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Creationism: Out of the Mainstream

By Stephen Jay Gould | November 17, 1986

Science, above all, is a methodology for acquiring testable knowledge about the natural world-the "art of the soluble" in Sir Peter Medawar's apt phrase. It is not and cannot be a compendium of certain knowledge. If the vernacular word "fact" has any currency in science, it can only be defined as "confirmed to so high a degree that it would be perverse to with-hold provisional assent." By this definition, evolution-the observation that all organisms are connected by unbroken ties of geneal

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D Budget Up Again

By Bob Westgate | November 17, 1986

The information for these stories and the accompanying chart was gathered by freelance writers Bob Westgate and Susan Walton. WASHINGTON-Funding for science research, part of an overall federal budget that is expected to grow little in 1987, has increased significantly in several areas. Congress once again failed to approve appropriations bills for individual departments. Instead, on the day before it adjourned last month, it approved a $576 billion continuing resolution covering most government

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Danes Ban Genetic Release

November 17, 1986

COPENHAGEN-The release of genetically engineered organisms into the environment us now against the law in Denmark. The Law on Gene Technology and Environment, passed this summer, is unique among actions taken by other countries in its being an Act of Parliament. here, rules concerning recombinant DNA research are only advisory. The Minister for Environment has the authority to approve deliberate release of such organisms "in special cases" as defined by the law. The minister also must approve th

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Discovering Ant Language

By Edward Wilson | November 17, 1986

In 1953, while I was a graduate student at Harvard University, I heard a lecture by Konrad Lorenz on ethology. The experience illustrates the principle that new fields are impelled by one to several great ideas expressible in a few words. The one offered by Lorenz that captured my imagination was the concept of the sign stimulus. Animal behavior, Lorenz said, is organized into modules of fixed-action patterns, complex sequences of sensory and motor actions that accomplish something for the organ

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EC Budget Under Fire

November 17, 1986

BRUSSELS-Stalemate appears likely as Common Market research ministers grapple with a plan from the European Commission to spend 6.2 billion pounds ($9.3 billion) on R&D during the next five years. Britain, West Germany and France have broken from their nine BC partners in arguing for a more modest budget than one that would double the amount spent during the previous five years. Several countries also want the Com mission to separate elements of the program so nations can support individual

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Forthcoming Books

November 17, 1986

This list of forthcoming books has been compiled from the latest information available from publishers. Dates of publication, prices and numbers of pages are tentative, however, and are subject to change. ASTRONOMY A Hundred Billion Stars, (PB edition of 1984 release), Mario Rigutti. MIT Press: Nov, 1986, 316 p, $9.95. Cosmic Impact. John K. Davies. St. Martin's Press: Dec 1986, 192 p, $15.95. BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE Cerebral Lateralization: Bio logical Mechanisms, Associatio

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Fuqua: Advice to Scientists

By Tabitha Powledge | November 17, 1986

Last March, Rep. Don Fuqua (D-Fla.) startled many in the science community by announcing that he was calling it quits after 24 years in the House, all of it serving on various science-oriented committees. The chairman of the House Committee on Science and Technology for the past eight years, the 53-year-old Fuqua has decided to embark on a second career as president of the Aerospace Industries Association, a Washington-based organization representing space and defense contractors. Under his dire

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Gene Sequencing

By Sidney Kushner | November 17, 1986

The articles on sequencing the human genome (THE SCIENTIST, October 20, pp. 11-12) were noteworthy not so much for the arguments they put forward in support of the project as for their failure to realistically assess the cost, need and impact of such a project. Certainly, one can scan DNA sequences with computers and determine open reading frames, enhancer sequences, RNA polymerase binding sites, etc. However, without supporting data, these determinations are purely hypothetical. The magnitude o

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How to Plan a Lab Building

By Earl Walls | November 17, 1986

I am frequently amazed at how difficult it is to convince the prospective owners of a new laboratory building, not necessarily the scientists who will use the building, that they know more about what their needs are than anyone else. Owners often do not realize that they can determine their needs by examining an existing facility-even if it is someone s. Once owners have projected their future needs in programs and people, it is easy to project the need for space. Determining Space Needs Althou

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Industrial Giants Ask Researchers To Build Better Supercomputers

By Bill Steele | November 17, 1986

ITHACA, N.Y.-Scientists and engineers in American industry desperately need computing power far beyond the capability of today's fastest supercomputers. The computer industry hopes to fill that need-with the help of university researchers. That vision emerged during a conference on supercomputing held last month at Cornell University's Center for Theory and Simulation in Science and Engineering. The facility is one office university centers for research on super-computing established last year b

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