As a cold ends, a severe mucus cough starts. Sound familiar? Two studies now give explanations: First, crucial mechanisms of the mucus in both diseased and healthy airways; second, what happens in such chronic lung diseases as cystic fibrosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). “This is new knowledge, but there are no instant cures to be found yet. But to make progress, it’s important to understand how the mucus…

There is broad agreement across party lines in a number of areas, including increased investment in medical research and development and digitization of health care data. The next steps include identifying areas that should be dealt with nationally and involving the county councils. Among the challenges are innovation procurement, prioritizing existing solutions and difficulties in obtaining national health care data. Research misconduct is about much more than the spectacular Macchiarini…

Collaboration is the key to success, whether in terms of research, education or Sweden’s future. All the parties agree with this view. The private sector and academia often speak different languages and have different goals, however, and this is a challenge. Solutions to this problem include more incentives for researchers to work with companies, shorter paths between small companies and academia and a national agreement on intellectual property rights. Sweden…

Higher education institutions should be allowed to determine allocation of government funding. Freedom in research. Academia has sent a clear message to the politicians. But the politicians want to see considerably more adaptation to the labor market, especially regarding professional development. Everyone agrees on the need for long-term solutions. There is widespread support for a comprehensive higher education and research bill that covers seven years. Other suggestions: that the regional…