SciDev.Net

More funding and freedoms are needed if the Arab world is to reach its goal of becoming a knowledge-based society, a report finds.

Pork tapeworm is responsible for almost a third of epileptic fits, researchers say.

Deaths from diarrhoea in over-five-year-olds far exceed established estimates, according to a new study.

Funds have fallen and the future is "worrying", the AU's science chief told the TWAS meeting, but some countries gave confident reports.

Failure to secure rights over joint research data is preventing African researchers from getting ahead, a meeting has heard.

A new videogame about cellular biology aims to help Chilean secondary school teachers teach and motivate students.

Leaders of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, which opened this week, have stated their global aims.

Bulgaria's Irina Bokova has defeated the Egyptian Farouk Hosni but must await endorsement at next month's general assembly.

The Chilean government has taken action to promote interest in science and technology in state schools for under-fours.

After a weekend of voting two women remain in the running against Farouk Hosni, leading contender for the post of UNESCO director-general.

The election of a new UNESCO director-general is in full swing but science is low on the candidates' agendas.

The UAE's US$15 billion plan to be a green energy centre includes a research centre which has just admitted its first students.

Five more science and technology centres have been launched in Chile, part of a funding programme to boost S&T innovation.

Bangladesh will host an international climate adaptation centre that will provide training and foster dissemination of research.

A single research institution spanning the African continent could open its first node by February 2010, education ministers have agreed.

Detailed proposals for the country's first science and technology university are being considered by the Malawian government.

Connectivity issues have largely been solved in African universities — now they face the challenge of making better use of the resources.

Senegal is pushing ahead with plans to open a postgraduate maths institute as part of a continent-wide drive to see the discipline blossom.

The WHO has begun an accreditation scheme for laboratories to ensure that diagnosis on the continent improves.

A free online data-sharing tool developed by Google could help with worldwide scientific collaborations.