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The Formula For Success Although 34% of their investments are total or partial losses (see chart), venture capitalists still make money. How? By backing companies with the right ingredients for success, says Don Gooding, director of research at venture capital firm Accel Partners—and he’s talking about more than savvy science among the key ingredients. Last month, Gooding spoke to small business owners in a seminar on how to find venture capital at Federal High Tech ‘89, a go

Opportunity In The Land Of The Rising Sun How can a small biotech firm penetrate the Japanese market? What kinds of technology are Japanese corporations looking for? How can a partnering agreement protect the commercial interests of the companies inyolved? Across the broad expanse of the Pacific, U.S. and Japanese firms are eying each other with mutual interest—and some trepidation. Enter consulting firm Venture Economics. Together with Arthur Young and Japan Associated Finance Co., Ven

Sharing Soviet Science Glasnost may be opening up Soviet society, but it’s not happening fast enough for Soviet ref useniks. So from December 8 to 10, the Committee of Concerned Scientists is taking advantage of the gains of glasnost by sponsoring an unusual international scientific conference in Moscow—one organized by Soviet ] and held in private apartments without the sanction of the Soviet government. Although, like any scientific meeting, it is meant to promote the sharing of

In the fall of 1986, Will Talbot was just another college senior nervously applying to graduate school. He knew his credentials were good. As an ambitious high school junior in Gainesville, Fla. he had talked his way into an immunology research laboratory to begin hands-on training at the lab bench. And as a student at the University of Florida, he had compiled an outstanding academic record. But he figured that the competition for top programs in molecular biology would be stiff. “I appli

“Human Immune Defenses Are Transplanted in Mice” beckoned the headline on a front page of the New York Times last month. It announced a story arousing high expectations for a powerful new medical research tool Independently, two teams of researchers had shown that rodents having no immune systems of their own could be made to serve as true models of the human immune system, and this promised to open many doors in the study of human disease—offering insights into some cancers, f

LONDON—Unless you’ve got a mean case of ulcers, you may barely have heard of Glaxo, maker of the top-selling digestive aid Zantac. But recent COUPS by the British pharmaceutical giant’s staff scientists have catapulted the firm to the forefront of the drug industry, giving its United States rivals a case of corporate ulcers. In the 1970s, Glaxo was consid ered an industrial laggard. But in the past eight years, the pharmaceutical company has pulled a stunning about-face. Besid

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