The Nutshell Articles | The Scientist Magazine®| Page 291

Most Recent

Astronomy blog wins contest

By Bob Grant | November 9, 2007

The linkurl:votes;http://2007.weblogawards.org/polls/best-science-blog-1.php are in, and linkurl:Bad Astronomy,;http://www.badastronomy.com/ a site maintained by erstwhile astronomer Phil Plait, has just barely won the 2007 Weblog Award for Best Science Blog. Bad Astronomy beat out linkurl:Climate Audit,;http://www.climateaudit.org/ a site that frequently posts entries downplaying human contributions to climate change, by only 0.1% or 45 votes. The final days of voting were marked by a linkurl:

0 Comments

Congress passes NIH budget boosting bill

By Bob Grant | November 9, 2007

Last night (November 8th) the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill aiming to linkurl:increase;http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/45169/ NIH funding from $28.6 billion linkurl:this year;http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/49077/ to $30 billion next year. Jon Retzlaff, spokesperson for the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), said he expects President Bush to linkurl:veto;http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/53366/ the bill when it lands on h

0 Comments

Britain screens foreign scientists

By Edyta Zielinska | November 8, 2007

The British government has added new requirements for visa applicants, which some say will restrict the flow of talented researchers into the country. All visa applicants from outside of European Economic Area and Switzerland who want to study toward a masters or PhD in fields like biology, botany and veterinary sciences, to name a few, will have to obtain an additional certification called the linkurl:Academic Technology Approval Scheme;http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xc

0 Comments

Dandruff gets its own genome

By Ivan Oransky | November 8, 2007

I just got a press release that made me go ''huh?'' That's ''huh,'' question mark. Not ''huh!'', or ''huh,'' exclamation point -- which is what I like from press releases. If you don't see what I mean, answer me this: Does dandruff have a genome? According to the press release, from Procter & Gamble, it does. So I opened the Email to find out about this sequencing feat. It turns out, as you may have guessed, that scientists at Procter and Gamble Beauty had sequenced the genome of Malassezia glo

0 Comments

Nanotech sets sail

By Alison McCook | November 8, 2007

This week, Planktos, a nanotech company with the lofty goal of reducing carbon emissions, finally set sail. Planktos aims to reduce carbon emissions by releasing huge amounts of iron into the ocean, with the hope that plankton will take up that iron, and absorb more carbon. According to the New York Times, Planktos' 115-foot ship, the WeatherBird II, linkurl:launched from Florida;http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/06/project-to-harness-plankton-puts-to-sea/index.html on Sunday (Novem

2 Comments

Science blog award slugfest

By Bob Grant | November 8, 2007

Looks like the linkurl:2007 Weblog Award;http://2007.weblogawards.org/polls/poll-index.php for linkurl:Best Science Blog;http://2007.weblogawards.org/polls/best-science-blog-1.php has gotten ugly. Along with the usual suspects (last year's winner linkurl:Pharyngula,;http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/ among others), an apparent anti-science site focused on denying human-induced climate change has made it onto the ballot. linkurl:Climate Audit,;http://www.climateaudit.org/ a site maintained by S

0 Comments

NJ nixes stem cell research

By Alison McCook | November 7, 2007

New Jersey voters nixed Governor Jon Corzine's proposal to borrow $450 million over 10 years to fund linkurl:stem cell research;http://www.the-scientist.com/news/home/53836/ yesterday (November 6). Voters defeated the measure by a 53-47 margin. Corzine introduced the proposal in July, and supporters argued it would serve as an economic boon to the state. California, New York, and Massachusetts have already devoted extensive funds to stem cell research. According to the New York Times, t

0 Comments

Vaccine, immunity no help in HIV

By Andrea Gawrylewski | November 7, 2007

Initial analysis confirmed that an HIV vaccine from a linkurl:halted;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/53633/ trial does not prevent or quell infection, according to data presented today at the HIV Vaccine Trials Network meeting. According to the linkurl:press release;http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20071107005139&newsLang=en from Merck, the investigational vaccine (V520) was not shown to be effective at preventing infection or reduc

1 Comment

Environmental Health Perspectives names Tilson editor

By Bob Grant | November 6, 2007

Hugh Tilson, an Environmental Protection Agency administrator, is the new editor-in-chief of Environmental Health Perspectives, the flagship journal of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. As we recently reported, he was on the linkurl:short list;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/53666/ of candidates for the position. Tilson will take up his post at NIEHS later this month and will officially start as EHP?s top editor at the beginning of 2008. Tilson, a neurotoxicolog

0 Comments

Fires force grant deadline extensions

By Bob Grant | November 6, 2007

We've seen (and some have felt) the destruction wrought by the wildfires that recently swept through Southern California: homes destroyed, communities displaced, and linkurl:study sites burned.;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/53723/ But the National Institutes of Health is also considering the delay that the California fires may cause in grant application submissions from researchers in the area. The NIH issued a linkurl:notice;http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-0

0 Comments