Government Roundup

Science education data will be easier to explore with a new tool offered by the National Science Board, which sets policy for the National Science Foundation. The tool will collect and organize NSF’s workforce data and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education data via interactive charts and maps.

Diversity is the focus of $31 million in grants awarded to 50 institutions by NIH. The institute’s goal is to increase diversity of the biomedical workforce by better training and mentoring students from minority and other groups underrepresented in the sciences.

Enlist Duo, a blend of the herbicides 2,4-D and glyphosate, has been inadequately studied for effects on human health and endangered species, claims a coalition of advocacy groups in a lawsuit filed against EPA. The lawsuit is the second one the agency faces because of its approval of the herbicide blend.

Nuclear waste and spent nuclear fuel from federal government operations should, in part, be disposed of separately from spent fuel from commercial operations, the Department of Energy recommends in an assessment. Materials from both sources were expected to be placed in the long-stalled Yucca Mountain repository in Nevada.

Antibiotic use in healthy animals concerns more than 90% of U.S. doctors, according to a poll by Consumer Reports magazine. In an Oct. 23 letter to Trader Joe’s, more than 2,000 medical professionals urged the grocery chain not to sell meat from healthy animals routinely given antibiotics.

Biobased materials and composites, advanced sensors, and digital manufacturing are the focus of new research announced by the White House. The Administration plans to spend $300 million on these critical manufacturing technologies.