"The European Research Council (ERC) is awarding €680 million to 302 senior research leaders in 24 different countries across Europe1 in the latest competition for its prestigious 'Advanced Grants'. With up to €2.5 million per project, the funding allows these scientists to pursue their most ground-breaking ideas at the frontiers of knowledge together with their own teams." No winners are from Romania and no grants will go to Romania. Details at:

Climates, Landscapes, and Civilizations brings together a collection of studies on the history of complex interrelationships between humans and their environment by integrating Earth science with archeology and anthropology. At a time when climate change, overpopulation, and scarcity of resources are increasingly affecting our ways of life, the lessons of the past provide multiple reference frames that are valuable for informing our future decisions

Details in Romanian here: http://www.revista22.ro/cnsas-andrei-marga-nu-a-fost-colaborator-al-securitatii-dar-dadea-note-informative-avea-numele-de-cod--21395.html

Mihnea Costoiu, a PhD student in Economics, was proposed as minister for Science in the new Romanian government lead by Prime Minister Victor Ponta, who was himself found guilty of plagiarism earlier this year. Despite his lack of credentials, Costoiu was elected Rector of the largest polytechnic university of the country in Bucharest this year. Details in Romanian here: http://www.hotnews.ro/stiri-esential-13845257-cine-este-mihnea-costoiu-propus-ministru-cercetarii.htm

Ovidiu Pecican, Professor at Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj (Department of European Studies) repeatedly attacked the use of English in the Romanian research system characterizing it as a sign of "servility of historical proportions". In response to criticism he argues that the widespread use of external evaluation for grants at the European level is not appropriate for Romania. http://www.romanialibera.ro/opinii/comentarii/cercetare-si-slugarnicie-285304.html

Members of the first overseas grant-review panel to operate in Romania wrote a letter of concern in this week's issue of Nature while praising the review system introduced a year ago: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v492/n7428/full/492186c.html#/supplementary-information "...we are therefore concerned to learn that the research minister intends to discontinue the use of international referees (Nature http://doi.org/jwn; 2012) in a scheme originally

Nature's editorial "Suspend disbelief" (Dec 5, 2012) identifies the long term lack of "an appropriately funded, meritocratic system" as the root cause for the declining low quality level of the Romanian research system. Against this long decline background, the recent events since the access to power of USL government led by Victor Ponta are compared in the editorial with a absurdist play by Eugene Ionesco. Proven plagiarist, Mr. Ponta has appointed

We present results from the first high-resolution seismic reflection survey of the inner Western Indus Shelf, and Indus Delta, Arabian Sea. The results show major regional differences in sedimentation across the shelf from east to west, as well as north to south, both since the Last Glacial Maximum (similar to 20 ka) and over longer time scales. We identify 10 major regional reflectors, interpreted as representing sea level lowstands. Strong compressive

Alison Abbott reports in journal Nature on more than a dozen Romanian grant applications suspected of plagiarism. Ecaterina Andronescu, Romania's research minister "has not pushed forward investigations into scientific misconduct in grant applications". Andronescu has also yet to decide on rescinding Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta's PhD title. Ponta was found guilty of plagiarism by his Alma Mater - Bucharest University - over two months ago.

In a letter to Nature, Alina Mungiu-Pippidi and Ligia Deca examine the continuing and accelerating degradation of academic standards and call for European-wide initiatives to stem this negative phenomenon. Details at: www.nature.com/nature/journal/v491/n7423/full/491192d.html