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When Richard McKinney draws his bow and takes aim during the Seoul Olympics next week, he will have an unusual ally-science—in his quest for the gold. Even though he won a silver medal in the 1984 Olympics and is a favorite to grab another medal in Seoul, the United States archer has, for four years, been tested. Measured, observed, and advised by two researchers at Arizona State University. "I think their work has helped me tremendously," McKinney says. "It's one reason I have stayed on t

Paul Chu's superconductor research at the University of Houston will act as a "multiplier" to Du Pont's own efforts, senior vice president Al MacLachlan said after Du Pont announced a multimillion dollar deal with Houston on August 23. Under the agreement, which took a year to negotiate, Du Pont made an initial payment of $1.5 million to the university and will fork over an additional $1.5 million upon issuance of a patent to Chu covering the class of 1-2-3 superconducting compounds (YBa2Cu3O7).

After years of battling their local nuclear power plant—and winning—Long Island environmental activists have turned on Brookhaven National Lab. The accusation? Its chemical and radiation releases are a threat to residents. The battle came to a head last month in Suffolk Life, a half-million circulation weekly that has run several articles in the past few years about local environmental investigations of the lab. In an August 3 editorial, the paper traced a string of environmental cal

After seven years of acting as a center for researchers from other institutions, the Neurosciences Institute will add in-house research to its current programs. An independent organization located on the campus of Rockefeller University in New York, the institute works to encourage interdisciplinary exchange of information in neuroscience. Under director Gerald M. Edelman, the institute hosts small conferences and workshops, which do not follow the usual paper-and-slides format but which encoura

New electrically powered microscopic motors, no larger than the width of a human hair, have potential applications in the next few years in both medical and microsurgical equipment and scientific instruments. Bell Labs and the University of California, Berkeley, reported on the new process at the same time, but Berkeley holds a patent on the process, which uses the techniques and materials of semiconductor manufacturing. The rotor in the motor is about two-thousandths of an inch in diameter. Its

Until recently, computer incompatibility and expense have hampered U.S. astronomers from easily accessing a valuable, extensively stocked French database called SIMBAD. But NASA and NSF have teamed up to pay for a permanent network hookup, circuit costs, and charges for scientists' use of the database itself. SIMBAD (Set of Identifications, Measurements, and Bibliography for Astronomical Data), maintained in Strasbourg, France, makes it possible for an astronomer to look up an astronomical objec

WASHINGTON—Presidential candidates are often criticized for being vague. But Michael Dukakis has learned the hard way that it also doesn't pay to be specific. He's had to change his stand on the space station. Constantly pressed to cite areas where the Democratic standard bearer would trim the federal deficit, the Dukakis campaign used to mention the $30 billion space station as one potential target-this despite the fact that the candidate endorsed the concept of a space station. In the pa

The Carnegie Corp. is pulling out all the stops for its planned 1991 report on the application of science and technology to government for the benefit of society. Earlier this year, the philanthropic organization formed a commission to prepare the sweeping report, loading it with such luminaries as Joshua Lederberg, Jerome Weisner, Bobby lnman, John Brademas, Donald Kennedy, and Jimmy Carter. But even that star-studded cast apparently wasn't luminous enough. Now, the new commission has taken the

In their campaign against the use of animals in research, animal rights activists have been trying to gain access to universities' animal care and use committees. The activists, whose methods range from direct pressure to lawsuits, have been successful in a number of states, including Washington and Florida. But on August 18, animal rightists suffered defeat when a lawsuit against the University of California system was dismissed. An Alameda County Superior Court judge ruled that the 10 animal c

The Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago is searching for a director to launch a Department of Conservation/Research that will coordinate the institute's investigations into the reproduction, behavior, and nutrition of captive animals and endangered species. "We want someone to come in and look at what we've been doing and lay out a master plan," says biologist Dennis Meritt, assistant director of the zoo. The new director will be able to decide the size and scope of the new department, but must continue

Six years ago, neurologist J. William Langston stumbled onto an exciting discovery, a contaminated synthetic heroin that seemed to trigger symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Almost overnight, Langston was thrust into the limelight. Reporters flocked to his office. Foundations invited him to apply for grants. His lab began reporting steady progress in the long struggle toward a cure for Parkinson's, a degenerative disease that affects half a million people in the United States. But success brought

This computer dating service doesn't care about the color of your eyes, your favorite opera, or your search for a meaningful relationship. Money is its prime concern. Since 1984, not-for-profit Venture Capital Network has maintained a database that matches entrepreneurs seeking cash with investors hunting opportunity. For $100, entrepreneurs can include their business profiles in the VCN database for six months. Although the service can't guarantee an introduction to an investor, "almost everybo