Education, Science/Tech
The Slow Squeeze on Science Funding
Posted on June 27, 2011 by Alyson Macdonald | 2 Comments
Following a campaign lead by high-profile scientists last year, the government agreed to protect funding for scientific research from the worst of the cuts inflicted by the Comprehensive Spending Review. There was a collective sigh of relief in science departments up and down the country: funding levels would be preserved on a “flat cash” basis [...]
On internet history and regulation
Posted on May 26, 2011 by Gilbert Ramsay | 4 Comments
So, we learn that one of the big areas on which the US and the UK are supposed to still have a special relationship is that of ‘cyberspace’. Or rather, I learned that from my brother Adam, who suggested that I write a piece on it. I ought to be embarrassed to admit that. After all, knowing about ‘cyber’ stuff [...]
Another step forward in Green Party science policy
Posted on March 1, 2011 by Alasdair Thompson | 12 Comments
The basic aim of our Science and Technology policy is to encourage and promote research, development and application of science and technology which will: Increase knowledge and understanding Help to understand and address the major environmental threats such as climate change, pollution and biodiversity losses. Contribute to a better quality of life for all the [...]
The Closing of the Net
Posted on November 23, 2010 by Alasdair Thompson | No Comments
Photo by Wysz via flickr The internet is a giant, sprawling exercise in democratic media. If you’ve got a connection, you have access to a greater store of human knowledge than a librarian at Alexandria could have dreamt of. Whether you’re looking for Wittgenstein’s philosophy, a moon-landing conspiracy theory or The Polyphonic Spree, you can [...]
Because Climategate is still a thing?
Posted on November 15, 2010 by Admin | No Comments
By Sophie Lewis Anyone who Googles “Climategate” will find 832,000 results, the first of which is a Wikipedia definition of the phenomenon that suggests its accession to a state of considerable cultural currency. The Climategate, so-called, has very recently been back in the news, with an interminable and entirely tedious process involving the nit-picking of [...]
Pale Blue Dot
Posted on October 9, 2010 by Alasdair Thompson | No Comments
To mark today’s protest in London here’s the late Carl Sagan reminding us how insignificant are our differences, how pointless is war and how important it is that we protect this planet, the only one we have. This is science at its most profound, important in a way which can never be measured by impact [...]
Conference Fragments – Science Funding
Posted on September 16, 2010 by Alasdair Thompson | 1 Comment
On Monday the Green Party of England and Wales kick-started next year’s review of science policy with an excellent fringe session on “Science Funding in an Age of Austerity” with Imran Khan of the Campaign for Science and Engineering (CaSE), science writer Frank Swain and Stuart Parkinson of Scientists for Global Responsibility, chaired by the [...]
Time to join a union
Posted on September 9, 2010 by Alasdair Thompson | 1 Comment
In light of today’s speech by Vince Cable, and several ominous articles in the press and on-line, it seems the UK’s science community is beginning to formulate a response. Jennifer Rohn at nature wants to organise a march on London. There’s a facebook group to coordinate the campaign, and a twitter hashtag (#scienceisvital). It’s a [...]
And they called us anti-science
Posted on September 8, 2010 by Alasdair Thompson | 2 Comments
Today Vince Cable continues his attack on science, and academic research more generally, as he announces we must abandon research which is “neither commercially useful nor theoretically outstanding”. Cable will tell us that he favours “ration[ing] research funding by excellence” and that we must “screen out mediocrity”. Which, as William Cullerne Brown points out, is [...]
Save British Science
Posted on September 5, 2010 by Alasdair Thompson | 3 Comments
Amid the fuss this week as the coalition government announced that NHS direct would be scrapped and replaced with the cheaper NHS111, the Telegraph reported that for the second time in three years Jodrell bank is under threat of closure. It’s not clear from their article whether that means their new visitor centre or any [...]
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