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Office of Science and Technology Policy Blog

  • Study Finds Ocean Acidification Rate is Highest in 300 Million Years, CO2 is Culprit

    Posted by Jerry Miller and Tom Armstrong on March 13, 2012 at 1:27 PM EDT

    A new study concludes that the current rate of ocean acidification is higher than at any time in at least the last 300 million years and attributes this ecosystem-threatening change to the huge quantities of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere from fossil-fuel burning and deforestation. The study’s investigators, at Columbia University and other institutions, scrutinized Earth’s geologic record for times in ancient history when natural events such as intensive volcanic activity may have similarly led to CO2 releases or ocean acidification. Although none of those ancient chemical changes appear to have been as extreme as those occurring today, there is nonetheless evidence that they contributed to serious ecological disruptions. That suggests that current trends similarly pose serious threats to marine ecosystems, the researchers conclude in the journal Science.

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  • Less Paperwork, More Research: Improving Federal Grant Policies

    Posted by Kelsey Cook on March 13, 2012 at 10:42 AM EDT

    As home to some of the Nation’s best research teams and laboratories, colleges and universities are critical players in the Obama Administration’s strategy for boosting domestic innovation and global competitiveness through cutting-edge research as well as through their role in training the American workforce of tomorrow. But achieving scientific and technological advancement is difficult when university administrators and faculty members are bogged down with bureaucratic responsibilities rather than focusing on the grand challenges ahead—or when research institute budgets are squandered on wasteful compliance with outdated or unjustified Federal requirements.

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  • Electric Vehicle Grand Challenge Targets Technology and Cost Breakthroughs

    Posted by Cristin Dorgelo and Tom Kalil on March 7, 2012 at 8:14 PM EDT

    Today, President Obama and Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced the launch of EV Everywhere, an electric vehicle Grand Challenge that seeks to make electric vehicles as affordable and convenient to own and drive as today’s gasoline-powered vehicles within a decade.

    This is the second in a series of Clean Energy Grand Challenges to be announced by the Department of Energy (DOE). The first in the series, already underway, is the $1/watt SunShot Grand Challenge, which seeks to make solar power directly cost-competitive with electricity from fossil fuels by 2020. 

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  • Training New High-Tech Workers for Summer Jobs+

    Posted by Chris Vein and Brian Forde on March 7, 2012 at 4:47 PM EDT

    In January, President Obama announced Summer Jobs + to support low-income and disconnected youth by providing pathways for summer internships and training. Jon Bon Jovi, a member of the White House Council for Community Solutions, decided to take action in his private capacity and challenge technology companies to “educate and train young people who might not ordinarily consider a career in technology.”  Today, Jon Bon Jovi and technology companies Gilt Groupe, GroupMe and Onswipe are announcing their commitment to support Summer Jobs+ through the SummerQAmp initiative. SummerQAmp will train a new workforce in high-tech skills and help create tech jobs for American youth by providing software quality assurance internships.

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  • Poll Shows More Americans Accept Global Warming, Say Seeing is Believing

    Posted by Phil Duffy and Becky Fried on March 6, 2012 at 11:14 AM EDT

    Polling results released last week by the University of Michigan and Muhlenberg College (Pennsylvania) show that, compared to previous surveys, the largest majority of Americans in years now believe global warming is occurring. Sixty two percent of respondents to the December 2011 National Survey of American Public Opinion on Climate Change (NSAPOCC) agreed there is “solid evidence” that Earth has been getting warmer over the past four decades—a marked increase from 55 percent just half a year earlier.

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  • Women Advance Science and Technology in the Middle East and North Africa

    Posted by Joan Rolf and Caron De Mars on March 5, 2012 at 3:44 PM EDT

    [Editor's note:  Check out the full list of the 2012 and all inductees at http://jordan.usembassy.gov/wshf_2012.html]

    Following the President’s 2009 New Beginnings Speech in Cairo, the State Department’s Middle East and North Africa Environment, Science, Technology, and Health Office—based in the U.S. Embassy in Amman, Jordan—initiated the “Women in Science Hall of Fame.” Through the Hall of Fame program, the Embassy each year recognizes 12 women for their outstanding work in such diverse scientific disciplines as physics, cancer research, biotechnology, marine biology—even science- and technology-related entrepreneurship.  These outstanding women – winners so far have come from Egypt, Bahrain, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia,  Israel, U.A.E., Oman, Jordan, Yemen, the Palestinian Territories, Saudi Arabia, and  Iraq – are making a difference in their countries and around the world, not only directly through their work but also by inspiring girls to study science and become the next generation of innovators.

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