Weekly Advocacy News Roundup
News
U.S. Senate Panel OKs Slight Funding Boost for NSF
April 22, 2016 | Inside Higher Ed
The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee has advanced a funding bill giving a slight boost to NSF next fiscal year. Lawmakers unanimously approved legislation that would provide $7.51 billion to NSF for the 2017 fiscal year, representing a $46 million increase from the science agency’s current funding level. President Obama’s budget request had called for a much larger increase of more than $500 million.
- Learn more about NSF funding of neuroscience research at SfN.org.
International Brain Projects Considered
April 22, 2016 | National Institute of Neurological Disease and Stroke
Since the launch of the American BRAIN Initiative and the E.U. Human Brain Project, the idea of global participation in large-scale neuroscience projects has gained considerable momentum. To channel this excitement into a single international collaboration to tackle a major neuroscience project, more than 60 scientists from 12 countries met at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, earlier this month.
- Learn about worldwide neuroscience initiatives at SfN.org.
U.K. Science Reaps Rewards Within E.U., Says House of Lords
April 25, 2016 | Chemistry World
A new report from Britain’s House of Lords concludes that U.K. science benefits from being in the E.U., but some U.K. scientists are concerned that E.U. regulations may be hampering research. Published by the Lords science and technology committee ahead of the country’s in–out referendum on the E.U., the report examines whether U.K. science prospers within the E.U., canvassing opinions from scientists, societies and businesses.
- Find global sources of research funding at SfN.org.
Articles of Interest
Hopkins Scientists Help Find Possible Link Between Zika and Birth Defect
March 4, 2016 | Baltimore Sun
Proving the link between Zika and microcephaly is important in order to rule out other potential causes for the surge in babies being born with the birth defect and to justify the massive public health response and spending on developing a Zika vaccine. For the study, two labs at Hopkins produced specialized stem cells that could grow into brain tissue. The cells were sent to a lab at Florida State University, where they were infected with Zika, and then sent on to a lab at Emory University for analysis.
- Read more about the potential effects of the Zika virus at BrainFacts.org.
Music May Help Babies Learn Better
April 25, 2016 | NBC News
A team from the Univeresity of Washington has shown that babies experiencing a music class had more brain activity than babies who went through enrichment sessions without music. The babies were analyzed using a real-time brain scan during the 12 trainings. After the trainings concluded, the researchers played music but missed a beat on occasion, and played them a pattern of nonsense words but occasionally violated the pattern. The babies who had been through the music sessions recognized the mistakes more consistently than the babies who had not been given the music enrichment.
- Learn more about cognition and music at BrainFacts.org.
Opinion
Brain Research Must Be Supported
April 24, 2016 | The Helena Independent Record
At the very time that Americans desperately need help, our government is decreasing aid to brain research. What can you do? Write your representatives to increase the aid to brain research. Increase your giving to institutions doing vital research of these dysfunctions and diseases of the brain.
- Find science funding advocacy tools at SfN.org.
Love Your Science, But Wish It Did More?
April 25, 2016 | Union of Concerned Scientists
For far too long, and in too many academic disciplines, our institutional structures have failed to reward community-relevant science and recognize the various forms of knowledge and expertise. Not only is the tenure and publication system a disservice to marginalized communities who most need access to science, they also hinder viable career paths and civic education for early career scientists. A senior analyst at the Center for Science & Democracy advises young scientists on how to use their science to engage their community and in public policy.
- Join the advocacy network to stay informed on issues of science policy at SfN.org
