“… Anti-science attitudes are far from unusual amongst the Arts & Humanities fraternity, which I think is a real shame. After all, you’ll have to work very hard to find a scientist who would be prepared to stand up in front of audience and proudly announce ‘I hate art’ …” (more)
[In the Dark, 20 March]
“The failure of the new FG/Labour coalition to appoint a Junior Minister for science is very disappointing. It is in contrast to the previous administration who, although they did a lot of things wrong, had a junior minister with responsibility for ‘Science, Technology & Innovation’ …” (more)
[Eoin Lettice, Communicate Science, 10 March]
“The major section dealing with science and innovation policy reads as follows (pp 9-10): ‘Innovation and Commercialisation: We will implement innovation and commercialisation policies as outlined below subject to cost benefit analysis …’” (more)
[Shane O’Mara, Irishscience, 7 March]
“Barack and Michelle Obama recently invited Amy Chyao, a 16-year-old high-school junior from Texas who is working on a new cancer treatment, and Mikayla Nelson, a high-school freshman from Montana who designed an innovative solar-powered car, to sit in the first lady’s box during the president’s State of the Union Address. It was a nice gesture, but the president didn’t tell the truth about the girls …” (more)
[Shankar Vedantam, Slate, 1 March]
“Dublin’s role as City of Science will bring benefits to Ireland and raise our international standing in research …” (more)
[Conor O’Carroll, Irish Times, 24 February]
“A report from the Goldman Sachs Global Markets Institute says student interest in science and engineering (S&E) is low in G-7 countries, suggesting that these markets are likely to have difficulty replacing an ageing cohort of native-born scientists and engineers …” (more)
[Michael Hennigan, Finfacts, 17 February]
“A new paper in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences argues that it is time to shift the discussion on the relatively small number of women in some math and science disciplines. The paper, by Stephen J Ceci and Wendy M Williams, both of Cornell University, argues that formal discrimination is no longer a significant factor in hiring and related decisions …” (more)
[Inside Higher Ed, 9 February]
“If you’re plugged into the science blogtwitosphere, then you surely know that the topic of women science bloggers has been written about extensively. Rather than re-hash what many others have said, I’ll direct you to these posts by Kate Clancy and Daniel Lende …” (more)
[Jason G Goldman, The Thoughtful Animal, 28 January]
“Should the University of Kentucky have hired a qualified astronomer to lead their new observatory, despite his strong religious views and his public doubts about evolution? Or was their decision to pass him over discrimination? Alas for those who would relish a public hashing out of these thorny questions, a lawsuit over the matter has been settled …” (more)
[Emma Marris, The Great Beyond, 19 January]
“Ireland may see its first film festival dedicated specifically to science subjects next summer. University College Dublin (UCD) is behind the project, and it hopes to screen a collection of films during Dublin’s stint as European City of Science in July 2012 …” (more)
[Dick Ahlstrom, Irish Times, 19 January]
“Why there are so few women in science? Or to be more precise, why are there so few women in the physical sciences, and so few at the top of any field? …” (more)
[Elizabeth Gibney, Research Blogs, 17 January]
“In the slipstream of the Hunt Report on college fees and the university landscape, Siliconrepublic.com editor John Kennedy draws inspiration from the 47th BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition, where once again ingenuity shone forth …” (more)
[Silicon Republic, 17 January]
“The science content of a degree needed to teach physics or chemistry is being changed after a review found the two elements were not sufficient. A Teaching Council review panel said accreditation for the programme at University of Limerick should be conditional on a satisfactory review of the chemistry and physics elements …” (more)
[Niall Murray, Irish Examiner, 14 January]
“As readers of this blog have no doubt sensed by now, the number of retractions per year seems to be on the rise. We feel that intuitively as we uncover more and more of them, but there are also data to suggest this is true …” (more)
[Ivan Oransky, Retraction Watch, 13 January]
“It has been an exciting time for scientific progress. Tom Chivers selects the highlights …” (more)
[Daily Telegraph, 28 December]
“Yesterday’s budget speech by Finance Minister Brian Lenihan included little to cheer about from a section of society. That being said, there was some slightly positive rumblings with regard to science and science funding …” (more)
[Eoin Lettice, Communicate Science, 8 December]
“The organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) survey results are a ‘shocking indication of how our education system fails to perform at the most basic levels’, Labour’s Ruairí Quinn said last night …” (more)
[Seán Flynn, Irish Times, 8 December]
“The latest OECD findings expose the Irish education system for what it is – a lot less successful than we like to tell ourselves. In the dark days – and there has been a good number of late – we could at least find comfort in the quality of our education system …” (more)
[Sean Flynn, Irish Times, 8 December]
“The ranking of Irish students in literacy and maths has fallen dramatically in the latest OECD survey. The results, described as ‘disappointing’’ by Minister for Education Mary Coughlan, contradict the common perception that Ireland enjoys a ‘world-class’ education system …” (more)
[Seán Flynn, Irish Times, 8 December]
“The latest results from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) are out and Ireland does not do too well. Sean Flynn has a fairly trenchant take on it. While I don’t necessarily agree with everything he says, he makes some good points …” (more)
[Kevin Denny, Geary Behavioural Economics Blog, 8 December]
Ninth Level Ireland 