What’s Ahead

Congress is in recess this week for the Thanksgiving holiday. Legislative business will resume next week. (Image credit - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

FYI This Week Will Return Next Week

In view of the minimal activity in science policy this week due to the Thanksgiving holiday, FYI This Week is not appearing as a full edition. Event listings and our compilation of links from around the web are included, as usual, below. We will resume full coverage on Tuesday, Nov. 27.

In Case You Missed It

Events This Week

Monday, November 19 National Academies: “Catalyzing Opportunities for Research in the Earth Sciences (CORES),” kickoff meeting (continues Tuesday)
Open session: 1:00 - 5:30 pm, National Academy of Sciences (2101 Constitution Ave. NW, DC)

Tuesday, November 20 UK Parliament: “Balance and effectiveness of research and innovation spending”
9:30 am GMT, House of Commons Science and Technology Committee
Webcast available

Thursday, November 22 Thanksgiving Holiday

Friday, November 23 ADDED -- USGCRP: Fourth National Climate Assessment Report Release
2:00 pm, Conference call

Monday, November 26 Atlantic Council: “Implementing Defense-Industrial Policy”
10:30 am - 12:00 pm, Atlantic Council (1030 15th St. NW)

Opportunities

FYI Opportunities will return next week

Know of an upcoming science policy opportunity? Email us at fyi@aip.org.Know of an upcoming science policy event? Email us at fyi@aip.org.

Around the Web

News and views currently in circulation. Links do not imply endorsement.

White House

S&T for America’s oceans: A decadal vision (NSTC, report)

Congress

Protecting science at federal agencies: How Congress can help (Union of Concerned Scientists, report)
US elections signal a welcome change for science (Nature, editorial)
An about-face for the House Science Committee (Inside Higher Ed)
Science restored: Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) prepares to chair key panel in US House of Representatives (ScienceInsider, interview)
House Science Committee’s likely next chair wants a return to science (Washington Post, interview)
Q&A with Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), likely new House Science chair (E&E News, interview)
The new politics of climate change (The Atlantic)
Divides harden in clash over global warming committee (E&E News)
Pelosi’s first band of climate ‘misfits’ (E&E News)
Senator-elect Mitt Romney (R-UT) signals anti-warming push (E&E News)

Political Engagement

Science, technology, math, engineering and now Congress (NPR)
STEM candidates elected to US House prepare for their new jobs (ScienceInsider)
A US biochemistry professor takes his political shot — and misses by a lot (ScienceInsider)

Science, Society, and the Economy

Rural America’s revival begins on campus (Bloomberg, perspective by Noah Smith)
Science, technology and innovation studies at a crossroad: Sussex University Science Policy Research Unit as case study (Research Policy, paper by Luc Soete)

Education and Workforce

Political tensions with China put pressure on American universities’ research commitments (Chronicle of Higher Education)
FBI warns US universities of ‘threat’ from Chinese nationals (Times Higher Education)
Chinese students help America innovate (Wall Street Journal, perspective by Philip Hanlon and Matthew Slaughter)
Fewer international students heading to the US (Wall Street Journal)
Number of international students in the US reaches new high of 1.09 million (Institute for International Education, report)
S&E for grades 6-12: Investigation and design at the center (National Academies, report)
Why diversity helps to produce stronger research (Nature)
Paying PIs from grants blocks talent and diversity (Nature, perspective by Emily Bernstein, et al.)

Research Management

Science is getting less bang for its buck (The Atlantic)
How taxes affect the incentive to invest in new intangible assets (Congressional Budget Office, report)
Revamped SI measurement system approved (Physics Today)
The kilogram is dead. Long live the kilogram! (New York Times)
The kilogram’s long, slow climb to harmony (New Yorker)
How should academics engage in policymaking to achieve impact? (Political Studies Review, paper by Paul Cairney and Kathryn Oliver)
Arguments over European open-access plan heat up (Nature)
Institutional conflicts of interest and public trust (JAMA, perspective by Francisco Cigarroa, et al.)

Labs and Facilities

China unveils design for $5 billion particle smasher (Science)
Google and CERN partnering on future Large Hadron Collider storage needs, quantum computing (9to5Google)
China extends supercomputer share on TOP500 list, US dominates total performance (TOP500)
Who owns the world’s fastest computer? (Dallas Morning News, perspective by Paul Dabbar)
How the US invests in supercomputing (HPCwire, interview with Dimitri Kusnezov)
The high-tech evolution of scientific computing (Argonne National Lab)
LANL launches Efficient Mission Centric Computing Consortium (Los Alamos National Lab)
GE Hitachi awarded subcontract for work supporting proposed versatile test reactor (Idaho National Lab)
Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Sacramento Peak Observatory (NSF)

