David Matthews

As it gets easier to engineer deadly pathogens, the International Biosecurity and Biosafety Initiative for Science wants tighter controls on custom-order DNA companies, and an end to the current ‘checkbox’ approach to lab safety

The crash of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange drew attention to a growing movement in the tech world aiming to become better at predicting, steering and sequencing scientific breakthroughs. The notion is gaining traction in Europe and the US – scandal notwithstanding

The UK can play a global role in R&D and whilst remaining involved in EU programmes said George Freeman, setting out plans to attract foreign capital into the research ecosystem

Research commissioner Mariya Gabriel has linked re-admittance to ESFRI to wider relations between the EU and Switzerland. Some see this as a sign the body is too heavily controlled by the Commission

Despite hosting CERN, the country is being excluded from ESFRI because it has not associated to Horizon Europe. Swiss scientists call the decision “unreasonable”

The agency wants to give individual reviewers the power to fund proposals they think are promising, even if other panellists disagree. The aim is to avoid only backing the least controversial applications

But 213 researchers chose to stay put, giving up their awards. These have now been reallocated. Meanwhile, the UK has extended its safety net for ERC grant winners

It’s the first rich country from outside the European region to join the research programme. Canada, Japan and South Korea could follow

On a visit to Japan, science minister George Freeman unveiled the latest funding pot designed to compensate for exclusion from Horizon Europe. But he insists association to the EU’s framework programme remains the UK’s first choice

Blanket subsidies to generate hydrogen in the US are already tempting European producers to set up manufacturing sites across the Atlantic. The issue became a flashpoint in recent negotiations between Washington and Brussels