WHO Warns About Lack of R & D on Antimicrobial Resistance
Two recent reports by the World Health Organization (WHO) have found that the pipeline for new antibiotic agents is weak and that government intervention is required to address the global threat of drug-resistant microbes.
“Declining private investment and lack of innovation in the development of new antibiotics are undermining efforts to combat drug-resistant infections,” stated WHO. According to a 2019 United Nations report, 700,000 deaths occur annually as a result of antimicrobial resistant infections, and this number is estimated to rise to 10 million by 2050 if the problem is not addressed.
According to...
Source: Public Policy Reports - February 3, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
Trump Administration Issues Final WOTUS Rule
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have unveiled the final “Navigable Waters Protection Rule,” also known as the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule, which defines the wetlands and waterways that are protected under the Clean Water Act (CWA).
The final rule is similar to the draft proposed by the Trump administration in December 2018 but includes some clarifications. The new regulation limits the number of wetlands and waterways that would receive federal protections under the CWA.
Protections for streams and creeks that flow year-round or intermittently into ...
Source: Public Policy Reports - February 3, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
Research Security: Scientists Arrested as Government Increases Efforts to Protect US Security Interests
Concerns about and oversight of foreign influence on research and espionage have been rising since 2018. In an August 2018 letter to more than 10,000 research institutions, NIH urged grant applicants and awardees to properly disclose all forms of support and financial interests and launched investigations into NIH-funded investigators who failed to properly disclose foreign financial support. Following this, an April 2019 editorial in BioScience alerted readers that investigations into foreign ties of researchers will likely spread to other agencies and need to be taken seriously. Lawmakers have also made enquiries about t...
Source: Public Policy Reports - February 3, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
AIBS Recommends to Strengthen Research Environment
The American Institute of Biological Sciences provided recommendations for strengthening the American Research Environment to the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Joint Committee on the Research Environment (JCORE). The recommendations were in response to a Request for Information from JCORE.
In a notice published in the Federal Register on November 26, 2019, JCORE requested information on “actions that Federal agencies can take, working in partnership with private industry, academic institutions, and non-profit/philanthropic organizations, to maximize the quality and effectiveness of the Ame...
Source: Public Policy Reports - February 3, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
Short Takes
Members of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology have elected Representative Lizzie Fletcher (D-TX) to be the next chair of the Energy Subcommittee. She replaces Representative Conor Lamb (D-PA), who joined the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in November 2019. Fletcher previously served as the chair of the Environment Subcommittee, which will now be led by Representative Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ). Representative Bill Foster (D-IL) will now chair the Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has launched a 5-year status review of the grizzly bear under the Endang...
Source: Public Policy Reports - January 21, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
Enhance Your Interdisciplinary and Team Science Skills
Reports abound from professional societies, the Academies, government agencies, and researchers calling attention to the fact that science is increasingly an interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, inter-institutional, and international endeavor. In short, science has become a “team sport.”
There is a real and present need to better prepare scientists for success in this new collaborative environment. The American Institute of Biological Sciences is responding to this call with a new program for scientists, educators, and individuals who work with or participate in scientific teams.
Team science is increasingly...
Source: Public Policy Reports - January 21, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
Participate in the 2020 AIBS Congressional Visits Day
Join the American Institute of Biological Sciences on April 20-22, 2020 for our annual Congressional Visits Day in Washington, DC.
Meet with your members of Congress to help them understand the important role the federal government plays in supporting the biological sciences. Advocate for federal investments in biological sciences research supported by the National Science Foundation and other federal agencies.
Participants will complete a communications and advocacy training program provided by AIBS that prepares them to be effective advocates for their science. AIBS also provides participants with background informatio...
Source: Public Policy Reports - January 21, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
Scientists Offer Road Map for Insect Conservation and Restoration
In an article published in Nature Ecology & Evolution on January 6, 2020, a group of 73 scientists have called for a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and pesticide and fertilizer use under a “global roadmap” for insect conservation and recovery.
