Diet, CSIRO, Nature and Funding

An article on the latest issue of Nature (December 22, 2005, http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v438/n7071/index.html#Research-Highlights refers to a diet book published by Australian researchers working in Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). ...continues here!

Spy Court Judge Quits In Protest

People who honour their title.

A federal judge has resigned from the court that oversees government surveillance in intelligence cases in protest of President Bush's secret authorization of a domestic spying program, according to two sources.

Two associates familiar with his decision said yesterday that Robertson privately expressed deep concern that the warrantless surveillance program authorized by the president in 2001 was legally questionable and may have tainted the FISA court's work.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/20/AR2005122000685.html

Google, Microsoft and Sun fund new UC Berkeley Internet research center

An excellent example of how a top public University can cooperate with top industries to promote research with the interest of the public in mind. ...continues here!

Joint statement by the presidents of the top nine US Universities on gender equity in higher education

The following statement by the leaders of the top 9 research institutions in the US shows that they don’t put all of their efforts on research but they care also for a wider range of social issues. (Women receive half the doctorates in the United States but just a quarter of them are professors). ...continues here!

UC Berkeley Library Collection Hits 10-Million Mark

The University Library has acquired its 10-millionth volume this fall, bringing to the university a range of literary curiosities from ancient Egyptian papyri to a collection on the Swiss Enlightenment.

Many of the ten representative items, including a signed letter from Father Junipero Serra, were donated, but a few were purchased in the six-figure range through donor contributions, Leonard said. ...continues here!

NSA Eavesdropping Wider Than W.House Admitted

We learn more everyday…Data mining in action!

The volume of information gathered from telephone and Internet communications by the National Security Agency without court-approved warrants was much larger than the White House has acknowledged, The New York Times reported on Saturday. ...continues here!

Evangelicals plan to ban presents

Conservative religious leaders are flexing their muscles…

Conservative religious leaders are so pleased with their campaign against the "war on Christmas" that they're going to rev it up next year. ...continues here!

S Korea cloning research was fake

The controversy surrounding Professor’s Hwang Woo-Suk research that led to his resignation, raises an issue on which I have very strong views: The issue of the availability of the data on which various scientific claims are based. ...continues here!

U-wide warrant over 'CIA kidnap'

An Italian court –and not any of the European governments- is trying to set the record straight. In Greece, the minister of homeland security still insists that nothing happened…
...continues here!

EU vs. Microsoft

Is this an indication that Europe is doing well in the consumer protection front or the trade conflict between Europe and the US has reached a new level?
In Short: Computer giant Microsoft risks having daily fines imposed on it if it fails to fully implement a European Commission decision on code sharing. ...continues here!

'Voting error' gave London Games

What are the implications of a “voting error”? Well, it could be the presidential race in the US. It could also be the nomination of the city to organize the Olympics of 2012, as the following news item indicates. ...continues here!

Judge Rules Against 'Intelligent Design'

The following piece of news (from today’s San Francisco Chronicle), gives some hope to the scientific community (and not only).

"Intelligent design" cannot be mentioned in biology classes in a Pennsylvania public school district, a federal judge said Tuesday, ruling in one of the biggest courtroom clashes on evolution since the 1925 Scopes trial. ...continues here!

Are secular universities discriminating against religious schools?

An article in the Economist (Dec. 14, 2005) about the culture war
between the U of California and religious schools. The implications are far reaching.
(http://www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=5300912).

Swiss hospital to allow suicide

An indication of a “mature” society.
A hospital in Lausanne becomes the first to allow assisted suicide for terminally-ill patients. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4539126.stm)

School Reform in the UK

The argument goes on. The deputy prime minister of the UK John Prescott has spoken again, against the white paper in an interview with the Sunday Telegraph. (Sunday, 18 December 2005). Interestingly, in the same interview, he attacks the Eton "Mafia" running the Conservative Party. ...continues here!

Are secular universities discriminating against religious schools?

The "Economist" published a very interesting article on December 14, about the argument between the Univeristy of California and the association of Christian Schools in the US, regarding the admission procedures of the UC with reference to the teaching of non- scientific material in christian schools. ...continues here!