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Scientists brace for tighter scrutiny of potentially risky research

Scientists brace for tighter scrutiny of potentially risky research

Expert panel recommends stricter reviews of research involving pathogens or toxins that could have “dual use”

How to Talk to Policymakers About Research

How to Talk to Policymakers About Research

This article summarises common errors when talking to policymakers about research and looks at how to improve the relationship between researchers and policymakers.

Data Foundation Calls for Better Control of Biometrics in Policing

Data Foundation Calls for Better Control of Biometrics in Policing

President Joe Biden wants Congress to establish clear rules for biometric data policies and tools used in criminal investigations.

ChatGPT Makes Literary Debut, It's Now a Published Author 

ChatGPT Makes Literary Debut, It's Now a Published Author 

Preceding all others, a peer-reviewed paper titled 'Open artificial intelligence platforms in nursing education: Tools for academic progress or abuse?' was recently published by Siobhan O'Connor, Senior Lecturer at the School of Health Sciences and an Adjunct Associate Professor at Western University.

NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy Going Into Effect

NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy Going Into Effect

NIH to require researchers to submit a Data Management and Sharing Plan with grant applications submitted after Jan. 25, 2023

Does It Pay to Pay? A Comparison of the Benefits of Open-Access Publishing Across Various Sub-Fields in Biology

Does It Pay to Pay? A Comparison of the Benefits of Open-Access Publishing Across Various Sub-Fields in Biology

This study tested if paying to publish open access in a subscriptionbased journal benefited authors by conferring more citations relative to closed access articles and found that paying for access does confer a citation advantage.

Why Jonny Can't Read: The Great Disconnect Between Reading Science and Policy

Why Jonny Can't Read: The Great Disconnect Between Reading Science and Policy

Kathy Hirsh-Pasek and Roberta Michnick Golinkoff discuss the deficiencies in reading proficiency recently observed in the United States, provide an overview of possible culprits, and recommend how to solve the issue.

Fears for Academic Freedom As Indonesia Doubles Down on Scientists' Ban

Fears for Academic Freedom As Indonesia Doubles Down on Scientists' Ban

JAKARTA - Indonesian academics have called out the government for banning five foreign scientists after they questioned official claims of an increase in the country's orangutan population, warning that the move sets a disturbing precedent for academic freedom. In a statement to the government, scientists grouped under the Academic Freedom Advocacy Team called the ban […]

American Trust in Science & Institutions in the Time of COVID-19

American Trust in Science & Institutions in the Time of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted many discussions about how people's trust in science shaped our ability to address the crisis. Early in the pandemic, our research team set out to understand how trust in science relates to support for public health guidelines, and to identify some trusted sources of science. In this essay, we share our findings and offer ideas about what might be done to strengthen the public's trust in science. Notably, our research shows a stark partisan divide: Republicans had lower support for public health guidelines, and their trust in science and institutions such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health eroded over time. Meanwhile, Democrats' trust in science has remained high throughout the pandemic. In the context of this divide, we explore how trust in various information sources, from governmental institutions to the media, relates to trust in science, and suggest that the best avenue for rebuilding trust might be through empowering local institutions and leaders to help manage future crises.

How Can We Achieve Europe's Ambitions in terms of Research?

How Can We Achieve Europe's Ambitions in terms of Research?

The ERA was launched in January 2000, in the year that the EU set itself the ambitious goal to become by 2010, "the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world", as part of its Lisbon strategy. One of the key planks of the strategy was to raise overall R&D investment within the European Union to 3% of GDP.

Academics Engaging in Knowledge Transfer and Co-Creation: Push Causation and Pull Effectuation?

Academics Engaging in Knowledge Transfer and Co-Creation: Push Causation and Pull Effectuation?

Although academics are increasingly engaging with businesses, some fundamental aspects of this phenomenon (i.e., their motivations, decision-making approaches, and the interplay between the two) remain understudied.

We Are Putting Science, Innovation and Evidence at the Heart of the Home Office

We Are Putting Science, Innovation and Evidence at the Heart of the Home Office

Dr Jason Dewhurst talks 'embedding a scientifically inquisitive and analytically curious culture across the Home Office'

How to Edit the Genes of Nature's Master Manipulators

How to Edit the Genes of Nature's Master Manipulators

CRISPR, the Nobel Prize-winning gene editing technology, is poised to have a profound impact on the fields of microbiology and medicine, again.

Alternatives to Animal Testing: Science, Ethics and the Law

Alternatives to Animal Testing: Science, Ethics and the Law

Laura Rego Alvarez, Head of Science Policy & Regulation, Cruelty Free International, discusses the science and ethics behind alternatives to animal testing 

How an Early Oil Industry Study Became Key in Climate Lawsuits

How an Early Oil Industry Study Became Key in Climate Lawsuits

For decades, 1960s research for the American Petroleum Institute warning of the risks of burning fossil fuels had been forgotten. But two papers discovered in libraries are now playing a key role in lawsuits aimed at holding oil companies accountable for climate change.

Bird Declines Boost Case for Transformative Biodiversity Agreement in Montreal

Bird Declines Boost Case for Transformative Biodiversity Agreement in Montreal

The world is losing species alarmingly fast. The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), an independent science and policy group, says a million species face extinction. Few animals bring these unsettling losses into sharper focus than birds: Populations of 49% of avian species are decreasing, according to a September 2022 report by […]

Science and Multilateralism to Deliver Change

Science and Multilateralism to Deliver Change

The recently concluded climate COP also demonstrated how science is integral to multilateralism. Yes, the outcome was a mixed bag. The language on 1.5 degrees C and ending fossil fuels was weak, but we did see history made with a loss and damage fund.