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Science & Technology News
Crop Biotech Update
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the latest world developments in crop biotechnology that are of relevance to
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Linkages Update - Issue #194 - 6 September 2012 - IISD Reporting Services
[BANGKOK] The informal additional sessions of the
Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the
Convention (AWG-LCA), the Ad Hoc Working Group on Further
Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP) and the
Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action
(ADP) took place from 30 August-5 September 2012. The sessions sought to
enable the bodies to continue work from the Climate Change Talks held in May
2012, in Bonn, Germany, and to advance preparations for the resumed sessions
of the ad hoc working groups to be convened in Doha, Qatar, at the end of
the year.
http://www.iisd.ca/linkages-update/194/
Women Scientists to take advantage of research funding
[NAIROBI] Kenya is calling on its women scientists to take advantage of
extra research funding to
help solve the country's development challenges, as part of its long-term
goal to attain mid-income status by 2030.
http://www.scidev.net/en/science-and-innovation-policy/gender/news/kenya-doubles-research-funding-for-women-scientists.html
FAO Biosafety Resource Book
June 2011
FAO has just published the "Biosafety Resource Book",
based on materials from the training courses organized by FAO from 2002 to
2010 in the framework of its biosafety capacity development projects. The
training courses were tailored to meet the needs of biosafety regulators,
policy-makers and members of national biosafety committees. The courses
aimed to offer them background knowledge critical in the process of
reviewing biosafety dossiers and biosafety-related decision-making and to
acquaint them with concepts and methodologies relevant to risk analysis of
GMO release and biosafety management. The book consists of five modules and
special attention has been paid to avoid technical jargon and to keep the
modules scientifically accurate as well as accessible to non-specialists.
Module A, by O. Brandenberg, Z. Dhlamini, A. Sensi, K. Ghosh and A. Sonnino,
is an introduction to molecular biology and genetic engineering. It reviews
the basic scientific concepts and principles used in producing GMOs, and
provides a brief description of current and emerging uses of biotechnology
in crops, livestock and fisheries. Module B, by E. Hodson de Jaramillo, A.
Sensi, O. Brandenberg, K. Ghosh and A. Sonnino, is dedicated to ecological
aspects. It provides the necessary background information on ecology and
evolution needed to analyse and understand the consequences of introducing
GMOs into the environment. Module C, by A. Sensi, O. Brandenberg, K. Ghosh
and A. Sonnino, is on risk analysis. It provides basic information on
biological risks, concepts, principles and methodologies of risk assessment,
management and communication, focusing on crop biotechnology and
environmental risk assessment of GM crops. Module D, by O. Brandenberg, A.
Sensi, K. Ghosh and A. Sonnino, is entitled ‘Test and post-release
monitoring of GMOs’. It addresses the use and monitoring of GMOs under
containment, confinement and limited field trials, as well as the monitoring
of commercially released GMOs. Module E, by A.M. Zivian, A. Sensi and C.
Bullón Caro, is about legal aspects. It provides an overview of the existing
legal tools and frameworks on biotechnology and biosafety, and offers a
thorough description of the international instruments that regulate
biosafety and their interactions. See
http://www.fao.org/docrep/014/i1905e/i1905e00.htm
or contact sandra.tardioli@fao.org
to receive a copy, providing your full postal address.
President Obama visits New York science fair
During a day trip to New York City on March 29, U.S.
President Barack Obama made an unscheduled stop at the American Museum of
Natural History to tour the New York Science and Engineering Fair—his third
science fair visit in recent weeks. As he examined projects including a
bamboo bicycle and an exhibit on human-robot speech interaction, Obama told
students, “There’s going to be a great demand for people with the skills
you’re developing.”
>>>
Ecsite e-news, February 2011
Teachers and science
communication professionals have the opportunity of contributing their
own educational materials to the Open
Science Resources portal
in the ‘Discover Open Science Resources’ summer
school organised in Crete in July 2011
to train interested professionals in the use of the to construct online
educational resources for
use in formal and informal settings. Sign up free to the Open
Science Resources portal to
discover digital content from major science centres and museums in
Europe. For more information please contact Jennifer Palumbo: jpalumbo@ecsite.eu.
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