This Week in Science Policy and Advocacy
Policy and Advocacy News
US Immigration Fight Heightens Legal Limbo for Young "Dreamer' Scientists
January 12, 2018 | Nature
This article discusses how the uncertainty surrounding Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) negatively impacts young scientists with DACA status. DACA protects young, unauthorized immigrants in pursuit of an education from being deported. Several states have filled lawsuits against the administration’s attempt to eliminate DACA, and a federal circuit court reversed the rescission of the program.
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Join the Advocacy Network to stay informed about issues related to neuroscience research at SfN.org
How a Government Shutdown Could Affect Drug Safety, Flu Response, and More
January 17, 2018 | STAT
With the deadline to keep the government open approaching, this article examines the impact a shutdown would have on health agencies, such as NIH, CDC, and FDA, and the nation’s overall public health using the 2013 government shutdown as reference. For example, patients were turned away from clinical trials, NIH stopped accepting grant proposals, and medical research across the country was put on hold.
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Find information about science funding resources at SfN.org
Make Replication Studies 'A Normal and Essential Part of Science', Dutch Science Academy Says
January 16, 2018 | Science
A report released by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Science (KNAW) called for scientists, universities, funding agencies, and journals to do more to ensure research reproducibility. The panel recommended ways to improve research rigor and reproducibility and highlighted the need to incentivize these priorities in publishing and funding.
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Find scientific rigor and reproducibility resources at Neuronline.org
Opinion
America Must Get Out of the Woods on Medical Research Funding
January 16, 2018 | The Hill
In this op-ed, Claire Pomeroy, president of the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation, urges Congress to adequately fund agencies playing critical roles in advancing medical research in FY18. Pomeroy highlights that medical advances are dependent on studies funded by federal dollars across all federal agencies and in order to keep up with inflation levels, robust funding increases are necessary.
- Learn about US Advocacy Programs at SfN.org
China Needs to Listen to its Researchers to Become a Scientific Superpower
January 17, 2018 | Nature
This editorial suggests that China is poised to dominate the future of science but that its top down efforts to drive scientific innovation have occurred without consulting the scientific community. Investments in science make China an increasingly attractive location for scientists and a desirable partner for international scientific leaders.
- Find more about global advocacy programs at SfN.org
Articles of Interest
'Bat-Nav' Reveals How the Brain Tracks Other Animals
January 12, 2018 | Nature
New studies in rats and bats provide insight into the neural mechanisms underlying how mammals track other animals’ movements. Similar to hippocampal place cells that fire related to self-location, social place cells selectively fire in response to other animals’ locations.
- Learn more about the neuroscience of spatial navigation at BrainFacts.org
Experimental Huntington's Therapy Shows Promise in a Small Trial
January 16, 2018 | Scientific American
Preliminary findings from Roche’s collaboration with Ionis Pharmaceuticals indicate that their antisense therapy, a single-stranded snippet of DNA, prevents production of the Huntington’s disease-causing HTT protein in humans. Although the clinical trial is in an early-stage, the promising results suggest that antisense treatments could effectively treat and prevent Huntington’s disease and other heritable disorders.
- Find information about Huntington’s disease at BrainFacts.org
Science Search Engine Links Papers to Grants and Patents
January 16, 2018 | Nature
Dimensions is a recently released database that indexes papers and their citations as well as connects publications to related grants, funding agencies, clinical trials, and patents. Dimensions aims to give researchers more power to look at their field and follow funding by allowing anyone to search publications, associated grants, patents, and metrics free of charge.
- Learn more about big data and scientific rigor at Neuronline.org
