Earlier this month the House of Representatives passed HR. 5326, the FY 2013 Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations Bill. Before doing so, Members voted on 63 amendments to the bill, of which 36 were adopted. Among those amendments that the House approved was one offered by Rep. Chip Cravaack, a first term Republican representing Minnesota’s 8th District. Under his amendment, funding was eliminated for the National Science Foundation’s Climate Change Education Program in FY 2013.. The Climate Change Education Program is a cross-cutting program administered by the foundation’s Research and Related Activities, and Education and Human Resources directorates. The current budget is $10.0 million; the Administration requested $6.3 million for FY 2013. A foundation document states: “The Climate Change Education Partnership (CCEP) program seeks to establish ... Continue reading →

Good news, flute fans. You have prehistoric company -- flutes go back at least 42,000 years, longer ago than previously reported, report archaeologists looking at the likely era of the first modern human occupation of Europe. In an upcoming report in the Journal of Human Evolution, led by carbon dating expert Thomas Higham of the United Kingdom's University of Oxford, experts reanalyzed Stone-Age artifacts from Geißenklösterle cave in southwestern Germany.The "Aurignacian" artifacts found at the cave site have long been associated with modern humans, rather than our Neandertal cousins who populated Europe for hundreds of thousands of years before dying out around 30,000 years ago. Geißenklösterle cave lies in the "former Danube Valley through which the Ach River flows today," notes the study. And its ... Continue reading →

Joshua Buck Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100 jbuck@nasa.gov Alan Zack X Prize Foundation, Playa Vista, Calif. 310-741-4880 alan.zack@xprize.org May 24, 2012 RELEASE : 12-168 NASA Offers Guidelines To Protect Historic Sites On The Moon WASHINGTON -- NASA and the X Prize Foundation of Playa Vista, Calif., announced Thursday the Google Lunar X Prize is recognizing guidelines established by NASA to protect lunar historic sites and preserve ongoing and future science on the moon. The foundation will take the guidelines into account as it judges mobility plans submitted by 26 teams vying to be the first privately-funded entity to visit the moon. NASA recognizes that many spacefaring nations and commercial entities are on the verge of landing spacecraft on the moon. The agency engaged in a cooperative dialogue ... Continue reading →

SpaceX's Dragon capsule has completed early check-out tests on its demonstration supply run to the space station. Early Wednesday morning, the cargo ship closed to within 1.6 miles of the space station, which orbiting some 230 miles above the Earth. Dragon linked communications with station astronauts, who turned the cargo ship's strobe light on-and-off remotely."Dragon has been performing well, but the most difficult aspects of the mission are still ahead," says a SpaceX statement.Today, the cargo capsule will undertake a fly-around of the space station, circling it at a 6.2 mile distance and then returning to its holding position 1.6 miles beneath the orbiting lab.On Friday, NASA will make a "go/no-go" decision on whether Dragon will close to within 32 feet of the space station, ... Continue reading →

What's the most useless waste of time, money, and fuel that you can think of? A NASCAR race? A Star Trek convention? The Burning Man festival? Well, right up there with those obvious granfalloons is the recent NATO summit in Chicago. I've now read the official statements and White House press releases, and it's tempting to see the whole thing as a subtle insult to our collective intelligence. To paraphrase Churchill, never have so many world leaders flown so far to accomplish so little. Along with the usual boilerplate, there were three big items on the summit agenda. First, the assembled leaders announced that NATO will end the war in Afghanistan by the summer of 2013, and gradually turn security over to the Afghans themselves. ... Continue reading →

George “Jay” Keyworth never fit the traditional mold of the modern presidential science adviser. Except for his background as a physicist, the young, straight-talking conservative who served President Ronald Reagan was a far cry from the seasoned, blend-into-the-background men (there’s never been a woman in the job) who held the portfolio for Democratic Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama. This week, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) invited four past and present presidential science advisers to explore the challenges of communicating science to their bosses, peers, politicians, and the public. The 2-day symposium was the first public event held in the renovated National Academies’ headquarters across from the National Mall in downtown Washington, D.C. But Keyworth wasn’t on stage. Instead, the panel consisted ... Continue reading →

The House version of a defense authorization bill would effectively block the ability of the administration from enacting a space code of conduct without Congressional consent. (credit: J. Foust)Separation of powers battle over a space code of conduct heats up by Michael ListnerMonday, May 21, 2012 Last week, the House of Representatives debated H.R.4310, the Defense Department authorization act for fiscal year 2013. The bill contains a provision concerning the implementation of a code of conduct for outer space activities. Specifically, Section 913 prohibits the Department of Defense from uses funds to implement an international agreement on space activities that has not been ratified by the Senate or otherwise authorized by federal statute. In H.R. 4310, Congress is taking a different approach to prevent implementation ... Continue reading →

Senior Investigations Editor - new Apply Now Company: National Public Radio (npr) Location: Washington, DC Date Posted: May 23, 2012 Senior Investigations Editor Job Location: US-DC-Washington Division: News & Information Type: Regular Full-Time Travel: 0-25% Union: No Overview: A thriving, mission-driven multimedia organization, NPR produces award-winning news, information, and music programming in partnership with hundreds of independent public radio stations across the nation. NPR listeners value information, creativity, curiosity, and social responsibility our employees do too. We are innovators and leaders in diverse fields, from journalism and digital media to IT and development. Every day, our employees and member stations touch the lives of millions worldwide. Role Summary: The Senior Investigations Editor leads investigative, enterprise and accountability reporting at NPR for both broadcast anddigital. The... ... Continue reading →