Selected Science Stories

Here are a few science articles which may be of interest from the past week:

• Science funding in the US has received a boost: Science.com reports on the granting by the U.S. Congress of a $334 million increase in the National Science Foundation's $4.4 billion research budget. In addition, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Department of Energy's science programs were also increased, up $620 million and $200 million respectively, but NASA's budget was decreased.
• Also in the US, despite a tentatively ruling last year from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that milk and meat from some cloned animals are safe to eat, the largest U.S. dairy processor and distributor, Dean Foods Co, said even if food products from cloned animals become a reality, it will not sell milk from animals that have been cloned because of ongoing consumer concerns.
• The over-all outlook for US science is may be good or it may be bad... Jon D. Miller, a Michigan State University professor has published a study which finds that over the past 20 years, the number of Americans who knew enough about science to understand reports in major newspapers has grown from 10% to 28% (whilst low, this figure apparently is better than those for Japan or Europe). Scientific American gives the gloomy prognosis resulting from this, including the end of civilisation!
• Science reports on the case of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) biologist, James Sherley, who went on hunger strike for 11 days to protest what he claims was a racist decision by MIT to deny him tenure. Under a settlement reached between the two sides on Friday, MIT seems to be willing to reopen the case.
• Away from the US, Nature reports on the case of Japan's most popular science TV show which has admitted faking results, overdubing interviews with researchers and misleading viewers.
• Nature also carries a report on a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine this week, which finds that drugs that fight genital herpes also significantly reduce levels of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in patients infected with both viruses.
• Intellectual honesty in science comes under the spot light on ScienceBlogs, where the case of Marcus Ross is discussed. Ross was recently granted a Ph.D. earned through a dissertation on mosasaurs, marine reptiles which became extinct 65 million years ago, despite Dr. Ross now being open about his view that the Earth under 10,000 years old.