by Mary Kavanagh

The EU-US Science and Technology Agreement was renewed on 8 October 2004 and will now continue through to 2008. The renewal provides an opportunity to reinvigorate the Agreement and raise its profile on both sides of the Atlantic.

by Margarete Lamb-Faffelberger

Elfriede Jelinek (*1946) will receive the Nobel Prize for Literature on December 10, 2004 and become the tenth woman writer to be recognized by the Nobel Prize committee as one of the most significant literary voices of her time. She won the award "for her musical flow of voices and counter-voices in novels and plays that with extraordinary linguistic zeal reveal the absurdity of society's clichés and their subjugating power." Critics may argue that the selection of Jelinek as Nobel Laureate is politically motivated, but a read through her works can convince readers otherwise.

by Gabriele Zuna-Kratky

Abstract

by Caroline Adenberger

Science is advancing and changing our lives in many ways. Although outcomes may be very beneficial, there are also many areas of ethical concern and critical points to discuss. The public cannot be excluded from those new insights; they must have access to proper information, and there must be a platform where the scientific community and non-scientists are enabled to speak to each other.

by Wolfgang A. Bednarzek

September 2004 on the banks of the Danube in Upper Austria—as it does every year, Linz transforms itself for seven days into the capital of international media culture. A city that, well into the ‘60s, was best known as an iron-and-steel town dotted with blast furnaces and smokestacks, Linz has since 1979 hosted Ars Electronica, a festival that deals with the reciprocal effects of art, technology and society. The program is extremely diverse. In addition to symposia, conferences, concerts and exhibitions, a wide array of artistic installations in public spaces invites visitors to engage in interaction. All of Linz becomes a setting for art projects, video projections and sound installations, and many of the city’s cultural institutions are integrated into the festival lineup.