Dec. 6, 2013 - This week's consolidation of Advocacy News
News
DARPA Wants to Fix Broken Brains, Restore Lost Memories
Nov. 28, 2013 | Science Insider
As part of the BRAIN Initiative, DARPA has released two calls for grant applications that will develop wireless devices to treat neurological disorders and store motor memory loss. Geoffrey Ling, deputy director of DARPA, describes that these DARPA projects will involve a few teams per project that are approaching the translational research from different approaches.
- Join the Advocacy Network to be updated when the recording of the event “Understanding New Brain Initiatives in the U.S. and Europe” at Neuroscience 2013 is posted at SfN.org.
Europe's Horizon 2020 Ready for Rollout
Dec. 3, 2013 | Science Insider
European research ministers have approved the content and rules of the giant Horizon 2020 research funding program at a meeting of the European Union’s Competitiveness Council. This was the last necessary step before the European Commission can release the 7-year program's first calls for proposals on Dec. 11, 2013.
- For more information about science funding globally, visit SfN.org/advocacy.
NIH Research is Ailing from the Budget Squeeze
Dec. 4, 2013 | The Washington Post
Francis S. Collins, director of NIH, has been distributing a chart that shows the success rate of grant applications to NIH for scientific research has declined from 30 to 15 percent over the past ten years. This is due to, in part, a steady decline in NIH funding since 2003.
- Ask your legislators to come to a budget agreement which can support biomedical research.
Research Highlights
Fearful Memories Passed Down to Mouse Descendants
Dec. 1, 2013 | Scientific American
A study published in Nature Neuroscience suggesting that a learned fear can be passed to offspring is receiving a considerable amount of attention. SfN members Kerry Ressler and Brian Dias present data showing that conditioned mice that learned to fear a cherry blossom odor produce two subsequent generations of offspring that also exhibit fear to the same odor. Testing on the conditioned males and their F1 offspring revealed hypomethylation on a specific odorant-receptor gene of interest. The authors suggest that their findings provide a "framework for addressing how environmental information may be inherited".
- Read the full Nature Neuroscience article.
Opinion
As Government Support Tightens, Scientists Must Become Better Communicators
Nov. 27, 2013 | Forbes
The article explains that as government cuts are made to science funding, scientists become averse to proposing risky projects. The author argues that better explained progress in portfolios of federally funded projects would help justify NIH’s budget.
- Exercise your communication skills by writing an op-ed or a letter to the editor.
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