The month ahead

Could there be a better time to discuss the measurement of happiness than just before the extended national holiday that is the Diamond Jubilee weekend? On 29th May, academics including neuroscientist Tali Sharot and statistician Stephen Hicks will gather at University College London to muse on what the yardstick for jollity should be. Wellbeing is not just a matter of social class or income; it is influenced by genes as well as proximity to bunting.

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The Department of Health will appoint a new committee on 1st May, to provide advice on the fast-moving field of biosciences and healthcare. Among the challenges facing the Emerging Science and Bioethics Advisory Committee are nanomedicine—the social scientist David Berube once remarked that the public would accept nanomedicine because they fear death more—and how to deal with patient demand for increasingly expensive medical therapies.

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Milk-bottle glasses and ill-fitting jumpers are so in right now, while we celebrate the publication of The Geek Manifesto, by Mark Henderson. The Times’s former science editor justly argues that scientific thinking needs to become more entrenched among politicians and policymakers in order for us to get better government, and urges geeks everywhere to rebel against woolly thinking.

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The intriguing-sounding World Conference on Science and Soccer will kick off in Belgium this month. The most interesting contributions during the 14-16th May meeting include an analysis of what distinguishes lower-league players psychologically from their overpaid Premier League counterparts; whether balancing skills during childhood are a good predictor of future success; and whether the performance of female referees will ever be judged fairly.