SENATE MOVING QUICKLY ON ENERGY BILL

The Senate are trying to rapidly push through a Department of Energy appropriations bill that would increase funding by $50 million to the Office of Science, but funding to the fusion project ITER for the 3rd year in a row. The White House have indicated they may veto the bill, however, due to the lack of support for renewable energy.

BRITISH SCIENTISTS TO BE BANNED FROM INFLUENCING GOVERNMENT POLICY
From May 1, scientists receiving government grants in the UK will be banned from using their results to lobby for changes in laws or regulations. Such a move has been dubbed an “assault on academic freedom”. The UK Cabinet Office promised to look into exemptions to the system two months ago, but so far there has been no resolution and time is running out before the new scheme comes into effect.

GRAD STUDENTS FUNDING SOURCE MAY AFFECT THEIR FUTURE JOB

An article recently made available in the journal Research Policy has found that the funding source of biomedical grad students may have a significant outcome on where they end up after their PhD. Those who were primarily supported as an NIH-funded research assistant were 11% more likely to have taken a research related job straight after graduation than those who were NIH-funded trainees or fellows.

NEW COMMITTEE FOR PREDICTING FUTURE GM PRODUCTS

The end of last week saw the first public meeting of a committee of academic and industry researchers whose task will be to predict what GM relevant biotechnologies will appear in the next 5-10 years. This panel follows a White House statement last July announcing a revision of the current, out-of-date framework for how companies should deal with agricultural biotech products.

OBAMA HOSTS HIS LAST WHITE HOUSE SCIENCE FAIR

Last week, President Obama hosted his last White House science fair. The event was established by the Obama Administration in 2010 and this was the 6th annual iteration. There has been little mention on the campaign trail as to whether any of the current presidential candidates would continue this tradition…

(Click on the titles for links to the original articles).

Contributed by Dr. Peter Harvey, Postdoctoral Researcher in Biological Engineering at MIT.