This morning’s news that Vince Cable will announce in a speech today how the cuts to his Business, Innovation and Skills department will impact on science attracted a vigorous reaction from commenters on the Voice today. Former Lib Dem MP Dr Evan Harris — whose Political Science blog for the Guardian has quickly established itself as essential reading — has contributed his throughts to the debate there. Evan, as Lib Dems will know well, is firmly on the social liberal ‘wing’ of the party (a staunch defender, for example, of higher taxes for the wealthiest), and has great credibility as an advocate of evidence-based policy. Here’s an excerpt from his posting today: The figures that we do know (subject to assumptions such as an announced cut in welfare...

The BBC reports: Business Secretary Vince Cable is expected to signal a squeeze on public funding for scientific research. He will urge universities to do “more for less” and say taxpayers should only back research that has a commercial use or was academically outstanding. Mr Cable’s London audience will be told the government “values” UK science and research and spends £4.3bn a year. Lord Rees, president of the Royal Society, said cutting science funding would be a false economy. Mr Cable’s speech comes ahead of next month’s Comprehensive Spending Review, which is likely to squeeze resources. Well, these are the realities of the cuts — and exactly the kind of cuts that would be necessary whichever party found itself in power right now....

It has been thirty years since Stephen Hawking declared that there could soon be a Theory of Everything. Now, in his latest book, Hawking, has emerged as a strong supporter of the so-called M-theory of how the universe began. M-Theory (or Mouse Theory) was first postulated by the legendary Douglas Adams in his seminal paper The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy where he put forward the theory that the Earth was in fact built for some mice as a scientific experiment. However, in is new book Hawking goes much further than Adams’ initial tentative hypothesis and says that in fact the entire universe was built by these mice out of some 11 pieces of string they had let over from making a nice cosy nest. Hawking’s Mouse-Theory universe is fully accepted by most cosmologists,...

Scientists say they have calculated the true price of happiness as £50,000. Researchers from Princeton University analysed over 450,000 responses to a quality of life study to see what makes people happy.They found that while a persons life evaluation rose with annual income, happiness stopped rising beyond a salary of $75,000 (£50,000).After that everyday experiences and things like family and friend relationships have more of an impact than additional cash.Should the boffins want to test this finding, we are more than willing to put ourselves forward to accept a £100,000 salary… for purely scientific purposes you understand. Prof Daniel Kahneman said that as income decreased from $75,000, respondents reported decreasing happiness and increasing sadness and stress. The data...

Rare childhood cancers are the subject of an award-winning essay by Nicola Harris in this year's Max Perutz prizeMy palms are sweaty and my mouth is dry, but it's more excitement than nerves, though of course the nerves are there, too. I've got my cells out of the incubator and now I just can't resist having a quick glance at them down the microscope – will I see more dead cells floating in one set than the other? I know I can't tell properly till I add some staining solution and analyse them accurately, but that will take hours and I just can't wait that long to find out: has it worked or not?If you've ever held that envelope of exam results and been desperate to tear them open and find out how you did, but also terrified to look in case you didn't get what you were hoping for, then...

The ethical case against eating animal produce once seemed clear. But a new book is an abattoir for dodgy argumentsThis will not be an easy column to write. I am about to put down 1,200 words in support of a book that starts by attacking me and often returns to this sport. But it has persuaded me that I was wrong. More to the point, it has opened my eyes to some fascinating complexities in what seemed to be a black and white case.In the Guardian in 2002 I discussed the sharp rise in the number of the world's livestock, and the connection between their consumption of grain and human malnutrition. After reviewing the figures, I concluded that veganism "is the only ethical response to what is arguably the world's most urgent social justice issue". I still believe that the diversion of ever...

The two main stories I missed during my week off (excluding the ridiculous Hague saga and the Pakistan cricket scandal, not to mention the return of the News of the World phonetapping business - I certainly picked a lively week to be away from the keyboar) involved Tony Blair and God. In both cases, there was a book being plugged: one by the Dear Ex-Leader himself, another by a scientist best known for his mechanically rendered voice. In both cases, too, entirely expected nuggets of information were treated as if they were startling revelations. Tony Blair didn't get on all that well with Gordon Brown, likes to take the credit for other people's achievements and remains deeply convinced that he is Right about Absolutely Everything, ever - that's Tony for you. As for Stephen Hawking -...

