Inside out

Back page gossip from the 25 October issue of Research Europe

Among dinosaurs The European Commission’s research arm is taking a brave approach to evidence-based policy, by saying it belongs in a museum. In collaboration with the Museum of Natural History in Berlin, the Joint Research Centre has launched Artefacts, an exhibition of photographs of environmental issues that concern the public and policymakers. Visitors can chat to JRC scientists and stare at pictures including “waste reservoirs filled with pig excrement”, we are told.

Eponymous endeavours First we had Plan S, a publishing initiative from the Commission’s open-access envoy Robert-Jan Smits. The S definitely doesn’t stand for Smits, he insists. Now we have the news that the Commission is investing in two new Vehicle Emissions Laboratories, or Velas. The environment commissioner, one Karmenu Vella, announced the initiative. “I promise I didn’t pick the name,” he said.