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Officials from the National Science Foundation tried to conceal the spending of millions of taxpayer dollars on research and development for artificial intelligence tools used to censor political speech and influence the outcome of elections, according to a new congressional report. The report looking into the National Science Foundation (NSF) is the latest addition to a growing body of evidence that critics claim shows federal officials—especially at the FBI and the CIA—are creating a “censorship-industrial complex” to monitor American public expression and suppress speech disfavored by the government. “In the name of combatting alleged misinformation regarding COVID-19 and the 2020...

ACCELERATING UNITED STATES R&D: In a time of great power competition, President Trump’s FY 2021 Budget puts America in position to maintain its global leadership in science and technology for generations to come. President Trump’s FY 2021 Budget invests $142.2 billion in Federal research and development (R&D), a 6 percent increase over his FY 2020 budget.The President’s Budget prioritizes the Industries of the Future, and commits to double R&D spending in nondefense artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum information science (QIS) by 2022. President Trump is the first President in American history to include AI and QIS as Administration R&D priorities. Since...

First quick highlights -- Islamic School Teacher Accused of ‘Horrific’ Sexual Abuse Against Teen Girls... (Florida manhunt) -- Document shows feds fear airborne Ebola -- News Blackout on New Ebola Tests Tightens -- Update: Voting Machines Keep Changing Votes [R] into [D] [Ill & M] -- Obama's Border Policy Fueled [another] Epidemic, Evidence Shows -- Scientists See Ebola Cases In Every Major U.S. City Possible By Year’s End -- Ebola response ignores history’s lessons: Risks from AIDS were discounted and thousands died [Washington Times] -- DOJ’s Fast and Furious Prequel: Failed Grenade-Running Operation o o o o Here's a headline...

Scores of Democrats rebuffed the White House and their own leadership on Friday, voting for a bill to permanently extend a tax cut encouraging companies to invest in research and development. The vote passed 274-131, with 62 Democrats breaking with their party to vote with all but one Republican to pass the bill. President Barack Obama’s administration and House Democratic leaders had panned the bill because it does not offset the cost of the tax credits. The administration issued a veto threat earlier this week. The defections are particularly striking because at a private meeting immediately preceding the vote, House...

* No more new drugs today than 60 years ago * Diversification push as blockbusters stumble * 200,000 jobs could go across the industry * Can biotech and contract research pick up the pieces? LONDON, June 16 (Reuters) - At just 28, Duncan Casey has already been from the university science bench to the world of Big Pharma research and back again. Now working in an Imperial College lab tucked behind London's famous Science Museum, he has no illusions about the prospects for researchers in the pharmaceutical industry. "The unit I used to work in -- GlaxoSmithKline's place in Harlow...

Major U.S. companies are cutting jobs and wages. But many are still spending on innovation. Wary of emerging from the recession with obsolete products, big U.S. companies spent nearly as much on research and development in the dismal last quarter of 2008 as they did a year earlier, even as their revenue fell 7.7%, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis. The sampling looked at 28 of the largest U.S. R&D spenders, excluding deeply troubled auto makers and the drug industry, where R&D spending is dictated by government requirements. Big R&D spenders say they've learned from past downturns that they...

If I told you that improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were the leading cause of U.S. casualties in Iraq, you'd expect the Pentagon would have mounted a major R&D effort to defeat this threat. And you'd be right. If I told you that helicopter crashes and shoot-downs were the leading cause of U.S. casualties in Afghanistan, you'd expect the Pentagon would have mounted a major R&D to defeat that threat as well. But you'd be wrong. Helicopter losses are the No. 1 cause of U.S. casualties in high-altitude, mountainous Afghanistan and the third leading cause in Iraq. Yet Pentagon R&D spending...

Baby Boomer Retirements Could Trigger A&D Engineering Crisis By Joseph C. Anselmo Dire warnings of an aerospace brain drain have been issued for so many years that it's easy to tune them out. Four years ago, a presidential commission predicted a "devastating loss of skill, experience and intellectual capital." Across the U.S., CEOs say the industry is not attracting nearly enough young engineers to replace the baby boomers that will start retiring in large numbers in the next few years. This magazine sounded the alarm in 1999, then 2000 and again in 2003.Yet the aerospace and defense (A&D) industry has...

China is threatening America's lead in technology By Ernest Hollings and Charles McMillion Financial Times, January 15, 2007 China's soaring spending on technology research and development now exceeds that of Japan. An authoritative recent study shows that if current trends continue, China's R&D spending will pass the European Union in four years and the US in seven. If China's spending continues to accelerate or if the US rate slows, China could be the world's leader even sooner. Make no mistake: with China's much larger population and lower production costs, the only way the US can maintain its high standard of...

