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Daily Archives: July 1, 2015

Federal Funding for Science and Engineering Declined by $1B

In FY 2013, federal agencies obligated $29 billion to 995 academic institutions for science and engineering (S&E) activities. This represents a 6% decrease in current dollars from the $31 billion obligated to 1,073 academic institutions in FY 2012. This is the third year in a row of declining S&E funding to academic institutions. These statistics are from the Survey of Federal Science and Engineering Support to Universities, Colleges, and Nonprofit Institutions from the National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NSF, NCSES). After adjustment for inflation, federal S&E obligations to academic institutions declined by $1 billion (4%) from FY 2011 to FY 2012 and declined by $2 billion (7%) between FY 2012 and FY 2013. For the remainder of this InfoBrief, unless otherwise noted, amounts for FY 2013 obligations are in current dollars and changes in funding across years are in inflation-adjusted constant dollars.”

Northern Alaska Coastal Erosion Threatens Habitat and Infrastructure

“In a new study published [July 1, 2015], scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey found that the remote northern Alaska coast has some of the highest shoreline erosion rates in the world. Analyzing over half a century of shoreline change data, scientists found the pattern is extremely variable with most of the coast retreating at… Continue Reading

Federal Reserve Board releases first determination of aggregate consolidated liabilities of all financial companies

“The Federal Reserve Board on [July 1, 2015] released its first determination of the aggregate consolidated liabilities of all financial companies in accordance with section 622 of the Dodd-Frank Act, which prohibits any financial company from combining with another company if the resulting company’s liabilities exceed 10 percent of the aggregate consolidated liabilities of all… Continue Reading

Secret court authorizes continued telephone metadata collection

The Guardian UK: “After a decade in the shadows, a secretive surveillance court that authorises the bulk collection of American telephone records seized on its last chance to show off a little personality on Tuesday [June 30, 2015]. “Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose, well, at least for 180 days,” wrote judge Michael… Continue Reading

EIA expands geographic coverage of natural gas production

“Beginning this week, EIA is expanding its reporting of monthly natural gas production by 10 additional states. The addition of these states—Arkansas, California, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Utah, and West Virginia—significantly enhances EIA’s monthly coverage, which was previously limited to Alaska, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Wyoming, and the federal Gulf of… Continue Reading

Pew – Americans, Politics and Science Issues

“One of the key trends in public opinion over the past few decades has been a growing divide among Republicans and Democrats into ideologically uniform “silos.  A larger share of the American public expresses issue positions that are either consistently liberal or conservative today than did so two decades ago, and there is more alignment… Continue Reading