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• Innovative China I've recently returned from Beijing, where I spoke at the launch of the OECD's review of China's innovation system. Most of the movers and shakers in Chinese S&T policy were present, and there was some lively debate about the balance between 'indigenous innovation' and the need for more international collaboration.I've written a comment piece in today's China Daily which summarises what I said at the OECD event, building on the arguments in our Atlas of Ideas report. The National Science... from : jameswilsdon 11th September 2007
• Making sense of hybrids Tomorrow is a big day for science governance anoraks. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority are deciding (in public) whether to allow research on hybrid embryos. The novelty is that their decision comes after months of deliberation - some public, some private, in newspapers and in staged engagement experiments - among experts, policymakers and the public. For the last couple of years, we at Demos have been speaking to all sorts of organisations, including the HFEA, about how they... from : jackstilgoe 4th September 2007
• Nanodialogues Depending who you ask, nanotechnology might be the Next Big Thing, the Next Asbestos or the Next GM. But before its impacts have been felt, nanotechnology has become a test case for a new sort of governance. It is an opportunity to reimagine the relationship between science and democracy. from : markfuller 28th June 2007
• China fears brain drain as its overseas students stay put | Students | EducationGuardian.co.uk China suffers the worst brain drain in the world, according to a new study that found seven out of every 10 students who enrol in an overseas university never return to live in their homeland. from : tomrichardson 4th June 2007
• A new social contract for science? In these final days of Tony Blair’s premiership, there is widespread speculation about the changes in policy that his successor will introduce. Science is one area being tipped for a shakeup, perhaps through the creation of a new ministry, or a merger with education and skills. Tinkering with the machinery of government is one way of signaling a fresh start, but will such changes be accompanied by any more fundamental reappraisal of the changing social and political context for science?... from : jackstilgoe 14th May 2007
• All Talk? Nanotechnologies and public engagement Demos, Involve and the Science and Democracy Network invite you to join us for a day of discussion on Tuesday 26 June. From 09:30 to 15:30, we will be launching two reports, which present the results of the public engagement that has taken place in the UK through the Nanodialogues project and the Nanotechnology Engagement GroupIn 2004, the Royal Society and Royal Academy of Engineering published a groundbreaking report on nanotechnologies, and called for more public debate. Three years on,... from : jackstilgoe 14th May 2007
• 'Real Science' NESTA report (pdf) NESTA report of science teaching: argues for more experimentation and sense of discovery in learning. from : duncanoleary 2nd April 2007
• The science we need, the science we want The Council for Science and Technology - Government's highest-level science advisory group - have this morning published their review of progress on nano policy. Broadly the message is... good work on the public engagement and standard setting but two thumbs down for funding far too few nanotoxicity studies. As is so often the case with science policy's unclear lines of responsibility, the buck has been passed along. The Science Minister was on the Today programme arguing that the money was... from : jackstilgoe 28th March 2007
• Inconvenient uncertainties Finally caught the Channel 4 climate change debunking last night. Smelt bad from the start and the stink only got worse. But a fascinating deconstruction (someone French once called this "blowing up in slow motion"). It showed that the current winners ("swindlers") of the climate change debate have a fragile position. The evidence is massively in their favour, but they're just not as good at talking about uncertainty as their Exxon-funded chums, who argue through polished... from : jackstilgoe 13th March 2007
• Another normal disaster I'm fascinated that we apparently already know what caused the derailment in Cumbria. Some bars separating the point blades broke and the inspection to check they were OK didn't happen. Job done.  Blaim laid. Except that accidents are always, always more complicated and more interesting than that. I've just been having another look at Normal Accidents by Charles Perrow, emeritus Yale Sociology professor. It's a wonderful book, written in 1984, post-Three Mile Island but pre-Chernobyl and... from : jackstilgoe 26th February 2007

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