Oh dear, a time for a fisking of a press release: According to the statement: “over half of the those working in the UK’s creative industries, a staggering 52% of the 1000 people surveyed, have never had an idea for an invention!” Considering that the “creative industries”, includes music, painters, digital designers, writers etc – why would you expect them to have ideas for inventions? Actually, that nearly half of them have had ideas for inventions sounds quite good, doesn’t it? Anyhow: 55% of men who responded to the survey stated having had an idea for an invention at some point in the last 10 years compared to just 41% of female respondents Presuming that the survey is professionally weighted to allow for a reasonable 50:50 split on...

Climate scientists meeting in Britain this week hope to build a database to predict natural disasters precisely. And records of the voyages of the Bounty and Beagle will assist them in their taskLeading climate scientists will gather in the UK this week to finalise plans for a revolutionary project aimed at transforming their ability to predict meteorological disasters. The goal is to create an international databank that would generate forecasts of unprecedented precision.The scientists' plans include:■ Creating a global network of weather stations that would provide daily temperature readings for any spot on the planet. At present, only monthly readings are generated for the United States and Europe, while virtually no data is provided for much of Africa, the Amazon and Antarctica.■...

The dispersal of tiny sea creatures in Antarctica has alerted scientists to the vulnerability of Earth's ice sheetsBryozoans make unlikely prophets of doom. Nevertheless, scientists believe these tiny marine creatures, which live glued to the side of boulders, rocks and other surfaces, reveal a disturbing aspect about Antarctica that has critical implications for understanding the impact of climate change.British Antarctic Survey researchers have found the dispersal of these minute animals suggests a sea passage once divided Antarctica 125,000 years ago. The discovery was made for the ongoing Census of Antarctic Marine Life project and involved comparing bryozoans from the Ross and Weddell seas. These two seas are separated by the west Antarctic ice sheet, one of the planet's largest...

A person freefalling from 120,000 feet would theoretically reach a supersonic speed of over 700mph. Two daredevils of the skies are racing to break the sound barrier – and face unknown hazards in their attemptWe know this. At around 120,000 feet, on the fringes of space, the air is so thin that a falling human body would travel fast enough to exceed the speed of sound. A skydiver, properly equipped with pressurised suit and a supply of oxygen to protect against the hostile elements, could feasibly jump from that height and, about 30 seconds later, punch through the sound barrier – becoming the first person ever to go "supersonic" without the aid of an aircraft or space shuttle.Here our knowledge ends. Experts admit cluelessness. Our skydiver could render a mighty "krakoom!" across the...

Stephen Hawking recently asserted that God is not required for the creation of the Universe: Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist. It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touchpaper and set the universe going. In response, the Archbishop of Canterbury has replied with: Belief in God is not about plugging a gap in explaining how one thing relates to another within the universe… It is the belief that there is an intelligent, living agent on whose activity everything ultimately depends for its existence. Physics on its own will not settle the question of why there is something rather than nothing. If anyone said “I believe there is an intelligent, living agent on whose activity everything...

Scientists say they've finally discovered science behind why men are able to kick a football harder than women.Using 10 video cameras, 21 retroreflective markers and 16 electrodes researchers monitored what happens when men and women kick a ball.They discovered significant differences in knee alignment and muscle activation between men and women, giving men more power.Male players apparently activate the hip flexors in their kicking leg and the hip abductors in their supporting leg more than females.Next up the researchers will study throwing like a girl and investigate whether their dad can indeed beat up your dad. It's said the bone and muscle differences also mean female footballers are more likely to suffer injury."Activation of the hip abductors may help protect players...

UK research identifying loss of key protein in mice eggs is seen as a breakthrough that may help prevent birth defectsScientists have made a breakthrough in understanding why older women become less fertile, suffer a miscarriage or have a baby with Down's syndrome.The discovery could ultimately lead to treatments that would increase the chances of a successful pregnancy for growing numbers of would-be mothers in their late 30s and early 40s.Researchers led by Dr Mary Herbert, an expert in reproductive biology at Newcastle University's Institute for Ageing and Health, have identified why some older women produce abnormal eggs, according to findings published in the journal Current Biology.It has been known for a long time that would-be mothers who are nearing the end of their fertility are...

