Following up on President Barack Obama’s inaugural pledge to “restore science to its rightful place,” the economic stimulus package working its way through Congress includes huge chunks of money for scientific research and the development of green technology.
The bill’s final composition is far from certain, as Republican senators are trying to cut some provisions to trim costs, and the Senate version will eventually need to be reconciled with the version already passed by the House of Representatives. But the proposed numbers are impressive: The current Senate bill includes $10 billion for the National Institutes of Health, $40 billion for the Department of Energy, and more than $1 billion each for NASA, the National Science Foundation, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Many scientists were surprised and pleased to find that the money isn’t just intended for one-time costs like renovations and new equipment, but will also fund basic research. But that funding comes with conditions. With the exception of the NIH, research agencies under the House bill will have to spend the funds within 120 days. That means that the National Science Foundation (NSF), for example, would have to allocate $3 billion — a 50% increase in its budget — in four months. As of last week, the NSF was still figuring out how it could do that [Nature News].
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To kick off the second week of his administration and signal his commitment to environmental and energy issues, President Barack Obama today asked the Environmental Protection Agency to consider allowing states to set their own strict standards for auto emissions. He also ordered the Department of Transportation to develop national standards for fuel efficiency. The moves are aimed at reversing decisions by [the] Bush administration, which he said had stood in the way of bold action by California and other states to limit greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles. “The days of Washington dragging its heels are over,” Obama said [Washington Post].
In 2007, the EPA administrator denied requests from California and 13 other states for waivers allowing them to set stricter standards for vehicles’ carbon dioxide emissions, despite the fact that the agency’s own staff scientists recommended granting the waivers. During a signing ceremony in the East Room at the White House, Obama made it clear that he sees a pressing need to address the United States’ dependence on foreign oil and the planet-wide threat of global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions. “Year after year, decade after decade, we’ve chosen delay over decisive action. Rigid ideology has overruled sound science. Special interests have overshadowed common sense” [ABC News], he said.
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The first clinical trial of a therapy based on human embryonic stem cells has received the green light from the FDA, marking a scientific and political milestone for embryonic stem (ES) cell research. The biotech company, Geron Corporation, received approval today for a study that would inject neural stem cells into patients suffering from spinal cord injuries. The study will be mainly a test for safety, but functional improvements, which have been observed in animals trials, may be possible. “For us, it marks the dawn of a new era in medical therapeutics. This approach is one that reaches beyond pills and scalpels to achieve a new level of healing,” Geron Chief Executive Dr. Thomas Okarma said [Reuters].
ES cells are taken from embryos a few days after fertilization and have the potential to differentiate into any type of cell in the body. The undifferentiated cells can’t be used directly, because they can form cancers called teratomas. But they can be used in the lab to generate potentially inexhaustible supplies of all other types of cell[s] that might be needed for repair. The type to be used in the trial are neural stem cells called oligodendrocyte progenitor cells. These support other neurons in the brain and nerves by supplying growth factors and by producing the myelin sheaths that protect neurons from damage [New Scientist]. The FDA will allow Geron to implant these neural stem cells directly into the spinal cords of eight to ten paraplegics. The trials are expected to begin this summer, and may be carried out in multiple medical centers. The patients have not yet been recruited because the injections must take place within two weeks of the spinal cord injury, before scar tissue forms.
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