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Influence Few and far between, scientists serving in and running for Congress say they offer benefits of reasoning, judgment. EYES ON THE PRIZE: Former pharmaceutical executive Charles Sanders hopes to be the Democratic nominee for Senate in North Carolina this fall. Charles Sanders hopes to give Bill Frist some company. Sanders, a cardiologist and former professor of medicine and pharmaceutical executive, is seeking North Carolina's Democratic nomination for the United States Senate. If he w

Uncertainties Of 1996 Presidential science adviser John H. Gibbons calls fiscal year 1996 a "grim year for science budgets." BACK TO BASICS: Rep. Robert Walker (R-Pa.) contends that the FY 1997 budget supports applied research at the expense of basic science. Small wonder. On March 19, President Bill Clinton submitted his FY 1997 government budget proposal to the United States Congress. Yet the FY 1996 budget, which was to take effect on Oct. 1, 1995, has yet to be agreed upon. For many scie

By Economic Embargo, Ideological Standoff Despite heightened political tension between the United States and Cuba, the number of collaborative projects conducted by scientists from the two neighboring countries has been quietly growing. Undeterred by events such as last month's passage of legislation strengthening U.S. economic sanctions against Cuba and February's shootdown by the Cuban government of two aircraft belonging to a Miami-based exile group, researchers are proceeding with collegial

March 16 was not the best of days for Sotheby's, the venerable New York auction house. Albert Einstein failed to sell, and Ross Perot failed to buy. HIGH-FLYING FIDO: This 1959 prototype canine high-altitude, partial-pressure suit for use in Soviet suborbital biological research flights sold for $25,300. A 72-page Einstein manuscript on special relativity, which first sold for $1.2 million in 1987, did not attract any bidders above the confidential minimum price. Earlier the same day, Sotheb

SEEKING SHELTER: Surplus lab chimps need a place to stay. While no plans are under way to build them a golf course or shuffleboard court, a nonprofit organization has been established to create a "retirement home" for chimpanzees not needed in biomedical or behavioral research. Chimp Haven, a San Antonio, Texas-based group, aims to build a facility to provide long-term housing for the unneeded chimps. The United States has a surplus of chimpanzees bred for research purposes, a result of the s

And Books Don't throw away that rough draft of your latest paper just yet, archivists advise. It may never have the multimillion-dollar value of Albert Einstein's draft chapter on special relativity (see story on page 3), but it may still be sought after by historians and collectors. Scientific memorabilia-including books, manuscripts, letters, instruments, and signatures-are actively collected. Einstein, who was a prolific letter writer, commands great attention and prices. So do Galileo, Kep

Science? Many from academia and industry dispute an NCI scientist's charge that confidentiality agreements restrict the free exchange of information. CONCERNED: NCI's Steven Rosenberg worries that research agreements promote secrecy among scientists. Few scientists with research support from industry complain in these times of increasing competition for grants from federal agencies. Yet some investigators are concerned that corporate desires to keep firm control over so-called proprietary in

Clinical-Trial Recruitment 'PLEASANT SUPRISE': NCI's Otis Brawley notes the racial makeup of treatment-trial patients was not planned. The National Cancer Institute (NCI), the largest of the National Institutes of Health, proudly touts its record of recruiting minorities into clinical trials it supports. "We have incredibly good representation of minorities on treatment trials," maintains Otis Brawley, senior investigator in the Community Oncology and Rehabilitation Branch of NCI's Division o

Denizens Of The Deep Author: Karen Young Kreeger Stymied by drug-resistant tumors and antibiotic-outwitting microbes, researchers are taking the plunge and sifting through the largely unexplored biodiversity offered by marine organisms. Drugs and other products from the sea have been a steadily growing research interest for the last 20 years. Recently, however, backers from business and government have stepped up their involvement, opened up their wallets, and broadened their scope in the fiel

Let this be a warning to bosses and pompous big shots in labs around the United States: It's that time of year again when your students and your colleagues are busy devising devilish ways to prick your balloon. What's that? This article reached you too late? April Fool! FISHING FOR LAUGHS: Jeffrey Maynes, "troublemaker-in-chief" as a postdoc at U. Alabama, turned a colleague's lab into an undersea scene. The American Heritage Dictionary defines "practical joke" as "a mischievous trick playe

TAKING THE CROWN: Counterclockwise from top, Hugh Pelham, Günter Blobel, and James Rothman A trio of scientists separately researching proteins have won the 1996 King Faisal International Prize for Science. The prize, awarded this year for "outstanding achievements" in biology, goes to Gnter Blobel, John D. Rockefeller Pro- fessor at Rockefeller University in New York; James E. Rothman, program chairman in cellular biochemistry and biophysics at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Cen

But Caution Author: Steven Benowitz The human genome has become extremely big business. IN DEVELOPMENT: Myriad CEO Peter Meldrum sees increasing industry-academia ties in genetics Taking the lead from the Human Genome Project, an ambitious $3 billion, 15-year federal effort aimed at analyzing the entire human genetic heritage, industry has begun treading cautiously into the relatively uncharted waters of genetic testing. Several companies, often along with academic collaborators, have begun