On my brother’s wall is a map of Earth with the South Pole at the top. It uses an equal-area projection to show the true relative sizes of, say, Africa and Greenland. It aims to make a point about the more common North-up, Mercator projection. Mercator projection maps enlarge areas near the poles so that shapes are preserved. I like the sentiment but I think switching to an equal area projection and printing it upside-down is a little unimaginative. So I created this: This is a map of Earth created using a Mercator projection, but with the magnified poles moved to the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. I created it using the Blue Marble map from Wikipedia. The dashed lines are the conventional latitude and longitude lines. You get a much better feel for the shape of Antarctica than...

Lord Sacks accuses astrophysicist of logical fallacy in book excluding possibility of supernatural creationThe chief rabbi, Lord Sacks, hit back at Stephen Hawking after the astrophysicist said God did not create the universe.In his new book, The Grand Design, published next week, Hawking concludes that science excludes the possibility of a deity and that it is unnecessary to "invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going".But his finding were described by Sacks as an "elementary fallacy" of logic.Writing in the Times, the chief rabbi said: "There is a difference between science and religion. Science is about explanation. Religion is about interpretation. The Bible simply isn't interested in how the universe came into being."Sacks also said the mutual hostility...

Boffins say they have finally explained the science behind Roberto Carlos' amazing free kick goal against France in 1997.The goal scored by the Brazilian in the Tournoi de France is widely regarded as one of football's best ever free-kicks.Some commentators joked it "defied physics" and keeper Fabian Barthez was embarrassingly left standing still and red-faced by the strike.But while some thought it was a fluke, physicists have now computed the trajectory equation and shown that Carlos' goal was all skill… and science, obviously.They claim any ball kicked hard enough, with the right spin and from far enough away will follow the 'spinning ball spiral' -- so prepare to see lots of long range attempts this weekened. As Christophe Clanet and David Quéré, researchers from École...

Have you ever asked yourself: "What is innovation?" Maybe not, but as a Science & "Innovation" officer, I ask myself that all the time!  So with this blog posting, I thought I'd give myself the excellent excuse to figure out just what we mean by Innovation, and also, what it means in Canada in particular. I'm not the first one to ask myself these questions, and will inevitability not be the last either.  Over the past couple of years there have been several groups asking themselves similar questions, and I will be relying on them, and my friendly neighbourhood search engine, to help me demystify. Now you should all be warned in advance, that I am not an expert in innovation, so this in unlikely to be an in-depth commentary on all that is right or...

Fossil of balaur bondoc in Romania shows how the dinosaur would have terrorised other animalsThere's no evidence of wings or fire-breathing capability. But the powerfully built, meat-eating predator that terrorised Romania some 80m years ago is close to the mythological dragon.Fossils found near the city of Sebes in central Romania have revealed a dinosaur with scythe-like claws for ripping apart prey which scientists have named balaur bondoc – "stocky dragon" in ancient Romanian.Related to the velociraptor, which was brought to terrifying life in the film Jurassic Park, the dinosaur roamed the area when it was an island during the late Cretaceous period. At just 2.1 metres (7ft) long, it might have made a disappointing opponent for St George but would have preyed on small animals.A...

• Review of IPCC calls for tighter term limits on top bosses• Changes required to ensure science panel's credibilityRajendra Pachauri, who leads the UN's science panel on climate change, is coming under pressure to step aside as chair of the organisation after an independent review of the panel's work called for tighter term limits for its senior executives.Pachauri has come under heavy fire in recent weeks amid the swirl of allegations concerning the scientific basis of climate change, including accusations of conflict of interest and charges of inaccuracy in the assessments of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which he has chaired since 2002.The most serious error, which slipped into the IPCC's fourth assessment in 2007 and prompted a global outcry, was the...

