This week in European sciences -- week 10|2004
 

Overview
New Scientist writes about ecotourism, benefits and worries. The Economist looks into a black hole. Science wonders whether the Kyoto protocol will ever be signed by Russia. Die Zeit is in favour of establishing a European research council, and notes that many researchers consider their return from the U.S. to Germany/Europe. FAZ criticizes misinvestments in German federal research funding. The Guardian about drug research for the poor and developing countries. FAZ welcomes consideration about a European research council. FAZ writes about actions against the brain drain of scientists from Europe to the U.S. Dagens Nyheter about the Swedish contribution to the European spacecraft Rosetta, and a biologist how advised the Oscar-winning movie "Finding Nemo". FAZ writes about a keystone of Europe's space activities - the spacerocket Ariane. New Scientist writes about research in superflu viruses. Science about the importance of mathematics for modern biology.

Massive Growth of Ecotourism Worries Biologists

Ecotourism increases by 10 to 30 percent per year. And whale watching has become a multi-billion euros market. Anil Ananthaswamy considers the worries of biologist in New Scientist (March 6, 2004): "Many ecotourist projects are unaudited, unaccredited and merely hint they are based on environmentally friendly policies and operations. The guidelines that do exist mostly address the obvious issues such as changes in land use, cutting down trees, making tracks, or scaring wildlife."
 

New Scientist
March 6 , 2004

Ingredients for a Black Hole

'Black holes have no hair' said John Wheeler who first coined the words 'black hole'. He meant that these astronomical phenomena haven't any finer structure or details but could be described by only three number: mass, charge and angular momentum. For long astrophysicists struggled with a dilemma: What happens with information, for instance, carried by material falling into the black hole? Quantum theory states that information cannot be destroyed. Now physicists show a way out of the dilemma, writes The Economist (March 5, 2004). Samir Mathur of Ohio State University, U.S., brings string theory into business. According to him "the interior of a black hole can be thought of as a ball of strings". The approach has two benefits: The strings may take the information, and researchers get rid of the singularity as which a black hole was used to be described mathematically.
 

Economist
March 5 , 2004

Russian Economic Growth Threatens Kyoto Protocol

The international community which signed the Kyoto protocol to curb greenhouse gas emissions is still waiting for Russia. The treaty goes into action only when it's approved by as many countries as are responsible for 55 percent of global emissions. This is only achievable by the Russians, but debate is now going on about the future economic growth in Russia and it's implications for greenhouse gas emissions, reports Paul Webster in Science magazine (March 5, 2004). Since 1999 Russian economy increased on average by 6.5 percent per year. A huge unknown factor is the output of coal mines which is supposed to double in the next decade. A prognosis of the future development of the economy and correlated greenhouse emissions are in discussions. One outcome might be that a prospering economy will also boost greenhouse gas emissions beyond the limits set by the Kyoto protocol, and hence Russia won't be interested to sign in.
 

Science
March 5 , 2004

A Long Way to Champions League

The German weekly Die Zeit (March 4, 2004) again covers the topic of a unified European research council (ERC). Andreas Sentker attended the first meetings in Berlin and Brussels this week and reports on his impressions. The chance for the new ERC being established hasn't ever been better. In Principle - because European policy is still in disagreement how such an important instrument of research funding should look like. Scientists (and the author) demand for an independent "Agency of excellence", that is allowed to fund basic research of the best researchers all over Europe. But that might be a problem for smaller countries with a less developed research infrastructure, e.g. Poland, or Hungary. And the noble goal would break some "traditional rules". At the moment the EU funds only international cooperations - in future it should be allowed to fund (excellent) national groups also.
Susanne Weiss reports about the brain drain of German researchers - the drain "out of the U.S. back home". She found that more and more researchers who are working in the U.S. plan to come back. The reason for this trend: The researcher disapprove of the political situation in the U.S. and they begin to see the downsides in the U.S. research system. "Amerika is good to be a mirror but not to serve as a model", the author writes. To address the best 'brains' German foundations and the industry now established two institutions: The German scholar organisation and the German academics international network. The goal: To improve the exchange among the German scientists abroad and between potential homecomers and the job market in Germany.
 

Die Zeit
March 4 , 2004

Poor Output from Federal Research

Roughly 1.3 billion euros have been spent in 2002 for direct research funding by the different ministries of the German government. This budget is much above the sum spent for the German research foundation (DFG) or the most prominent German research institution, the Max-Planck-Society (MPG), writes Heike Schmoll in FAZ (March 4, 2004). According to Schmoll the money is hugely misinvested: About 52 federal research institution are run by the ministries mostly without any evaluation for quality. No competition. No call for tenders. No exchange with the scientific community. No networking with international partners. The federal research institutes were founded in 19th century to support the governmental decision making - now their work is driven by politics, not by science or societal aspects. Schmoll writes it is worthwhile looking at Switzerland or the Netherlands which set higher standards for competition and quality control of the state-owned research agencies.
 

