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WASHINGTON—The research establishment has beaten back Congress’s most serious attempt yet to grab control of investigations and punishment of scientific misconduct. But the victory may be shortlived unless scientists can demonstrate greater will and prowess in policing their own house. The latest threat to the autonomy of universities and other research institutions was a last-minute congressional proposal to create an independent Office of Scientific Integrity. The measure was dra

Stars Wars, Inner Space Style Congress apparently is very interested in the potential medical applications of free-electron laser (FEL) technology, which heretofore has primarily been under development in connection with Strategic Defense Initiative use, but is increasingly being regarded as a possible future weapon against such viruses as those causing AIDS and herpes. The new budget for fiscal 1989 (which went into effect Oct. 1) included an extra $17 million for SDI stipulating that the all

Medical research. Grants of $1 million each from the Baxter Foundation, Los Angeles, to Harvard University for studies of skin cancer, herpes, and AIDS and to Northwestern University to support research in biomedical engineering and immunology Lyme Disease Center. $40,000 from Grumman Aerospace Corp. to the State University of New York, Stony Brook Geriatrics. Two grants from the Charles A. Dana Foundation, Greenwich, Conn.: $500,000 to the University of Washington for the integration of gero

A recent National Academy of Sciences study of five research reactors at the Department of Energy’s national laboratories left out far more than it actually said. The report, released in August, criticized DOE’s ‘fragmented” oversight of the reactors and concluded that aging and brittle components could be safety hazards. But the published criticisms were muted compared to what the academy told reactor officials in private. In informal sessions held before the report was

The feud can be traced to a four-year investigation by the inspector general's office into procurement practices at NIH that led to the forced removal last spring of sciencetist Edwin Becker--(see The Scientist May 10, page 20). the HHS report accused NIH of wasting millions of dollars. Wyngaarden and the NIH community believe that the report exaggerated the extent of procurement problems at NIH and that Kusserwo simply does not understand the importance of providing scientists with easy and q

A new photographic time machine,” when used with a high- speed camera, allows researchers to photograph events that occur before the camera’s shutter is opened. Called an image-preserving optical delay, the new device is an arrangement of optical components, including mirrors and a crystal shutter, that photographs an event “before it occurs after it happens,” says inventor Edward F. Kelley. Even though the camera is triggered after an event, its optical delay allows pho

STANFORD-- CALIF—Irving Weissman is a risk taker. He doesn’t mind losing bets: A bottle of wine here, a beer there. It’s a small price to pay for the progress of science. The last bet the Stanford University immunologist lost was with postdoc Mike McCune over whether a complete human immune system could be transplanted into a mouse. “I said, ‘Great idea, fantastic, but I’ll bet it doesn’t work,’ “ Weissman recalls. “Well, I was wrong

LA JOLLA, CALIF.—Donald Mosier and Darcy Wilson credit their latest success to what they call “interactive science,” which occurs when experienced researchers with fertile ‘minds get together and new concepts and approaches arise spontaneously. It even occurs, they add, when ideas are exchanged by scientists who do not agree. In fact, as the result of a serendipitous argument, Wilson and Mosier recently made the front page of the New York Times and dozens of other newspap

Perhaps the kindest thing to say about the recent report from the National Academy of Sciences on the controversial topic of laboratory animals is that it’s finished. The 73-page report, which cost $315,000 and took three years to write, breaks little new ground, coming out in support of the continued use of animals in research and urging Congress not to pass any more laws regulating their use until the current rules have been digested. The report’s most striking features are its ra

The two principal Charles Bluestone and Erdem Cantekin, key members of a group, that began a major clinical trial in 1981 to measure the efficacy of drugs used to treat diseases in the middle ear in children. Bluestone, an otolaryngologist, is director of the Otitis Media Research Center and principal investigator on the $5.6 million NIH grant that supported the work at Children's Hospital. Cantekin, a biomedical engineer was the center's director of research. Cantekin, whose paper remains unp

NIH should take an active role in this process, , but I don’t think we should tell instituions what to do." The 46-year-old biochemist took up the challenge, on October 10. On that day she became the second NIH employee—and the first scientist direct NIH’s efforst on misconduct. The office she leads was created six years ago as part of effort to codify research practices by those who receive federal funds. But its work relating misconduct, which includes investigating allegati

Sending Corporate Scientists To School When Robert E. Gee arrived at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Interfacial Engineering in February as director of technology transfer, he discovered four visiting researchers who were busy transferring technology. Unfortunately, they were all from Japan, and the flow of information westward across the Pacific was not exactly the type of transfer that Gee had been hired to promote. So Gee came up with a new strategy to get U.S. industry more