ScienceGeist

Scholars say their field is coming under increasing pressures from forces outside the academy who want to delegitimize it.

The Haldane principle, born a century ago, has enabled government scientists to speak truth to power without fear of retribution.

Graduate students from Africa could benefit from such efforts, but it is not clear who will pay for them.

Academic freedom is on the hit list when radical politicians gain office - as they have done in Europe.

Debate over a new idea for stopping malaria is pitting some environmental groups against Bill Gates.

House Science Committee Chairman Rep. Lamar Smith retired this year and Democrats won control of the House on Tuesday. Now some on Capitol Hill say that the anti-climate science spell may be broken.

The campaign may have increased misperceptions that the science on the safety of vaccines isn’t settled - as is the case - but rather subject to debate.

With several members departing and new leadership incoming, the National Science Board used much of its May meeting to reflect on how it has ramped up its engagement on policy matters in recent years. One focus of discussion was how the board has increasingly drawn attention to the emergence of China as a global leader in science and engineering.

Research is the foundation for evidence-based policies. But because of funding prohibitions, there's little US research to inform the contentious debate around gun violence and gun control.

Scientific community calls on voters not to support the candidate of the National Front

Two recent programmes on BBC Radio 4 highlight a worrying anti-democratic bias in discussions of science and technology.

British and Australian scientists compile a list of tips to help policy makers better understand the 'imperfect nature of science'

The only U.S. senator to receive a research grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) says one of her top priorities in her first term is to increase federal support for academic research and eliminate restrictions on NSF funding for political science research.

Just another talking club or a genuine attempt to give science more weight in policy matters of global importance? Time will tell whether the United Nations' newly created scientific advisory board, whose members were announced last week, will indeed influence the business of international policy-making in practice.

Universities need a "cultural change" towards teaching, the universities minister, David Willetts, has argued, as a survey of UK undergraduates showed they were being set less work and received notably less tutor feedback than did their peers 50 years ago.

The just-elected parliament will face several key decisions on research funding, which will have far-reaching consequences for German scientists. Several big funding programs run out between 2015 and 2019, and the next government will shape their replacements. There is broad support across parties, however, for continuing the programs in some form.

Schon mancher Wissenschaftler ist an der politischen Praxis gescheitert. Andere fühlen sich dort wohl. Auch diesmal haben wieder einige Akademiker den Sprung gewagt.

The increasing concern about unreliability in scientific literature is a problem for people like me - I am the science adviser to DEFRA, the UK government department for environment, food and rural affairs. To counsel politicians, I must recognize systematic bias in research.

A leading sociologist has attacked the application of so-called "'evidence'-based policy" - and much of the research lying behind it - to education

Italy - Two well-known Italian scientists have been appointed "senator for life" by President Giorgio Napolitano to honor their contributions to society. Physicist Carlo Rubbia, 79, and brain stem cell biologist Elena Cattaneo, 50, received the honor along with conductor Claudio Abbado and architect Renzo Piano on 30 August. Senators for life—o...