New canonical science report, theories reducing to Newtonian gravity: general relativity doesn't

This new perspective report of 16 pages long is ready to be downloaded (in pdf format) from the canonicalscience site.

This report presents a nonidealized vision of 21st century science. It handles some social, political, and economic problems that affect the heart of scientific endeavour and are carrying important consequences for scientists and the rest of society.

The problems analyzed are the current tendency to limit the size of scholarly communications, the funding of research, the rates and page charges of journals, the wars for the intellectual property of the data and results of research, and the replacement of impartial reviewing by anonymous censorship. The scope includes an economic analysis of PLoS' finances, the wars APS versus Wikipedia and ACS versus NIH, and a list of thirty four Nobel Laureates whose awarded work was rejected by peer review.

Several suggestions from Harry Morrow Brown, Lee Smolin, Linda Cooper, and the present author for solving the problems are included in the report. The work finishes with a brief section on the reasons to be optimists about the future of science.

Initially I supposed that the list of thirty four Nobel Laureates whose awarded work was rejected by peer review would be a complete shock for readers. However, it seems other issues received much more attention!

For instance, a collaborator expressed her surprise and indignation because the American Physical Society, withdrew its initial offer to publish two studies in Physical Review Letters because the authors did not want to transfer the copyright of their work to that Society.

A new report published on Friday, 5 September, provides the most comprehensive evidence available to confirm that the Large Hadron Collider (LHC)'s switch-on, due on Wednesday next week, poses no threat to mankind.

There appears to be an upper limit to how big the universe’s most massive black holes can get, according to new research led by a Yale University astrophysicist.

A Université Laval research team has demonstrated that intellectual work induces a substantial increase in calorie intake.

The theory that global warming may be contributing to stronger hurricanes in the Atlantic over the past 30 years is bolstered by a new study led by a Florida State University researcher

Assembling the most massive galaxies in the universe

The LHC will put hotly debated theories to the test as it generates a bonanza of new experimental data in the coming years.

CERN has today announced that the first attempt to circulate a beam in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will be made on 10 September.

Large doses of a red wine ingredient can ward off many of the vagaries of aging in mice who begin taking it at midlife

Research using fMRI scans shows tendencies toward kindness

New study shows that anxiety is likely a long-lasting trait

The sexual and feminist revolutions were supposed to free women to enjoy casual sex just as men always had. Yet the negative feelings reported by women after one-night stands suggest that they are not well adapted to fleeting sexual encounters.

MIT researchers offer tantalizing evidence on how to make people smarter, naturally

Homosexual behaviour is largely shaped by genetics and random environmental factors, according to findings from the world's largest study of twins.

A cold slice of watermelon has long been a Fourth of July holiday staple. But according to recent studies, the juicy fruit may be better suited for Valentine's Day.

Global warming is mainly caused by greenhouse gas emissions resulting from human activities; however, current climatic variations may be affected “around 15% or 20%” by solar activity.

Using new techniques, scientists have discovered for the first time that tiny beads of volcanic glasses collected from two Apollo missions to the Moon contain water. The researchers found that, contrary to previous thought, water was not entirely vaporized in the violent events that formed the Moon.

Scientists have confirmed for the first time that an important component of early genetic material which has been found in meteorite fragments is extraterrestrial in origin, in a paper published on June 15, 2008

Complex synapses drove brain evolution