The traditional northern hemisphere science superpowers - the US, Europe, Japan - still produce most of the world's new knowledge and researchers, and exert a powerful pull of attraction as a result. But, as Sylvia Schwaag-Serger from Vinnova and the University of Lund in Sweden has recently pointed out, the centre of gravity of global science is spreading out, moving east and south.

With more than 3 million children dying around the world each year from malnutrition and nearly a billion people lacking access to clean drinking water, the role of science and technology in improving global health is more urgent than ever, a top U.S. State Department official told the recent AAAS Forum on Science and Technology Policy.

Russian leaders are trying to use the current thaw in relations with the U.S. to enhance cooperation in space, pushing for joint exploration efforts extending past the life of the international space station.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono received Monday US Special Envoy on Science, Bruce Alberts, as Indonesia and the US are eyeing for enhanced cooperation in the field of science and technology.

Previous studies have found that the vast majority of published psychological research in the United States is based on American samples and excludes 95 percent of the world's population. Yet, these results are often generalized and taken as universal.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee is considering a bill that would enable the State Department to fund American research cooperation in the developing world -- including the Muslim world -- as a hedge against extremism.

African science ministers are hoping to extend a high-speed fibre optic network — currently linking Egypt to the northern hemisphere — to other countries in Africa.

Scientific links between the UK and Japan have been boosted by the announcement of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council's ( BBSRC ) latest Japan Partnering Awards.