Energy

Quantum Science and Technology

Harvard’s quantum leap (Harvard Gazette)
Quantum computing, not AI, will define our future (Tech Crunch, perspective by William Hurley)
The case against quantum computing (IEEE Spectrum, perspective by Mikhail Dyakonov)
Quantum computers put blockchain security at risk (Nature, perspective by Aleksey Fedorov, et al.)
Why China’s perfectly placed to be quantum computing’s superpower (Wired)
China may have developed a quantum radar that can spot stealth planes (New Scientist)

Space

Nelson concedes, Senate will lose key NASA supporter (SpacePolicyOnline)
Bridenstine worried about budget pressures on NASA (SpaceNews)
Space policy, funding legislation still on the congressional to-do list (SpacePolicyOnline)
2018 report on NASA’s top management and performance challenges (NASA OIG, report)
ICON to return to Vandenberg AFB for further analysis (NASA)
Advisory group skeptical of NASA lunar exploration plans (SpaceNews)
Former NASA administrator Mike Griffin says Lunar Gateway is ‘a stupid architecture’ (Ars Technica)
National Space Council gets report on human spaceflight in low-earth orbit (NASA)
International Space Station science not affected by smaller crew (SpaceNews)
If everyone left the International Space Station (The Atlantic)
Extended life for ESA’s science missions (ESA)
The end of an era in the exploration of Europa (The Space Review, perspective by Jason Callahan)
44 years after its first message to aliens, Arecibo Observatory calls for follow-up (GeekWire)

Weather, Climate, and Environment

Climate research scrapped from goals in draft EPA plan (E&E News)
The assault against science continues at the EPA (New York Times, perspective by Christopher Zarba)
Battle lines drawn for confirmation fight over Wheeler nomination to be EPA administrator (E&E News)
Head of NPS climate change adaption program resigns (The Hill)
DOJ backing climate science? Blame Obama, officials say (E&E News)
Scientists acknowledge key errors in study of how fast the oceans are warming (Washington Post)
Part of the answer to climate change may be America’s trees and dirt, scientists say (New York Times)
Ernest Moniz cautiously optimistic about global response to climate change (Irish Times)

Defense

The global R&D landscape and implications for DOD (Congressional Research Service, report)
Major moves in DOD space reorganization to start in early 2019 (SpaceNews)
Griffin: Future of new DOD space agency ‘still up in the air’ (SpaceNews)
Political odds stacked against Space Force. Proponents brace for long fight (SpaceNews)
Likely House Armed Services Committee Chair Adam Smith (D-WA) aims to scrap Trump’s nuclear weapons policy (DefenseNews)
Pentagon to boost laser investments for missile defense (DefenseNews)
Preventing chemical weapons as sciences converge (Science, perspective by Michael Crowley, et al.)
The origins of DARPA (TechStuff, audio)

Biomedical

Working together to protect the integrity of NIH-funded research (NIH)
In reversal, NSF lifts proposal limits on biologists (ScienceInsider)
Research groups attend HHS ‘listening session’ on fetal tissue research amid funding fears (ScienceInsider)
Publication history helps explain racial disparity in NIH funding (ScienceInsider)
FASEB expresses concern about lack of diversity on key NIH advisory committees (FASEB)
How Facebook and Twitter could be the next disruptive force in clinical trials (Nature)
Be open about drug failures to speed up research (Nature, perspective by Enrica Alteri and Lorenzo Guizzaro)

International Affairs

Brexit: What the draft deal means for science (Nature)
It’s official: Brexit deal will change but not end UK participation in European research (Science|Business)
Brexit: Four sticking points for science and technology (Science|Business)
Former UK science ministers unite over second referendum (*Research)
Brexit deal is ‘damage limitation’ for science in Scotland, says education minister (Science|Business)
Plugging the leaky pipeline for UK female chemists (Nature)
EU science leaders urge more funding, to compete internationally (Science|Business)
Italian Space Agency head dismissed (SpaceNews)
Congressional body calls for probes into US–China economic and technological ties (Financial Times)
China — the land that failed to fail (New York Times)
US–China chip wars (Financial Times)
Reform and cooperation in China (Science, perspective by Manfred Horvat)
Zhores Medvedev, 93, dissident scientist who felt Moscow’s boot, is dead (New York Times)
A boost for Palestinian science (Nature, editorial)
In the Palestinian territories, science struggles against all odds (Nature)
Iran was closer to a nuclear bomb than intelligence agencies thought (Foreign Policy)
Africa’s science ‘millionaires’: Survey spotlights top-funded researchers (Nature)
Widespread plagiarism detected in many medical journals based in Africa (Nature)
‘We are under assault’: Major universities go to war with Australian government over research cuts (Sydney Morning Herald)
Brazil’s new foreign minister believes climate change is a Marxist plot (The Guardian)
Science centers promote the human right to science, broaden participation (AAAS)