Roundup 9/17: Glittering Prizes Edition

President Barack Obama announced that the United States will be scrapping plans to build a missile defense system in Poland and Czechoslavakia the Czech Republic, following the July advice of a group of prominent scientists, including 10 Nobel prize winners, who said it wouldn't work.

The tributes to the late Nobelist Norman Borlaug from India continued to pour in. Earlier this week, Indian President Pratibha D. Patil called him a "friend of India" who brought the Green Revolution there; the government believes Borlaug's work saved the lives of over 245 million people. 

Are top government scientists making too much money? House of Representatives Republicans on the energy committee are investigating. ($335,000 was the annual take home pay last year for Anthony Fauci, who heads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.)

The U.S. Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force released an interim report today on a national ocean policy, including recommendations for coastal and marine spatial planning to balance conservation and economic activity. "It's truly sea change we can believe in," quipped National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration head Jane Lubchenco. A final report is due 9 December.

(Photo of vintage anti-aircraft missiles: http://www.flickr.com/photos/x-ray_delta_one/, CC BY-SA 2.0 )