Science Education & Policy

The argument that we should teach both creationism and evolution in public schools has been the fundamentalist argument since 1968, when the Supreme Court ruled that states can't ban the teaching of evolution. If you can't ban evolution, maybe you can neutralize it with a dose of Biblical literalism in biology class.
But that strategy was also ruled an unconstitutional infringement of the Establishment Clause by the Supreme Court in 1987.
Palin apparently disagrees with this decision (although it's doubtful that she knows of it):
COURIC: Should creationism be allowed to be taught anywhere in…

WAYNE, Pennsylvania and PARIS, October 1 /PRNewswire/ --
SunGard and GL TRADE today announced that SunGard had completed the previously announced acquisition of a majority interest in GL TRADE, a global financial software solutions company. SunGard acquired from Euronext Paris S.A. and GL TRADE's three founders, Messrs. Pierre Gatignol, Louis-Christophe Laurent and Frédéric Morin, together with entities controlled by them, 6,200,030 shares of GL TRADE, representing 64.51% of GL TRADE's share capital, at a price of EUR41.70 per share. The transaction, which puts a value of EUR400.7 million (…

PRINCETON, New Jersey, October 1 /PRNewswire/ --
- Consultants from Scientific Update, LLP to Host Roundtable Discussions Centered on Organic Chemical Scale-up, Process R&D and Process Optimization, at InformexUSA, January 27, 2009
Informex today announced that Scientific Update, LLP, a provider of educational meetings to the organic chemical processing industry, will host the Networking Roundtables at InformexUSA, January 27, in San Francisco, California. Discussions will focus on the challenges of manufacturing organic chemicals in a commercial environment and the construction of "Road…

LONDON, October 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Thousands of NHS employees are being asked to take industrial action in a pay protest ballot next month by Unite, the largest union in the country.
Unite will be asking its members whether they are prepared to take industrial action, including strike action, in the ballot which commences on 28 October.
After the ballot closes on 12 November, Unite will have a 28-day 'window' to take action that its members have voted for.
Unite's ballot is underpinned by a 95% rejection by its members of the Government's unilaterally imposed three-year pay deal, worth in…

GENEVA, Switzerland, October 1 /PRNewswire/ --
- Germany's Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) Rewards Innovative Concepts for the Targeted Development of New Medicines
- Merck Serono is Involved in Two of the Three BMBF-Sponsored Consortiums
Merck Serono, a division of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, is among the proud winners of the BioPharma strategy competition. In this competition organized by Germany's Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) as part of its Pharmaceuticals Initiative, a total of 100 million Euros in grants was offered for innovative concepts for…

PHILADELPHIA, October 1 /PRNewswire/ --
- "Expert Consult" Title Regularly Integrates New Information Online so the Content is Always Current
Elsevier, the leading publisher of medical and scientific literature, announces the publication of the 40th edition of the most famous anatomical reference in the world, Gray's Anatomy: The Anatomical Basis of Clinical Practice (http://www.us.elsevierhealth.com/product.jsp?isbn=9780443066849) in September 2008.
In celebration of its 150th anniversary, the new edition provides meticulously enhanced and updated artwork throughout, while maintaining the…

LISSE, The Netherlands, October 1 /PRNewswire/ --
- Inner Wellness at Work is the Next Big Thing
LISSE, The Netherlands, October 1 /PRNewswire/ --
Many organizations are recognizing the need to develop health and wellness initiatives for their employees. Exercise rooms, massages, diet and nutrition education are appearing frequently in the corporate environment.
What about the inner health and wellness of the employees and the body, mind and soul connection that facilitates excellent or poor performance at work?
Stress, anxiety, burnout, recurring illness, injuries and diseases manifest when…

TORONTO, Canada, October 1 /PRNewswire/ --
- After the Past 2 Days it's all About Return on Information
- Xenos ES Enables Organisations to Reduce Reuse Recycle Structured and Unstructured Electronic Data and Documents
Xenos Group Inc. (TSX: XNS) today announced the launch of the Xenos Enterprise Server(TM), the product of a 25-year quest for an intelligent framework for electronic information infrastructure and management in the complex modern enterprise.
Xenos Enterprise Server(TM) (Xenos ES(TM)) resolves the challenge of rationalising business information architecture and flow by…

The effect of media violence on behavior is not as straightforward as you might think. Although many studies have been conducted examining the link between violence on TV and aggressive behavior, most of these studies have overlooked several other potentially significant factors, including the dramatic context of the violence and the type of violence depicted as well as the race and ethnicity of the viewers.
In a new study appearing in the September issue of Perspectives on Psychological Science, psychologists Seymour Feshbach from the University of California, Los Angeles and June Tangney…
As if fighting other nations over oil wasn't complicated enough, scientists at UC Santa Barbara have discovered an oil-feeding bacteria in their coastal waters that may be stealing the oil right out from under us... literally.
Microorganisms have always tested the extent of new boundaries, so even with talk of oil-eating, we seem to just accept their bizarre behaviors.
"It takes a special organism to live half a mile deep in the Earth and eat oil for a living," David Valentine, assocaite professor of UC Santa Barbara explains. "There's this incredibly complex diet ...down there. It's like a…