Jan. 17, 2014 - This Week's Consolidation of Advocacy News
News
House Approves Bipartisan Spending Bill
Jan. 15, 2014 | Politico
The House passed the spending bill with bipartisan support and is now off to the Senate for debate. The article calls attention to the funding appropriated to non-defense discretionary spending. The bill allocated $29.9 billion, restoring $1 billion of the $1.7 billion sequestration cut, but falling short of pre-sequestration levels by $714 million. The National Science Foundation’s budget was set at nearly $7.2 billion, indicating an increase of $287 million over sequestration levels.
- Learn about the appropriations process by watching “From Congress to Your Lab: How Federal Funding Affects Your Science”
Fattah Highlights Neuroscience Investment in 2014 Bipartisan Congressional Spending Bill
Jan. 15, 2014 | Digital Journal
Congressman Chaka Fattah (D-PA), a senior member on the House Appropriations Committee and a strong advocate for neuroscience research, expressed support of the spending bill that passed in the House noting the specific investments in cognitive science and neuroscience research.
SfN to Launch New Open Access, Online Journal for Emerging Brain Research
Jan. 14, 2014 | SfN
The Society for Neuroscience announced that a new open-access, online-only journal for reporting brain research, could launch as early as this fall.
Articles of Interest
Rodent Empathy is Environmental and Not Genetic, Study Shows
Jan. 14, 2014 | Washington Post
SfN member and chair of the Ethics Committee, Peggy Mason, is highlighted in this article that describes her work showing that social behavior is shaped by a mammal's familiarity with a particular phenotype or "look." In her research, rats that were raised in litters that were of another strain (say putting an albino pup in with pups that have black fur) were more likely to help strangers that looked like their littermates than they were to help strangers that looked like themselves.
- Find more information for the public with an interest in research to elucidate the drivers behind social interactions at BrainFacts.org.
Coffee May Boost Brain's Ability to Store Long-Term Memories, Study Claims
Jan. 12, 2014 | The Guardian
A new study published in Nature Neuroscience shows that caffeine can help people form memories when taken after a learning event. This work, done in part by SfN member Michael Yassa, helps to clarify the debate on the role of caffeine and long term memory.
- Watch "Sketch of a Memory," the video that tied for second place in the 2013 Brain Awareness Video Contest.
Opinion
R&D Funding is the Best Medicine
Jan. 13, 2014 | Politico Magazine
Paul Stoffels, chief science officer at Johnson & Johnson and Alan Leshner, CEO of American Association for the Advancement of Science, believe that the relief given to research and development in the spending bill release this week doesn't go far enough to repair the damage done by years of declining funding.
- Consider setting up a meeting with your legislature to make your case for science!
No Peeking...
Jan. 11, 2014 | The Economist
Publishing company Elsevier is using the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to restrict scientists from sharing finalized versions of their articles on their personal websites adding more fire to the conversion about open access.
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