Archaeology. Iraq museum may reopen amid controversy.

+146% 0 –35% European research got a mixed report card in an analysis released last week by the European Union. The report says that the 27 E.U. nations have done well at increasing their research work force: Numbers grew twice as fast as in the United States between 2000 and 2006, reaching 640,000 researchers, while also attracting more foreign researchers to come and work there. Europe also attracted record amounts of private R&D funding from U.S. companies during that period. But at the same time its “R&D intensity” (research spending as a percentage of gross domestic product) pretty much stuck at about 1.84%—a long way from the E.U.’s self-imposed goal of reaching an R&D intensity of 3% by 2010. Across the E.U., there is much variation in R&D intensity, with 17 countries, particularly new members in eastern Europe, making marked improvements. But 10 countries, including science powers such as France and the United Kingdom, declined. Meanwhile, Japan increased its intensity from 3.04% to 3.39%, Korea from 2.39% to 3.23%, and China from 0.90% to 1.42%. (U.S. research intensity fell, from 2.74% to 2.61%.) –DANIEL CLERY European Science Not As Intense As Hoped RESEARCH FUNDING