Supreme Court rules natural genes not patentable : The Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Thursday, June 13th, that Myriad Genomics Inc. may not retain exclusive rights to the use of DNA sequence information for breast cancer associated genes BRCA1 and BRCA2, stating that Myriad had not created anything new in identifying the genes. Continue reading →

ESA Policy News: June 14 : Here are some highlights from the latest ESA Policy News by Science Policy Analyst Terence Houston. Read the full Policy News here. EDUCATION: STEM REORGANIZATION EFFORT MEETS BIPARTISAN CRITICISM On June 4, the House Science, Space and Technology Committee convened for Continue reading →

ESA2013 Science Cafe Prize — call for submissions! : Have you ever wanted to escape the conference center during the ESA Annual Meeting and talk science with the locals? This August at the 98th Annual Meeting in Minneapolis, we are launching a Science Café – a chance to tell local pub-goers about your ecological passions in a casual environment. Continue reading →

Water for the trees : Saving forests from drought as the climate warms. Drought complicates the big problems afflicting modern forests. Gordon Grant, Christina Tague, and Craig Allen think that mitigating drought stress should be an active priority for management of US public forests – in keeping with the US Forest Service mission to “improve and protect the forest” and “secure favorable conditions of water flows”. Continue reading →

EU reforms fishing policies : By Peter Janetos, ESA public affairs intern As noted in a New York Times article on May 30, 2013 a unanimous agreement between all 27 European Union (EU) member states will reform and change current fishing policies to make fishing Continue reading →

ESA Policy News: March 22

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Terence Houston — No Comments ↓

Here are some highlights from the latest ESA Policy News by Science Policy Analyst Terence Houston. Read the full Policy News here. APPROPRIATIONS: CONGRESS PASSES MEASURE FUNDING GOVERNMENT THROUGH FY 2013 This week, Congress passed H.R. 933, a Continuing Resolution (CR) Continue reading →

Reviving extinct genetic diversity #Resurrection Ecology

Posted on March 21, 2013 by Nadine Lymn — 3 Comments ↓

Is it time to define a new field? By Nadine Lymn, ESA public affairs director This is the first in a series of EcoTone posts on a recent TEDxDeExtinction event. You can watch the presentations, hosted by the National Geographic Continue reading →

New strategic vision for field stations and marine labs

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Liza Lester — No Comments ↓

Field stations and marine labs take on the future of science In this guest post, Ian Billick, PhD, introduces the new strategic vision, released today, for the disparate network of field stations and marine labs. Recommendations include creating virtual access Continue reading →

Educators & scientists to swap ideas for a robust biology classroom

Posted on March 11, 2013 by Nadine Lymn — No Comments ↓

By Nadine Lymn, ESA director of public affairs Say you’re a plant biologist who wants to devise educational components for your research project but you’re not sure what might work well for high school students. Or say you’re a high Continue reading →

ESA Policy News: March 8

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Terence Houston — No Comments ↓

Here are some highlights from the latest ESA Policy News by Science Policy Analyst Terence Houston. Read the full Policy News here. BUDGET: AGENCIES IMPLEMENT SEQUESTRATION AS POLICYMAKERS WRESTLE WITH DEBT Congress’ failure to address budget sequestration by coming up with Continue reading →