News

25. November 2010

European Science Foundation cancels research funding calls

The European Science Foundation (ESF) will not launch three funding calls pending more progress towards its merger with the European Heads of Research Councils (EUROHORCs). At the ESF annual assembly last week ESF member organisations decided to put certain activities on hold during the current... [more]


28. April 2010

Modelling intelligent interaction: the social face of logic

The popular idea is that reasoned, rational thinking blossoms with a lone scientist thinking rigorously about the universe. Yet surprisingly, rationality is more often about intelligent interaction. “Dialogue is at the heart of logic,” explains Dutch logician and philosopher Professor Johan van... [more]


17. February 2010

Listen to the natives for better environmental monitoring

Modern methods can answer a multitude of questions, but sometimes traditional techniques are superior. Authorities in northern Quebec, Canada, found this to their cost, when they relied upon statistical data to monitor moose populations. For many centuries the Cree, an indigenous group of people... [more]


29. November 2009

Big freeze plunged Europe into ice age in months

In the film, ‘The Day After Tomorrow’ the world enters the icy grip of a new glacial period within the space of just a few weeks. Now new research shows that this scenario may not be so far from the truth after all. William Patterson, from the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, and his... [more]


29. September 2009

Evidence that animals can think about thinking

There is growing evidence that animals may share humans’ ability to reflect upon, monitor and regulate their states of mind, according to a study published in Trends in Cognitive Sciences this month. Dr David Smith, comparative psychologist at the University of Buffalo, makes this conclusion in a... [more]


27. August 2009

80,000 year old shells point to earliest cultural trend

Perforated Nassarius gibbosulus dated to between 73 400 and 91 500 years ago.

Shell beads newly unearthed from four sites in Morocco confirm early humans were consistently wearing and potentially trading symbolic jewellery as early as 80,000 years ago. These beads add significantly to similar finds dating back as far as 110,000 in Algeria, Morocco, Israel and South Africa,... [more]


19. May 2009

European biotechnologists unravel life’s big cellular factories

Biotechnologists are poised to take a leap forward in understanding the detailed structure and mechanism of life’s major cellular machines, which could lead to new therapies for a range of diseases and disorders. These machines are large assemblies of macromolecules such as proteins that process... [more]


12. January 2009

Defying the Integration Models – the Second Generation in Europe

The child of Turkish parents may feel an outsider in the Netherlands or Switzerland, yet still be completely at home in Amsterdam or Zurich. In France, the migrant’s child is more likely to go to university but is also more likely to drop out. The child of Turkish parents in Germany could be at an... [more]


1. December 2008

European Science Foundation announces plans for International Year of Astronomy 2009

The European Science Foundation (ESF) has announced a series of activities and initiatives that will significantly widen the support for the International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009), a global initiative which aims to stimulate worldwide interest in astronomy and science. The ESF announcement... [more]


19. November 2008

Between Success and Failure

Survey shows significant education discrepancies among the Second Generation in the Netherlands [more]