I’m somewhat fascinated by the divisive spin on fandom taken by Twilight fans—you know; the whole Team Edward or Team Jacob debate. I wonder what it would be like to take the same approach to more important issues… “I’m with Team Leibniz” vs. “I’m with Team Newton,” “I’m with Team Thorne-Hawking” vs. “I’m with Team Preskill,” “I’m with Team Big Bang” vs. “I’m with Team Steady State.” Get those T-shirts printed! The secret, however, is knowing when to stop. I do not want to see “I’m with Team HTML5” vs. “I’m with Team Flash.” Tagged with geek humour......

£10-a-week ivabradine, also known as Procoralan, cut patients' risk of death from heart failure by 26% over two-year trialA pill for chest pains that costs around £10 per week could save the lives of thousands of heart failure patients. It would also save the NHS millions by reducing hospital admissions by a quarter, trial results have shown.One expert involved in the trial – the largest so far published on heart failure – described the evidence as a "significant breakthrough" and said it would compel him to change his clinical practice. At a conservative estimate, up to 10,000 deaths per year in the UK could be prevented, he said.The drug, ivabradine, also known under the brand name Procoralan, is already available in the UK for angina and is known to be safe. The trial results,...

San Diego Zoo began collecting ski samples from rare animals in 1972 in the hope they might be used to protect these endangered species in the future. A breakthrough in stem-cell technology means that day is getting closerThe inside of a metal box filled with liquid nitrogen and frozen to -173C (-280F) is hardly the ideal habitat for a large African mammal. But, as a test tube is fished out of the frigid container amid a billowing cloud of white gas, a note written on its side is unequivocal about its contents. "This is a northern white rhino," says Scripps research scientist Inbar Ben-Nun as she reads out the label and holds the freezing vial with thick gloves that look like industrial-grade oven mitts.Ben-Nun is holding no ordinary scientific sample. For the frozen cells in that test...

A bizarre substance known as "dry water," which resembles powdered sugar but is 95% 'wet' water could help fight global warming.Scientists claim the powdered water will change the way chemicals are used and that it could even be used to soak up greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.Each powder particle contains a water droplet surrounded by modified silica, which prevents the water droplets from combining and turning back into a liquid. This means it has an amazing ability to slurp up gases, which chemically combine with the water molecules to form what chemists term a hydrate.Speaking of the find, Dr Ben Carter, from the University of Liverpool said: "We may see dry water making waves in the future" -- Oh Dr Carter, how long had you been working on that one? Dry water was originally...

There’s a bank holiday weekend coming up and that normally means plenty of extra spare time – and that always means mind-numbing boredom that can only be alleviated by the ingestion of high quantities of low-quality drinks. But now we’ve got something better to do with our time instead. We can sift through some owl vomit. The manufacturers claim that: ‘Puke has never been more interesting’ and we’d second that emotion in a heartbeat. What you’ll get for your $7.30 is a chunk of genuine owl spew for you to rummage through in the name of science and discovery. As the blurb says: “Dissect this sanitary owl pellet which contains the skeletal remains of an owl meal. Learn about the owl’s habitat, place in the food chain, and predatory skills. Use some archaeological skills to...

Officials fear planned 25% cuts could jeopardise Britain's involvement in the Large Hadron Collider at CernBig reductions in the UK's scientific research capacity will be necessary if planned 25% cuts to government spending in the sector go ahead, the director of one of the country's main science funding bodies warned tonight.John Womersley, director of science programmes at the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), told the Guardian it would not be possible to achieve such deep cuts without mothballing a major facility.He said those at risk included particle accelerators such as the £383m Diamond Light Source, which opened only three years ago, and the £145m Isis neutron source. Both are in Oxfordshire.Officials from the STFC fear the cuts may also jeopardise Britain's...

Files released at National Archives show DNA pioneer Maurice Wilkins was investigated for leaking nuclear secretsA British scientist who won a Nobel prize for his pioneering work on the DNA double helix was investigated by MI5 as a possible atom spy who had passed US nuclear secrets to the Russians.The security service files released today at the National Archives show that New Zealand-born Professor Maurice Wilkins had worked during the second world war on the Manhattan Project, building the hydrogen bomb at Los Alamos, New Mexico.In 1951, the FBI told MI5 that one of the nine Australian and New Zealand scientists had been in close contact with members of the American Communist party.Wilkins was put under surveillance, with his post opened and movements tracked. But the only evidence...

