Posted by Later this week, the U.S. Senate will consider H.R. 1, the federal budget bill approved by the House of Representatives earlier this month. The bill calls for $60 billion in budget cuts, including massive reductions within the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science. Left intact, the cuts would effectively end America’s status as the…
Building a Clean Energy Economy University Research Essential to Transformational Changes Raymond L. Orbach Director, Energy Institute at UT Austin In his recent State of the Union address, President Obama challenged the nation to produce 80% of the country’s electricity from clean energy sources by 2035. Such investments are critical, he said, because “the nation…
The most recent attempt to establish universal standards for ethical issues in global science was developed as part of the 2nd World Conference on Research Integrity, held 21-24 July 2010, in Singapore. The “Singapore Statement on Research Integrity” seeks to set forth a set of principles and accompanying responsibilities to guide ethics in science on…
Elementary school children are taught that photosynthesis is the basis for life on Earth. Plants take carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, water and sunlight, and produce useful chemical energy – their “fuel” for growth and reproduction. But is it possible to create synthetic photosynthesis? Scientists at the University of Texas at Austin believe it…
As scientists assess mounting evidence of a new geologic epoch where human activities will largely control the evolution of our Earth’s environment, they have coined this epoch, “The Anthropocene.” Don’t look now, but you’re living in it. What we don’t know is whether our influence on climate during the Anthropocene will be a short-term, relatively…
