Science Education & Policy

Unless you are Scrooge McDuck or have a life-size poster of Dr. Eric R. Pianka on your wall, you probably like to see babies smile. It isn't just you. In a mother, her baby's smile also lights up the reward centers of her brain, just like free money, wrote Baylor College of Medicine researchers in Pediatrics today. Not only could findings like this help scientists learn more about the magic of the mother-infant bond, it could also tell us how it sometimes goes wrong, said Dr. Lane Strathearn, assistant professor of pediatrics at BCM and Texas Children's Hospital and a research associate in…

The numbers of cycles of preimplantation genetic diagnosis or screening are rising steadily in Europe with over 2,700 reported in 2004 (the most recent year for which data are available). Fertility centres are able to screen for a growing number of genetically related conditions, but what should doctors do if no embryos without the targeted condition are available for transfer and the parents request that affected embryos should be transferred instead? Ethicist Dr Wybo Dondorp told the 24th annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Barcelona today (Monday…

LONDON, July 7 /PRNewswire/ -- LONDON, July 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Unite representatives working in electrical engineering, electronics and IT are calling for statutory rights for union representatives to gain access to environmental impact information on companies. The sector is also calling for company executives to have their pay and bonuses linked to meeting environmental targets. The union has published a report entitled 'How Green Is My Workplace?'. The publication gives guidance on how union representatives can raise awareness of environmental issues to make workplaces greener. In a survey…

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates, July 6 /PRNewswire/ -- 2007 Nobel Laureate Dr. Rajendra Kumar Pachauri and Masdar CEO, Dr. Sultan Al Jaber today announced the official call for nominations and submissions for the Zayed Future Energy Prize (ZFEP), an international awards program to recognize individuals, companies, organizations, and NGO's who are leading the global search for future energy solutions. Named after the UAE's Founding Father late HH Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the Zayed Future Energy Prize was launched in January this year at the inaugural World Future Energy Summit by…

ScienceDebate2008 has come up with 14 questions they would like to see answered by the US presidential candidates. This group has been pushing for a science policy-focused debate among presidential candidates. That debate is looking more and more unlikely, but in an effort to keep some of the election focus on science, this group is now urging the candidates to answer a set of questions on science policy (abbreviated below - go read the questions in full at the ScienceDebate2008 site): 1. What policies will you support to ensure that America remains the world leader in innovation? 2. What is…

'Hello, climate? We're from the government and we're here to help you.' A group of former senior federal officials have called for the establishment of an independent Earth Systems Science Agency (ESSA) that would be created by merging the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) into something even larger. Charles Kennel, former Associate Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and Director of Mission to Planet Earth, says, "Earth system science focuses on understanding current processes and predicting changes…

LSU associate professor of sociology Troy C. Blanchard recently found that a community's religious environment – the type of religious congregations within a locale – affects mortality rates, often in a positive manner. These results were published in the June issue of Social Forces. This result, he says, is particularly timely in the context of presidential candidate Barack Obama's recent call for expanding the roles of such religious groups. Along with co-author John Bartkowski from the University of Texas at San Antonio and other researchers from the University of West Georgia and the…

LONDON, July 3 /PRNewswire/ -- An independent review commissioned by Ofgem and prepared by economists at The Brattle Group, with legal input from Simmons & Simmons, has recommended radical reforms to the industry code governance arrangements that set the technical and commercial rules for participation in Great Britain's gas and electricity sectors. The Brattle Group has identified a fundamental flaw in the current arrangements: although the system works well under many circumstances, it was designed to cope with incremental changes to existing rules and is not well-suited to managing…

PARIS, July 3 /PRNewswire/ -- - Largest technology competition in the world kicks off its finals today in Paris. Competition begins today for 370 students from 61 countries and regions competing for US$240,000 in prize money at the Imagine Cup 2008, an annual competition that gives students round the world the chance to unlock their creative genius and create technology solutions that can help address some of the world's toughest social challenges. (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000822/MSFTLOGO) The focus for Imagine Cup 2008 is on building technology solutions that help…

HONG KONG, July 3 /PRNewswire/ -- - Record Revenue and Profit Despite Difficult Economic Conditions -- Record revenue and profit -- Group revenue increased by 6.0% to US$1,552.0 million -- Profit attributable to shareholders rose by 17.9% to US$215.7 million -- Net profit margin expanded 1.4% points to 13.9% -- Net cash topped US$285.4 million -- Final dividend of US51.0 cents per share, total dividend per share for the year (exclude a special dividend of US30.0 cents per share in the financial year 2007) up 26.0% VTech Holdings Ltd (HKEx: 303; LSE: VTH; ADR: VTKHY) today announced its…