A honeybee bred in the town could kill the mite that has wiped out billions of bees around the worldWill Swindon be remembered as the home of a major breakthrough in halting the global decline of the honeybee? Ron Hoskins, a 79-year-old beekeeper from the town, has spent the last 18 years looking for a bee that is resistant to the parasite blamed for killing billions worldwide. And yesterday he claimed that his superbee could assure the future of the insect that pollinates around a third of everything we eat.Hoskins, a former heating engineer, claims to have bred a honeybee that "grooms" other bees in the hives to remove the blood-sucking varroa mite that spreads viruses and disease. It has killed billions of honeybees since it entered Britain in 1992 and has been implicated in the colony...

Researchers have discovered a new species of micro-frog on Borneo island which only grows to the size of a pea.The tiny amphibians - catchily dubbed Microhyla nepenthicola - measure between 10.6-to-12.8mm long and were found in the Kubah National Park. While specimens are already held by many museums around the world, they have previously been misidentified as juveniles of other species.Now scientists say the frogs are a distinct micro-species and the smallest frogs found anywhere in found in Asia, Africa or Europe.In fact they're so small the frogs were only found when researchers heard their "harsh rasping note" call at sundown -- much the same way Cheryl Cole was discovered. Dr Indraneil Das of the Institute of Biodiversity and Environmental Conservation at the Universiti...

I'm all for a bit less of Newton, Darwin, Galileo and Copernicus in science lessons, if it means a bit more McCoy, Banneker and Carver. It's a question of balanceHere we go again. "Science lessons that leave out Darwin and Galileo," harrumphed the Sunday Telegraph recently. And why? Because they were white, it said. "Instead there are references to lesser-known black scientists such as Elijah McCoy, Benjamin Banneker and George Washington Carver." Yes. Down with political correctness in our schools. Boo hiss.The first thing to say is that this was never as stark as the story suggests. Haringey council in north London, which was said to have issued the edict to its primary schools, says any black scientists whose exploits might have been mentioned in its lessons would have been...

Order blocking government funding of stem cell research is a serious setback in search for cures to diseases, say scientistsAmerican scientists have reacted with anger at a court ruling that strikes down Barack Obama's decision to greatly expand medical research using stem cells taken from human embryos.Scientists described the order by a federal judge in Washington, who said that the president had overstepped a law barring the government funding of research in which human embryos are destroyed, as "deplorable" and "a serious setback" in the search for cures to major diseases.Lawyers for an alliance of Christian groups who brought the case, which tied opposition to experiments on embryonic stem cells to the anti-abortion campaign, said the ruling appeared to go further than restrictions...

Blair's dream of a working-class kid getting a degree that would catapult him or her up the social ladder has not come offSo predictable, so rote is the newspaper coverage of exam season that I can only presume editors of mid-market newspapers have to sit their own A-level on how to report them. Shots of exuberant blondes jumping up and down clutching their results? That gets you a basic pass. Fancy-that story about an Asian lad with top grades in maths and science – even though he's only 10 and in all likelihood faces an adolescence of Belmarsh-style bullying? Now you're up to a B. Oh, and the conviction that university is the best place for any 18-year-old? Bingo: you've scored the A* required for a place at Associated Newspapers.To be fair to journalists (and this thing goes far...

Dispatches today broadcast an investigation into first cousin marriages in the UK. The focus was on the British Pakistani community, where first cousin marriages are most prevalent. British Pakistanis make up around 1.5% of the population, but children born in this country to British Pakistanis account for around 33% of rare recessive genetic disorders. British Pakistani children are three times more likely to have learning difficulties. First cousin marriages in isolation don't have a massive effect, but when they happen more than once the consequences can be severe, and this is the issue facing many British Pakistanis today. Tazeen Ahmad, the presenter, was of British Pakistani stock and has a history of genetic disorder in her family; her grandparents were first cousins, three of her...

Scientists have discovered they can make the humble spud more healthy for you... by subjecting it to electric shocks and ultrasound treatments.The boffins from Japan say the 'potato torture' improves the nutritional content of the spud by boosting antioxidant levels.In the tests potatoes were blasted with up to 10 minutes of high frequency sound waves and then submerged in saltwater and zapped with a electrical charge for up to 30 minutes.It's claimed this could eventually be used to turn spuds into a superfood capable of preventing things like cancers and diabetes… otherwise they will be water-boarded too. Kazunori Hironaka, Ph.D., who headed the research said: "We knew from research done in the past that drought, bruising, and other stresses could stimulate the accumulation...

