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Science and Policy

May 01, 2012

Lewis Branscomb, a former IBM vice president, has given $1 million to the Union of Concerned Scientists to create a Center for Science and Democracy, reports the Nature News Blog. "We do not want to replicate what others are already doing well," says Kevin Knobloch, the president of UCS. "We'll be a hybrid between a university and a think tank, and more aggressively apply the scholarship." The center has raised $1.5 million and aims to reach an annual budget of $4 million. It plans to host talks on the role of science in government and forums on topics like FDA user fees and more, Nature adds. The center is to open later this month.

Breaking News
The Scan

Pig Organ Transplants Considered

The Wall Street Journal reports that the US Food and Drug Administration may soon allow clinical trials that involve transplanting pig organs into humans.

'Poo-Bank' Proposal

Harvard Medical School researchers suggest people should bank stool samples when they are young to transplant when they later develop age-related diseases.

Spurred to Develop Again

New Scientist reports that researchers may have uncovered why about 60 percent of in vitro fertilization embryos stop developing.

Science Papers Examine Breast Milk Cell Populations, Cerebral Cortex Cellular Diversity, Micronesia Population History

In Science this week: unique cell populations found within breast milk, 100 transcriptionally distinct cell populations uncovered in the cerebral cortex, and more.