News FocusRESEARCH FUNDING: China Bets Big on Big Science Hao Xin and Gong Yidong* Science, March 17, 2006 For a few lucky research fields, a new government road map for science is like winning the lottery BEIJING--He Fuchu, a major general in the People's Liberation Army, is combat ready. "Advanced countries compete fiercely to control the high ground in protein research," says He, using military jargon to describe his primary objective as director of the Beijing Protein Research Center. Now He, a vice president of the Chinese Academy of Military Medical Sciences, is about to get a substantial war chest...

Speech by Janez Potočnik made at Harvard University on the 26th of October 2006: "Scientific and Research Challenges for Europe within a Globalised World Janez Potočnik European Commissioner for Science and Research Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies Harvard University, MA 26 October 2006 Ladies and Gentlemen, Good afternoon, Let me start by saying it is a pleasure to be back in the US. It's also nice to be addressing a roomful of students again – it takes me back to my days when I taught at university in my home country, Slovenia. But don't feel obliged to take...

How do you detect a suicide bomber from afar? It's as easy as testing the air above his head for traces of explosives. How do you do that? A new german government program is working on a method along with numerous other high-tech, anti-terror systems.

BURLINGTON, Vt. --A former University of Vermont College of Medicine professor was ordered Wednesday to serve a year and a day in federal prison for using false data to obtain federal research grants. Eric Poehlman, 50, who left UVM in 2001 for the University of Montreal and was fired from there amid revelations about his scientific misconduct, will serve the sentence at a federal prison work camp in Maryland. An official with the National Institutes of Health said Poehlman's case marked the first time a researcher would serve time in prison for falsifying data to obtain federal grants. (snap) Poehlman,...

GE's Alternative Engine Program Also Facing Hiccups During Development By David A. Fulghum 06/02/2006 Developing an engine with all the necessary power and flexibility to both fly supersonic and then land - vertically - a stealthy, bomb-carrying fighter is proving to be a tough proposition for all the engine companies involved. Officials at General Electric, developer of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter's alternate engine program, confirmed that they've had problems with a prototype engine that was designed in conjunction with partner Rolls-Royce. Its role is to test advanced parts destined for use in a more mature System Development and Demonstration...

You read this magazine religiously, watch CNBC while dressing for work, scan the Web for economic reports. You've heard, over and over, about the underlying problems with the U.S. economy -- the paltry investment rate, the yawning current account deficit, the pathetic amount Americans salt away. And you know what the experts are saying: that the U.S. faces a perilous economic future unless we cut back on spending and change our profligate ways. Rest at link. But what if we told you that the doomsayers, while not definitively wrong, aren't seeing the whole picture? What if we told you that...

The European Union’s record on innovation is so poor that it would take more than 50 years to catch up with the US, according to a survey presented by the European Commission on Thursday. The Innovation Scoreboard compares the performance of the 25 EU countries with the US, Japan and several other nations, and ranks them according to factors such as the number of science and engineering graduates, patents, research and development spending and exports of high-tech products. The survey finds that only four EU countries – Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Germany – can compete with the US and Japan...

IBM has announced an agreement establishing an Indian outsourcing company, HCL Technologies, as the first design center outside IBM's own walls for its Power Architecture chips. The deal highlights India's growing role in the design of high- end chips. The country is better known as a hub for outsourcing of software development and comparatively low-end back-office work. The agreement, announced Thursday, is also in line with IBM's plan to adopt a more open strategy in its microprocessor business by setting up design centers around the world to help customers in areas like wireless technologies, consumer devices and networking by developing...

India's huge network of state-run laboratories in diverse fields and growing private sector investment in research and development are attracting multinationals to set research base in the country. In recent years, a growing number of giants like Microsoft and General Electric (GE) have set up research hubs in India to take advantage of lower costs and the young talent pool to develop cutting edge technologies. VS Ramamurthy, secretary in the science and technology department, told IANS: "While the government accounts for over 80 percent of investment in research and development, the increasing risk-taking appetite of the private sector for innovation...

With its innovation spending soaring last year, Korea ranked first in terms of growth in research and development investment. Korea saw a sweeping increase in R&D expenditure with its leading companies increasing their innovation investment by 40 percent last year, U.K.'s Department of Trade and Industry's R&D Scoreboard 2005 revealed yesterday. The country's largest carmaker Hyundai Motor Co. saw its R&D budget more than double over last year's to $1.73 billion, while Samsung Electronics Co. boosted its R&D spending by 77 percent over the last four years with $4.44 billion in total. Eleven Korean companies were included in the list...

BANGALORE, India — India and Japan signed three agreements Wednesday (Aug. 24) during a ministerial forum to identify possible joint ventures and stand-alone projects in broadband, mobile communication, information security, R&D and ubiquitous computing. The pact was signed in New Delhi by India’s communications and information technology minister, Dayanidhi Maran, and Taro Aso, Japan’s minister of internal affairs and communications. The partners will form government-industry working groups to propose a detailed plan to implement programs. India’s Center for Development of Telematics, Center for Development of Advanced Computing and the Indian Institute of Technology will undertake joint programs in R&D and...