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Favorable Reactions Researchers and industry representatives are reacting positively to the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) recently proposed revised guidelines for carcinogen risk assessment. That approval is somewhat tempered by warnings sounded by environmental and consumer-education groups regarding the interpretation of certain suggestions in the long-awaited document. OPPORTUNITY: The revisions encourage use of new data notes Bernard Goldstein. The guidelines, released in mid-

Sets New Record A record-breaking number of women highlights this year's group of 60 scientists and engineers selected for membership in the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). The new members, elected during NAS's 133rd annual meeting in Washington, D.C., late last month, include 11 women. In addition, 15 foreign associates from eight countries were named (see accompanying story). All 75 will receive one of science's most prestigious honors when they are inducted into the academy at next ye

Advocacy, Observers Say conveying benefits of research. LET'S LOBBY: William Wells calls lobbying "perfectly legitimate" and urges scientists "to be at the table". Science lobbyists maintain that a new federal lobbying-reform law will not impede their advocacy efforts in Washington, D.C. What does worry them, however, is that many scientists still do not realize the importance of speaking to policy-makers and the public about the benefits of science and the importance of funding it. The Lobb

Combinatorial Chemistry An emerging chemical discovery method is proving to be a fruitful source of research and job opportunities. The technique-called combinatorial chemistry-has spawned a wave of in-house pharmaceutical research and new collaboration between drug firms and biotech companies. Similar programs may also be on the horizon for agrochemical and materials science researchers. EUREKA: Ronald Zuckerman recalls Chiron's success Combinatorial chemistry shifts compound design from a

House Propose Bills Companies, scientists, and patient-advocacy groups all applaud the ultimate objective of recently introduced legislation designed to get effective drugs to patients more quickly. However, not everyone agrees that the current versions of the Senate and House bills to reform the Food and Drug Administration are the way to accomplish the goal. DISSENTER: Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) voted against the Senate bill. Proponents say the bills move reform in the right direction. Mean

Problems In Implementation LOUD AND CLEAR: Attorney Lynda Dee stresses the need for communication among the institutes. When a federally appointed panel announced in March the results of its 15-month-long review of the United States government's AIDS research program, AIDS activists as well as scientists cheered. The National Institutes of Health's AIDS Research Program Evaluation Working Group's recommendations largely called for scrapping what the group saw as outdated and ineffective polic

The past several weeks have been busy ones for the genomics crowd. Genome scientists from around the world can now lay claim to having determined the entire genetic blueprint for five free-living species, including brewer's yeast, the most complex creature tackled thus far. Late last month, scientists from a European-led consortium of more than 70 international labs released the yeast sequence. The genome of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is the first organism with a distinct nucleus, or eukaryote, t

Tenure To Female Chemist Colleagues 'Dismayed' By Decision 'SOMEWHAT SURPRISED': Sharon Palmer, who will have to leave next year, says "I thought it couldn't quite happen." When C. Pauline Burt was hired by Smith College to teach chemistry, the periodic table numbered 86 elements. The neutron had yet to be discovered. Pluto, too, was unknown. United States President Woodrow Wilson presided over the first meeting of the League of Nations. Babe Ruth still played for the Boston Red Sox. Burt wa

Battles between unions of graduate students and university administrators are heating up at institutions around the United States. This academic year is seeing an upwelling of union activity and an increasingly polarized debate between union activists and university administrators. Most notable among these was a highly visible protest by teaching assistants at Yale University, who refused to turn in students' fall-semester grades. ACTIVIST: U. Michigan union president Scott Dexter is a stude

Review But many critics are urging still other changes, including easier approval of 'off-label' uses DÉJÀ VU: NCI's David Parkinson sees parallels with AIDS drug testing. By Oncologists, industry officials, and cancer-patient advocacy organizations are applauding recently announced policy changes at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that speed up the approval process for cancer drugs. The plan, announced on March 29 by President Bill Clinton, aims to immediately streamlin

Mathematicians With Awards Two life scientists are among the 13 researchers receiving awards from the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in Washington, D.C., today as part of NAS's 133rd annual meeting. A 'CALL FOR NOMINATIONS' For the first time in five years, there are no women among the individuals receiving awards from the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in 1996. Catherine Didion, executive director of the Washington-based Association for Women in Science, stresses that each of this y

Average full-time salaries in academia for 1995-96 rose more rapidly than the Consumer Price Index for the third consecutive year, according to a newly released survey by the Washington, D.C.-based American Association of University Professors. This year's edition of the annual study found that average faculty pay increased 2.9 percent, or 0.4 percent above the 2.5 percent inflation rate. However, Daniel S. Hamermesh, author of the survey report, cautioned in his text (Academe, 82[2]:14-108, Ma