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
March 4 , 2004

We're Patently Going Mad

Tim Hubbard and James Love, two scientists, bring an opinion piece in The Guardian (March 4, 2004) about the development of livesaving drugs and their availability in developing countries. Patenting issues are one obstacle for innovations resulting in new drugs and public access. Especially as in 2005 the Trips agreement on intellectual property rights will come into force. According to the authors Trips "is an unbalanced treaty, based solely on enforcing patent rights worldwide as a mechanism to reward innovation." Thus allowing monopolies leads to side effects: "The economic incentive is the freedom to charge what the market will stand, and invest in what gives the highest return, rather than in what maximises healthcare benefits." Contrary, the authors gave evidence that alternative business models can support innovation for new and cheap drugs - similar to those models in open-source software development, the human genome project or open-access publishing.
 

The Guardian
March 4 , 2004

Man U vs FC Stanford

In his report on how to strengthen European research, Christian Schwägerl welcomes three initiatives in FAZ (March 3, 2004). First, the EU commission's goal to allocate 3 percent of GDP for research by 2010 (the 'Lisbon programme' aimed at making Europe the most competitive research area on earth). Second, the goal to establish a so-called European research area (ERA) to enhance collaboration of scientists from Lisbon to Bucharest. And finally the implementation of a European research council. Recently the EU commission gave the go-ahead for considerations about such a body which is supposed to be self-organized by the scientific community and hence independent from influences by EU bureaucracy. At a meeting in Berlin this week, Lord Robert May, head of the British Royal Society, welcomed the council, although the Royal Society rejected a European research council some weeks ago. He damned the bureaucratic obstacles in EU funding at present. The council is meant to support the best in science.
 

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
March 3 , 2004

Return from Paradise

Horst Rademacher, U.S. science correspondent for FAZ, emphazises that -- although science policy makers in Europe are concerned about the so-called brain drain of scientists moving to the U.S. -- obviously many German scientists consider returning home from the former paradise of research (March 2, 2004). One reason: conditions for inspiring research are getting worse even in America. At the moment, about 14 percent of German researchers who graduated in science and engineering move to the U.S. Once there, they stay on for several reasons. For instance, they lose contact to societal developments in Germany or Europe. Also, it's difficult to scan the European job market from the U.S. Now, a non-profit organisation, the German Scholars Organisation (www.gsonet.org), wants to fill the gap. The organisation engages in deepening the communication between the migrants and home, for instance, by meetings or workshops which give information on career opportunities.
 

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
March 2 , 2004

Rosetta now Heads for Chury

The Rosetta Mission of the European Space Agency is, after a number of delays, finally on its way. Three of the eleven instruments on bord have been more or less built in Sweden. Karin Bojs introduces astrophysicist Hans Rickman, Sweden's foremost comet scientist, who has contributed a special camera lens to the Rosetta mission (February 29, 2004). The camera's purpose is to detect the composition of the comet's core. The comet with the nickname "Chury" retains in its core ice-covered particles from the cloud out of which our solar system developed.
Per Snaprud reports on how science and popular culture can work together productively (February 29, 2004). Andrew Summers an expert in fish biomechanics, consulted Pixar during the production of the hugely successful and Oscar-winning animated movie "Finding Nemo". Summers, credited in the movie as the "Fabulous Fish Guy", has been praised by many biologists for the level of the realism he has brought to the depiction of the fishes and sharks in the movie. Snaprud describes vividly which compromises Summers had to agree to in order to make the film watchable for children. For example, the movie conceals the fact that clown fish can change sex during their life. Summers is adamant that this and the lack of visible sex organs in sharks is not a sign of prudishness. According to him these were artistic decisions - these details would have distracted from the important elements of the story.
 

Dagens Nyheter
February 29, 2004

Ariane: Europe's Pride and Hope

While everybody is looking at the spacecraft Rosetta, which is scheduled to be launched in the coming days or weeks, Björn Schwentker focuses in FAZ on Sunday (February 29, 2004) on Ariane, the rocket that is the strategic nucleus of the European space activities. After two failures in 1996 and 2002 when the rockets blew up, the image of Ariane and its operator Arianespace declined while competition with Russia, China and the U.S. increased. But European ministers decided in June 2003 to spend about 1 billion euros (until the year 2009) for the Ariane-5 space programme. Actually the Ariane-5 can take two satellites, a load of 10 tonnes, into orbit. But engineers work on a follow-up technique for a maximum load of 12 tonnes. Also, the new system can lift several satellites into different orbits.
 

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
February 29, 2004

A Superflu is Being Brewed in the Lab

Rachel Nowak investigates in New Scientist (February 26, 2004) the pros and cons of creating a 'superflu virus' in the lab after the recent outbreak of the bird flu in Asia. Scientists and health officials fear that after some genetical mutation of the virus it may also infect humans. Now, researcher examine if and how this may occur. But in a worst-case scenario they may produce a virus that has the potential to kill millions of people after escaping the lab (not to mention bioterrorism), furthermore scientists may develop an infectious virus that would never have evolved in nature.
 

New Scientist
February 26, 2004

Biology by the Numbers

The interface of mathematics and biology is said by Science magazine (February 2004) as one of the hottest interdisciplinary approaches in science today. In a collection of articles (news, reviews, viewpoints) the magazine tributes to this development.
 

Science
February 2004

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