is inviting academic researchers to propose experiments that take advantage of the full "firehose" of its 500 million daily tweets. But some researchers worry that the terms of the deal give Twitter ownership of their ideas.
Track and trace
Track and trace
More than half a million researchers have now signed up for an online science passport: a unique 16-digit identity number, with an accompanying online profile, from the Open Researcher and Contributor ID ( ORCID) project. There, researchers can maintain an up-to-date record of their professional pursuits.
Room for increased ambitions? Governing ‘breakthrough research’ in Norway 1990-2013
A newly released report recommends a simplified set of funding instruments at the Research Council of Norway, better strategic planning at the universities, and less detailed guiding principles from the ministries.
Computing a winner, fusion a loser in U.S. science budget
Follow our coverage of the 2015 budget request to Congress
Wellcome Trust launches mosaicscience.com, a longform science magazine under a Creative Commons license
Wellcome Trust launches mosaicscience.com, a longform science magazine under a Creative Commons license
The UK-based Wellcome Trust, the world's second-largest funder of medical research behind the Gates Foundation, has launched a free online magazine called Mosaic that is dedicated to longform science writing. The site will be run by former Times science editor Mark Henderson - who was involved with a monthly science magazine published by the Times...
How to level the playing field for women in science
The good news: Many more women than ever before are completing Ph.D.'s in the sciences. Back in 2000, when I was appointed the first female dean of the graduate division at the University of California at Berkeley, I was delighted to learn that about half of the incoming doctoral students in the biological sciences-and more than 30 percent in heavily male fields like chemistry and engineering-were women.
The death of American universities
As universities move towards a corporate business model, precarity is being imposed by force. The following is an edited transcript (prepared by Robin J. Sowards) of remarks given by Noam Chomsky last month to a gathering of members and allies of the Adjunct Faculty Association of the United Steelworkers in Pittsburgh, Penn.
In Academia, Women Collaborate Less With Their Same-Sex Juniors
Study of psychology departments finds that female full professors are less likely to co-author papers with lower ranking women
Our PhD employment problem, part I
Our PhD employment problem is very simply described: there's a mismatch between the number of graduate students earning doctorates each year and the number of tenure-track faculty positions available to them. There are too few tenure-track jobs for the PhD recipients who are qualified to compete for them.
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New President looks abroad
The new ERC President turns his eyes towards cooperation with China, Japan and South-Korea. Jean-Pierre Bourguignon: “The key is to show eagerness to attract scientists from outside Europe.”
US$21 million awarded to delighted scientists in glitzy ceremony
Founders of Google and Facebook award ‘Breakthrough prize’ of $3 million to Michael Hall of the University of Basel in a ceremony hosted by actor Kevin Spacey and featuring a live performance from singer Lana Del Ray.
Glaxo says it will stop paying doctors to promote drugs
The British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline will no longer pay doctors to promote its products and will stop tying compensation of sales representatives to the number of prescriptions doctors write.
Argentina makes publicly funded research available
The Congress of Argentina recently passed a landmark law making publicly funded science and technology research publications free and open access.
Forscher, Bibliotheken und Verleger einigen sich auf Open-Access-Initiative
Schulterschluss in der Teilchenphysik
Japan adopts state secrets law
Academics fear secrecy will hinder research into the science behind policy decisions.
Are research sandpits a good way to allocate public funding to research?
The EPSRC allocates millions to fund research at residential workshops.
Pondering science publishing
Panelists and attendees at the American Society for Cell Biology annual meeting considered the future of peer review and journal impact factors.
Geoghegan-Quinn surveys Europe's science horizon
On the eve of a new funding era, the European Union's research chief tells scientists what to expect
Global R&D funding 2014 forecast
Battelle and R&D Magazine jointly released the 2014 Global R&D Funding Forecast indicating that the combination of private and public global R&D spending was flat for 2013.
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