New science think tank for the UK

A new science think tank, Newton’s Apple, has been launched in the UK to try to bring a greater appreciation of the contribution that science, technology and engineering make to the wealth and the health of its people.

By engaging professional scientists of all age groups and from different fields in the policy process, the organisation aims to suggest robust solutions to four particular challenges:

• More young people must be encouraged to take up science education

• The funding and careers structures supporting the UK’s science base need urgent reform

• Non-scientists who communicate science to the general public need to do so accurately

• Scientists of all age-groups at the cutting-edge of their fields need to be brought into the policy-making process

The think tank’s first publication, A Scientific Vision for the 21st Century, contains essays by authors from widely different fields of expertise, age groups and perspectives sharing a passion for science and a belief in the central role that it can play in society, including Colin Pillinger, Crispin Tickell, and Richard Sykes, Rector of Imperial College London.