The month in science

Cosmic Valentine
January 25, 2012
The Valley of Death refers to the often insuperable gap between a scientific idea and its transformation into a moneyspinning venture. Keen to bridge this gap, the government is consulting on how it can keep good ideas commercially alive (a cluster of biotech companies went bust a few years ago) and within these shores. The structure of DNA was elucidated in Cambridge but its applications largely exploited in the United States. The Commons Science and Technology Committee invites contributions by those who can explain what the barriers to commercialisation are, whether the government’s current policies are a help or hindrance and whether we need more venture capitalists (email scitechcom@parliament.uk by 8th February).

Anne Glover is settling into her new post as the European Union’s first chief scientific adviser—more than two years after the European Commission first pledged to create the job. The Aberdeen University biologist, formerly CSA to the Scottish government, will advise on European policy proposals, strategic emergency planning and controversial issues; she will also be a cheerleader for European science (in the current funding round, the European Commission spent €53bn on research).

With Valentine’s Day looming, one particular union is looking rocky: that between the European Space Agency (ESA) and Nasa. The American agency usually chips in to the ESA’s big missions in return for some of the data, but it has now claimed penury and deemed the ESA’s science goals low priority. As a result, the ESA will go it alone for its next big mission, due for selection in February and launch around 2020; the competing proposals are to study black holes, gravitational waves, or Jupiter’s moons. I could craft a pun about a transatlantic relationship disappearing into the void because the pull of attraction is no longer there, but… ah, too late.