Articles about Science and Public Policy

Week of August 30:

• Houston heat wave and global warming (pdf)
• Op-ed about education and reading sources(!) (pdf)
• Indiana neutron scattering grant announced (pdf)
• Searching for antimatter in space (pdf)
• Spitzer space telescope (pdf)
• "Hella" prefix (amusing) (pdf)
• CERN budget squeeze (pdf)
• Space weather forecasting (pdf)
• More on the IPCC report (pdf)

• Boosting thorium power (pdf)
• Inconclusive research on health risks of plastic (pdf)
• Shift in German nuclear power policy (pdf)
• Science budget cuts in the UK (pdf)
• Problems with European gravity -measuring satellite (pdf)
• Declining energy use in the US (sadly, the Washington Post no longer has a real science section online!(pdf)
• Obituary for one of the last Manhattan Project scientists (pdf)

• Carnivorous plants in danger (The scientist here is a botanist and an astronomer!)(pdf)
• Sarah Palin and global warming (maybe not what you were expecting)(pdf)
• More on spending cuts in the UK(Be sure to read the "analysis" sidebar)(pdf)
• EU restricting animal testing (pdf)
• Chaos in stem cell research after court ruling (pdf)
• Postdoc labor rules in California (pdf)

• BOOM! (pdf)
• Antibiotics in animal feed (pdf) This was Friday's student presentation; if you select this make sure your commentary goes beyond what was brought up in class.
• Overthinking brains? (pdf)
• Scientists against invasive species (pdf)
• Book review: "Proofiness" (pdf) Are there special "sourcing" issues with book reviews?
• High-strength aluminum? (pdf)
• Gene therapy research misconduct (pdf) Is the senior investigator responsible for his postdocs' work? see also: Nature blog post

• Sad story about research rules and cancer drugs (pdf)
• Physics training for financial forensics (pdf) Is generating expertise like this a side benefit of physics research?
• Geoengineering (pdf)
• Espionage charges at Los Alamos (pdf)
• Technical error in the Los Alamos charges (pdf)
• Another prominent scientist retracts papers (pdf)
• Assessing the health of a fishery (link requires CU IP address) (pdf) Is this a case of industry pressure on science/policy?

• Update to influential National Academy report on research and education (pdf)
• A study of public skepticism of science and scientists (pdf)
• Book review on medical testing ethics (pdf)
• Obama Administration updating science policy guidelines (pdf)
• Competition vs. consolidation in astronomy facilities (pdf)
• Stuxnet worm: cyber-warfare? (pdf) More here and here and here.
• FTC goes after false scientific claims on pomegranate juice (pdf: page 1 page 2)

• Gulf turtle rescue: does this make sense? (pdf)
• Obituary: Georges Charpak (pdf)
• More on Stuxnet from a real security expert (originally in Forbes, this blog version is extended) (pdf)
• Bee disease breakthrough via military-academia collaboration (pdf)
• Building proteins with nonstandard amino acids (pdf)
• Parody of science journalism (pdf)
• Partisan views on global warming (opinion column) (pdf)
• Several good articles on UK science budget cuts (please attach article if you use one of these)

• Honeybee study: a different view (pdf)
• Physicists playing poker (pdf)
• More ethanol in auto fuel (pdf)
• Fighting climate change with research (only) (pdf)
• Indian government to develop new OS (pdf)
• Skeptics changing climate change science discourse (opinion) (pdf)
• Supreme Court case on JPL background checks (more here) (pdf)
• Obituary: Benoit Mandelbrot (pdf)

• "Bloom Energy" fuel cells Note: link may behave stranglely (pdf) See also here
• Lone inventor's adventures in alternative energy (pdf)
• The science of wayfinding (signage). (multi-article feature) (pdf)
• Opinion piece on evidence-based medicine and malpractice reform (pdf)
• British science escapes big budget cut, but some fields may suffer (pdf)
• British academics want military research budget cut instead of their own (this is a surprise?) (pdf)

• Cyber-warfare (pdf)
• Soot from space-tourist rockets may affect climate (pdf)
• Navajo reservation seeks to replace coal power (pdf)
• Protecting us from asteroids (Opinion piece) (pdf)
• Extend Tevatron collider operations? (Please do not use the annoying press term "god particle" in your writeup! (pdf)
• Science diplomacy? (pdf)
• Pro and con opinions on biofuels/ethanol in a Democratic-oriented magazine (pdf)

• More on the early LHC running (pdf)
• How much is medical research really worth? (pdf)
• Cybersecurity policy commentary. Language is a little flowery, but what do you expect from Harvard? (pdf)
• Nice blog post on implications of self-driving cars (pdf)
• Bat disease research (pdf)
• Hair straightening chemical safety questions (pdf)
• The Great Battery Race (pdf)
• Cheese sales vs. health: government agency working at cross-purposes (pdf)

• Computer hacker story in NYT Magazine (pdf)
• "DNA"-based theft deterrence. Is it ethical to do this? (pdf)
• "Smart meters" bringing complaints (pdf)
• Opinion piece on antibiotics (pdf)
• Missile paranoia in California (pdf)
• Concerns about new airport passenger scanners (pdf)
• ...or is natural radiation at altitude dangerous? (pdf)

• London cab drivers' brains (pdf)
• New biometric ID technology (pdf)
• More info on Stuxnet? (pdf)
• Dangers of boredom in automated workplaces (pdf)
• Hidden costs (and dangers) of airport security? (pdf)
• Obituary: Frank Fenner. Check out quote at the end! (pdf)
• X-ray backscatter safety discussion (pdf)
• Reframing political debate by introducing "climate hawks" (pdf)