1 February 2020 | New Scientist | 21from EU standards and towards
US ones – such as over totemic
issues like chlorine washing
of chicken – could also expose
rifts within the UK’s nations.Lydgate cites the US desire
to reform the UK’s approach to
approving pesticides, something
the UK government might accede
to, but Scotland could oppose.
More broadly, any shift towards
US standards would probably
lead to increased deregulation,
says Tomlinson.SCIENCE AND MEDICINE
Life sciences are among the many
sectors exposed to the prospect
of the UK no longer being aligned
with EU regulations.
The IPPR says pharmaceutical
firms need to get their drugs
approved by European medical
agencies in order to sell them
in the EU, so any regulatory
divergence could make exports
from the UK harder. That, in turn,
would make the UK look less
attractive when drug-makers
choose where to operate.
Like many areas of science, the
life sciences rely on freedom of
movement, which is due to end
after the transition period. Nobel
prizewinner Paul Nurse warned
last year: “If we turn our back on
the rest of the world, our world
talent will turn its back on us.”
In response to such concerns,
the government announced
this week that, from 20 February,
scientists, mathematicians and
researchers will be able to apply
for a fast-track visa scheme, with
no limit on the number of people
able to come to the UK. ❚would also see the continued joint
UK-EU funding of the £60 million-
a-year JET fusion power project in
Culham, Oxfordshire, UK, which is
funded to the end of 2020. The UK
currently pays around £7.5 million
of this, with the EU making up
the rest, but that may change.
If there is a failure to agree an
association – seen as unlikely – UK
firms and universities may also
find themselves frozen out of
winning contracts at ITER, the
huge fusion power facility being
built in south France.FARMING
Subsidies paid to farmers will
change. Those given under the
EU’s scheme are largely tied to
how much land farmers own,
with a smaller pot of subsidies
linked to environmental
actions such as the stewardship
of natural resources and
combating climate change.
Post-Brexit, under the new
agriculture bill now progressing
through Parliament, there will be
no payments just for owning land.
Instead, farmers will receive
subsidies for the “public goods”
they deliver, such as better water
quality and helping the UK hit
its net-zero emissions target.
This change could be positive,
says Emden, but it could also
prove challenging. For instance,
it would be hard to reward farmers
for improving soil health because
there is no reliable baseline to
compare against, he says.
While environment secretary
Theresa Villiers recently said food
standards wouldn’t be diluted,
Emden says farmers are nervous.
Emily Lydgate at the University
of Sussex, UK, says the new
agriculture bill does nothing to
address worries about food safety
standards. She is concerned that
JAM any sign the UK is pivoting away
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IMAGES“That’s a really massive change
in the way we do things,” says
Josh Emden at UK think tank the
Institute for Public Policy Research
(IPPR). The concern is that the UK
could move to a more risk-based
approach to environmental
protections that might be
more susceptible to lobbying
by industry, he says.ENERGY
Whether the UK stays in the
EU’s internal energy market will
have implications for energy costs
and the price of decarbonising
electricity supplies. Membership
makes it easier to trade electricity
via the five UK-EU interconnectors:
the giant undersea power cables
that account for a tenth of UK
electricity supplies and growing.
It isn’t yet clear if membership
will feature in a trade deal or
cooperation talks.
The UK is also leaving the
Euratom nuclear treaty, but
intends to be associated with
the scheme. That means nuclear
materials, such as fuel for power
plants and isotopes for medical
use, can still cross borders. It▲ Boarding flights
An analysis has found that
boarding slower-moving
passengers first speeds
things up – leaving more
time to feel guilty about
carbon emissions.▲ Dark matter
Astronauts on the
International Space
Station have fixed a dark
matter detector that has
been broken for six years.
Maybe that’s why we
haven’t spotted any?▼ Jeff Bezos
The billionaire Amazon
CEO allegedly had his
phone hacked by crown
prince Mohammed bin
Salman of Saudia Arabia.▼ Satellites
Ageing batteries are a
pain, especially in space.
Satellite firm DirecTV has
moved one of its craft to
avoid a battery explosion
taking out other satellites.▼ Doomsday
Scientists say that nuclear
war and climate change
mean the world is now
closer to ending than
ever before. Figures.Working
hypothesis
Sorting the week’s
supernovae from
the absolute zerosMore Insight online
Your guide to a rapidly changing world
newscientist.com/insight“ The UK government
has been at pains to rule
out any backsliding on
environmental legislation”Green energy supplies
may be hit when the
UK exits the EU