Notebook

Soap opera star Susan Lucci has been nominated for an Emmy Award 13 times for her portrayal of Erica on ABC-TV's "All My Children," but has never walked away with the statuette. Research!America also knows what it feels like to leave an Emmy ceremony empty-handed. The group, which promotes public awareness of the benefits of medical research, received an Emmy nomination this year for "Eddie Butler," a public-service announcement on Alzheimer's disease, but lost out to a spot on steroids by the American Chiropractic Association. "I thought [the Research!America PSA] would win, because I had been nominated before, for a spot I wrote for the [National] Multiple Sclerosis Society," says John Donnelly, Research!America's former vice president of public affairs, who wrote "Eddie Butler." The University of Maryland's Maryland Industrial Partnerships (MIPS) program is offering matching grants of up to $210,000 for scientific or technical ideas that could stimulate industry in the state of Maryland. MIPS grants are given to companies; small and start-up firms have a lower requirement for matching funds. Maximum grants are $70,000 per year ($50,000 for start-up firms) and may be renewable for up to three years. MIPS accepts proposals twice a year; the deadline for the next round is October 23. To find out how businesses may qualify, call the MIPS office at (301) 405-3891. While munching a hot dog at a baseball game may be a ritual as sacred as the national pastime itself, Ed Mills, an assistant professor of dairy and animal science at Penn State University, believes it could be a much healthier experience. To that end, Mills is attempting to produce a frankfurter that derives less than 10 percent of its calories from fat. (The average weiner gets 80 percent of its calories from fat.) Determining what substances to use to replace the fat--water and plant material, according to Mills--was the easy part. But re-creating the distinctive taste and "oily mouth" texture of the fattier franks is a problem Mills is working on by trying different substances and manipulating the manufacturing, cooking, and smoking temperature to adjust for the absence of fat. Current filler candidates: microcrystalline cellulose (derived from plants), soy proteins, and carrageenan and alginate (from red and brown kelp). Mmmm... Is psychology an empirical science, or a scholarly study? A new book, A Century of Psychology As Science, a collection of essays published by the Washington, D.C.-based American Psychological Association, addresses the discipline's diversity. The book, edited by Sigmund Koch, University Professor of Psychology and Philosophy at Boston University, and David E. Leary, dean of arts and sciences and a professor of psychology at the University of Richmond, traces the development of psychology as an empirical science and discusses its connection with other disciplines, including physics, biology, mathematics, linguistics, and philosophy. Environment-conscious readers of newspapers like The Scientist might be heartened by the knowledge that about 33 percent of the estimated 15 million tons of discarded newsprint is recycled or recovered each year. Less uplifting is the fact that the caustic, toxic chemicals used to de-ink those publications frequently find their way into rivers and streams. But two researchers in North Carolina State University's department of wood and paper science--associate professor John A. Heitmann, Jr. and professor Thomas W. Joyce--are working on a project to significantly up the percentage of recycled newspaper, while eliminating the environmental cost. Environmentally benign enzymes, such as cellulases and hemicellulases, unhook and "munch away" at the ink and sugar units from the cellulose in the paper pulp, the researchers say. Ink particles that are not digested in the first part of the process attach themselves to air bubbles forced into flotation vats and are skimmed off. Most of the enzymes are destroyed when the paper is dried; the rest are flushed away but pose no environmental risk. The International Relations Committee of the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) is awarding international travel grants of $1,500 and free registration for AACC's 1993 national meeting, to be held next July 11-15 in New York. The 10,000-member, Washington, D.C.-based professional association is composed of clinical chemists, pathologists, medical technologists, and others in related fields. Criteria for the grants include "submission of scientific papers for the national meeting, opportunity for career development, financial need, and demonstrated contribution to the field of clinical chemistry." Three scientists from Nigeria and China were awarded grants for this year's national meeting. The deadline for applications is Dec. 1, 1992. For information, contact AACC, 2029 K St. N.W., Seventh Floor, Washington, D.C. 20006; (800) 892-1400.

Notebook

The Scientist Staff

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