Exquisite artworks hidden under 2,000 years of soot and grime in a Jordanian cave have been restored by experts from the Courtauld Institute in LondonSpectacular 2,000-year-old Hellenistic-style wall paintings have been revealed at the world heritage site of Petra through the expertise of British conservation specialists. The paintings, in a cave complex, had been obscured by centuries of black soot, smoke and greasy substances, as well as graffiti.Experts from the Courtauld Institute in London have now removed the black grime, uncovering paintings whose "exceptional" artistic quality and sheer beauty are said to be superior even to some of the better Roman paintings at Herculaneum that were inspired by Hellenistic art.Virtually no Hellenistic paintings survive today, and fragments only...

On to more team Science & Innovation Canada intros!  Continuing with my Toronto theme, let me introduce you to our Science & Innovation Associate, Claire Hastings. Photo by Frank Wimart Claire is a lovely person with a sparkling personality.  She's bubbly, intelligent, fun to be around, and VERY knowledgeable about all things FCO and UKinCanada (or so it always seems to me!).  Claire is always encouraging (and has been a fantastic supporter of all my S&I related adventures in social media), ready and willing to participate any evil plans I may be concocting (don't let the wording confuse you too much, my plans are rarely that evil, but it is much more fun to describe them that way ;P)!  Claire is also an avid foodie, who has the added bonus of also being a...

Ancient birds once lived in South America which used their powerful beak to jab prey like an agile boxer, according to a new study.Experts say the ninety-pound flightless bird used its unusually large, rigid skull—coupled with a hawk-like hooked beak—for to fight like Muhammad Ali. The agile creature - dubbed terror bird - is said to have repeatedly attacked and retreated, landing well-targeted, hatchet-like jabs until it made a kill.Paleontologists say the birds evolved 60 million years ago and grew up to 7-foot-tall but because they no close analogs among modern-day birds their life habits have been shrouded in mystery.But after using CT scans and advanced engineering methods to study they bird they know how it operated… and are pretty glad the only had fossils to work with....

The Telegraph website reports two interesting subject stories from today's A-level results. The first is a further dip in French and German entries (somewhat offset by an economically rational decision to opt for Spanish instead) which the Telegraph blames on Labour's decision to scrap compulsory post-14 languages. There is then a report on the (further) surge in advanced Maths and Physics entrants which is largely due to a very successful Labour government initiative to improve take up in the so-called STEM subjects, driven through universities and specialist science colleges. This drive has also increased science and maths entries at GCSE and to universities. Funnily, the Telegraph has forgotten to mention the Labour government's role in this story, claiming this is entirely a result of...

Previously rejected kidneys get clean bill of health for donation as study embraces use of organs after cardiac deathHundreds of lives a year will be saved if the NHS embraces a transplant revolution involving patients receiving donated kidneys that were previously rejected as inadequate, doctors claim today.Since the 1970s almost all kidney transplants using organs from the deceased have come from "brain dead" donors, who have typically been involved in a car crash, brain haemorrhage or severe head injury in a fall or industrial accident. But the supply of available organs from such people is declining, not least because there are fewer deaths in road accidents.In an attempt to tackle this, and reduce the 700 or so deaths a year caused by the UK's acute shortage of donated kidneys,...

What do you get when you invite a bunch of science friendly people, add some quirky yet challenging quiz question, and some social lubricant?  Well a Science and Innovation Quiz Night of course!So on Friday the 13th (yes, you read correctly - which also happened to be last Friday, August 13, 2010), I hosted the first of what will hopefully be several interesting evenings of science fun at the Queen and Albert Pub (a.k.a.: The Q&A) within the British High Commission (without a hitch I might add ;) ).  We gathered our science team from across the country, and some fantastic science contacts from across Ottawa, and threw a science quiz/networking event!Team S&I Canada: From left to right: Paolo Marcazzan, Gill Wallace, Nicolina Ferrella, Shiva Amiri, Nicole Arbour, Claire...