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Researchers at many U.S. universities are participating in curricula that now stress hard science Top colleges and universities throughout the United States are responding to an unprecedented demand for environmental education programs with new undergraduate degree programs, graduate-level research opportunities, and environmental colloquia. What distinguishes most of these new programs from academia's previous environmental offer

Such threats, NSF noted in announcing the latest round of grants, occurs across all geographic regions, at all levels of life, and on scales ranging from the microscopic to the oceanic. "We're gradually evolving a broader concept of ecosystems," says Joann Roskoski, acting deputy director for NSF's division of environmental biology. The division usually approves between 15 and 18 projects each year and has so far doled out about $1

The Whitaker Foundation, headquartered in Washington D.C., has presented 14 Special Opportunity Awards in biomedical engineering to teams of investigators who have come up with proposals to establish novel training programs in the field. The awards range from $250,000 to $750,000. The foundation recognizes that the field of bioengineering is a meeting place for many different disciplines. Medical sciences such as physiology and pha

Bench scientists, along with antivivisectionists, wonder what an updated `bible' of animal care will bring Earlier this month, a National Research Council (NRC) committee held the last of three public forums to gather input for a revision of its widely influential Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. Although publication of the new guide is not expected until next year, scientists and animal protectionists already are

Observers see organizational and budgetary challenges as potential impediments to office's effectiveness A year after former director John H. Gibbons's departure to become White House science adviser, the congressional Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) is going through a difficult period of transition, reorganization, and budgetary belt- tightening. Editor's Note: Office of Technology Assessment director Roger Herdman discuss

In just the past few years, technical advances have made possible laser-scanning confocal microscopes able to produce kinetic images of living cells. Depending on the system, neuroscientists and other researchers now can capture images at up to video rates--30 frames per second--or, sometimes, faster. Additionally, they can record those images digitally, or with a video recorder, or with a 35 mm camera. They can view cell events on

New committee says paper collections are threatened, but librarians say that the information glut demands new acquisitions strategies A committee of more than 130 scientists from different disciplines--newly organized by a consultant with longstanding ties to several commercial academic publishers- -is calling for more federal funding for research libraries. Increasingly, they say, libraries are failing to keep collections of sci

With projects on hold and downsizings, mergers, and acquisitions on rise, only firms with products in clinical trials can progress Among the myriad issues confronting the biotech industry in 1994, the most pressing problem companies will face is a lack of adequate financing, say industry observers. Fueled by concerns over potential drug-pricing controls related to national health care reform and two highly publicized biotech prod

Life Technologies P.O. Box 6009 8451 Helgerman Court Gaithersburg, Md. 20884 (301) 840-4150 Fax: (800) 331-2286 MGM Instruments Inc. 925 Sherman Ave. Hamden, Conn. 06514 (203) 248-4008 Fax: (203) 288-2621 Nordic Immunological Labs Drawer 2517 Capo Beach, Calif. 92624 (714) 498-4467 Fax: (714) 361-0138 Organon Teknika/ Biotechnology Research Institute 1330 Piccard Dr. Rockville, Md. 20850-4396 (800) 354-0809 Fax: (301) 840-2161

About 5,000 scientists are expected to attend the 1994 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, to be held in San Francisco February 18-23. * John Gibbons, Assistant to the President of the United States for Science and Technology, and Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy: "Science, Technology, and the Clinton Administration." * "Health Care Reform and Advances in Medicine":

On Monday, March 14, the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society will feature a day-long symposium on the legal aspects of chemistry and biotechnology. This session is jointly sponsored by the Division of Chemistry and the Law, the Biotechnology Secretariat, and the ACS Committee on Patents and Related Matters. Following is a list of topics to be covered in the symposium: Patenting -- why bother? Recent patent law developm

Bench scientists will play a major role in an ambitious effort to streamline the campaign against HIV The soon-to-be-appointed National Task Force on AIDS Drug Development may have a strong, positive impact on the research and development of antiviral therapies to counter HIV infection, say industry and academic scientists, government officials organizing the task force, and members of the AIDS-affected community. Key to the task