Science Education & Policy

A good friend of mine recently introduced me to an effort that is currently underway that is very ambitious, but also very promising: Project Better Place… the brainchild of Shai Agassi, former President of the Products and Technology Group at SAP AG. The vision of Project Better Place is an oil-free future where personal transportation is no longer dependent upon gasoline-burning vehicles, but by the next generation of battery powered cars. This of course is not a new idea, but what is new about Project Better Place (PBP) is the detailed plans in place to implement that vision. Mr. Agassi…

There is a widely held belief that maintaining a normal weight automatically guards against disorders such as high levels of circulating blood fats and a tendency to develop type 2 diabetes. More than half of American adults considered to have normal body weight have high body fat percentages -- greater than 20 percent for men and 30 percent for women -- as well as heart and metabolic disturbances, new Mayo Clinic research shows. The researchers defined “normal weight” by body mass index (BMI). They found that people with normal BMI who had the highest percentage of body fat were also those…

Unless a researcher owns stock in a company whose drug is being tested, telling potential research volunteers about an investigator’s financial interests is unlikely to affect their willingness to volunteer, a new study shows. But many research volunteers put less trust in clinical trial leaders with financial conflicts. For the study, Jeremy Sugarman, M.D., M.P.H., M.A., professor at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics and The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and his colleagues at Duke University School of Medicine and Wake Forest Schools of Medicine and Law recruited 3,623…

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, April 3 /PRNewswire/ -- The 2008 World Summit of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (WSIE) -- the most inspiring gathering of its kind in Dubai -- concluded this afternoon, calling for improving the role of innovation as a catalyst for peace and development to improve the quality of lives for billions of people worldwide. The three-day summit, organized under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, brought together over 800 delegates from all walks of life. A specially-designated innovation team, the…

DALLAS and REYKJAVIK, Iceland, April 3 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. Preventive Medicine(R), (http://www.USPreventiveMedicine.com) the leader in prevention, and deCODE Genetics, the global leader in gene discovery, today announced they have signed a letter of intent to add genetic testing to expand both companies' personalized medicine services in the U.S. and internationally. "The signing of the letter of intent with deCODE is significant because we will be the first entity in the U.S. and internationally to offer a full continuum of geographically dispersed, comprehensive solutions for personalized…

LONDON, April 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Teliris(1) has added three executives to head up day-to-day sales and marketing initiatives to further scale the company as it continues to lead paying deployments of telepresence(2) systems worldwide.(3) At the company's European headquarters in London, Tony Smith(4) joins Teliris from Polycom as Vice President of European Sales, with the directive to establish and lead a European sales organisation designed to promote the Teliris solution to a wider range of prospects in their local language. In the US, Jim Kaufold(5) joins Teliris from Orange Business…

Every two years NSF surveys and collects data on scientists and engineers, defined as people with a bachelor's degree or higher with science, engineering or related degrees or occupations. NSF collects data on these individuals with three separate national surveys: the National Survey of College Graduates, the National Survey of Recent College Graduates, and the Survey of Doctorate Recipients. Collectively, these surveys are known as the Scientists and Engineers Statistical Data System, or SESTAT. According to NSF data, the number of individuals working in science and engineering (S&E)…

CANBERRA, Australia, April 3 /PRNewswire/ -- - Australia Ranked Among the Top Ten Nations for the Influence of its Scientific Papers in 2007 According to Thomson Scientific Data Australia's influence on international scientific research was today recognised by Thomson Scientific, a leading provider of information solutions to the worldwide research and business communities, as it gave Citation Awards to ten of the most pre-eminent researchers working in Australia. According to Thomson Scientific data, in 2007 Australia ranked among the top ten nations for the influence of its scientific…

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, April 2 /PRNewswire/ -- - Collaborative private sector, proactive government and innovative art can act as catalyst to bring about competitiveness and peace The Arab world has immense potential to become one of the most competitive regions in the world and innovation will be the key to harness this latent creative energy, talent and financial resources to drive success, achievements and recognition on the global platform. This was disclosed at one of the townhall meetings during the 2008 World Summit of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (WSIE) -- the most inspiring…

LONDON, April 2 /PRNewswire/ -- - Microsoft Research Cambridge report sees human-centred design as the vital ingredient in successfully harnessing technology's huge potential by 2020. A new report launched today looks at how emerging computer technologies will change our lives by 2020. "Being Human: Human-Computer Interaction in the Year 2020" details the findings of a Microsoft Research-hosted conference that gathered together 45 leading human-computer interaction (HCI) specialists from around the world in March 2007. The conference in Seville, Spain, addressed the question, "What will…