The article reads, in part: “Insects are vitally important in a wide range of ecosystem services of which some are vitally important for food production and security (for example, pollination and pest control). There is now a strong scientific consensus that the decline of insects, other arthropods and biodiversity as a whole, is a very real ...
Source: Public Policy Reports - January 21, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
OSTP Wants Input on Data Repositories
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) is seeking public comments on a draft set of desirable characteristics of data repositories used to locate, manage, share, and use data resulting from federally funded research. The request was published in the Federal Register on January 17, 2020.
With this request, OSTP intends to “identify and help Federal agencies provide more consistent information on desirable characteristics of data repositories for data subject to agency Public Access Plans and data management and sharing policies, whether those repositories are operated by government or non-gove...
Source: Public Policy Reports - January 21, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
BCoN Briefs Interagency Committee
On January 16, 2020, the Biodiversity Collections Network - a project led by the American Institute of Biological Sciences in partnership with the Natural Science Collections Alliance and Society for Preservation of Natural History Collections - provided members of the federal Interagency Working Group on Scientific Collections (IWGSC) with information about its recent report, Extending U.S. Biodiversity Collections to Promote Research and Education (https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biz140). In addition, highlights from the December 2019 AIBS Council Meeting, Beyond Specimens, were also shared with the panel.
The IWGSC was...
Source: Public Policy Reports - January 21, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
NASEM Report Considers Bioeconomy
A new report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), entitled “Safeguarding the Bioeconomy,” concludes that the United States currently dominates the global bioeconomy landscape but needs to address several challenges, including stagnant funding for fundamental research, inadequate workforce development, cybersecurity weaknesses, decentralized leadership, and international competition, in order to support and safeguard the continued growth of the bioeconomy.
The report is based on a consensus study performed by the “Committee on Safeguarding the Bioeconomy: Finding Stra...
Source: Public Policy Reports - January 21, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
NSB: U.S. Share of Global R & D Investments Declines
On January 15, 2020, the National Science Board (NSB) released the “2020 State of U.S. Science and Engineering” report detailing the data, trends, and global position of the U.S. science and engineering (S&E) enterprise. The report is part of the congressionally mandated, biennial “Science and Engineering Indicators,” which provides statistics on the U.S. and global S&E enterprise.
According to the 2020 Indicators, the United States continues to perform the largest share of global research and development (R&D), award the largest number of S&E doctoral degrees, and produce signific...
Source: Public Policy Reports - January 21, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
Short Takes
President Trump has nominated Acting Administrator Neil Jacobs to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Dr. Neil Jacobs previously served as the chief atmospheric scientist at Panasonic Avionics Corp. and is a proponent of weather data privatization. The President's previous nominee for the position, Mr. Barry Myers, the former CEO of AccuWeather, Inc., withdrew his nomination in November 2019.
The U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) National and Regional Climate Adaptation Science Centers (CASC) will receive $38.4 million in funding in fiscal year (FY) 2020, an increase of $13 million relative to ...
Source: Public Policy Reports - January 6, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
In Their Own Words: A New Podcast from AIBS
The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) has launched a new podcast series as part of its on-going BioScience Talks program. The new series, In Their Own Words, is a monthly interview with an individual who has helped to shape the biological sciences in the late 20th or early 21st century. The interviews provide an oral history of biology.
The first program, an interview with Dr. Rita Colwell, was released in December 2019. Dr. Colwell, is a former president of AIBS and former director of the National Science Foundation. The newest episode, just released, is a conversation with Dr. Kent Holsinger of the Unive...
Source: Public Policy Reports - January 6, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
Enhance Your Interdisciplinary and Team Science Skills
Reports abound from professional societies, the Academies, government agencies, and researchers calling attention to the fact that science is increasingly an interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, inter-institutional, and international endeavor. In short, science has become a “team sport.”
There is a real and present need to better prepare scientists for success in this new collaborative environment. The American Institute of Biological Sciences is responding to this call with a new program for scientists, educators, and individuals who work with or participate in scientific teams.
Team science is increasingly...
Source: Public Policy Reports - January 6, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
