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WASHINGTON—A new federal agricultural research program, funded at $75 million annually over the next 20 years, has been proposed to "develop and produce marketable products other than traditional food and fiber products." The research program would be administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture with assistance from an independent New Products Research Board to be created. The law would require USDA to fund at least 15 research projects within two years of the act's passage; each pro

BOSTON—An informal network of local and state activists is using economic rather than political arguments in a campaign to divert spending on military R&D to civilian projects. The effort to reduce a local economy's dependence on defense con tracts and replace it with a variety of civilian R&D projects is known most often as economic conversion, although it goes by a variety of other names. Based on a desire to avoid the historical fluctuations in funding that have plagued communities who

WEST BERLIN—With a rising pro portion of the budget going to re search, the West German government has become increasingly interested in finding a way to mea sure the quality of the work it is supporting. Its growing interest has triggered a reaction from academics, who argue that such indicators do not give a complete and accurate picture of the academic landscape and that, if used to determine funding, they could disrupt or reduce the current allocation to the nation's universities. The

WASHINGTON—Operating with plenty of optimism and a shoestring budget, the non-profit Americans for the Universality of UNESCO (AUU) is working to narrow the gap between the United States and the U.N. agency it abandoned in 1984. "Unfortunately," said William Treanor, who serves as the organization's Washington representative, "under [the Reagan] administration we're pretty much a candle in the hurricane." The group's newsletter, distributed to 1,200 Americans and more than 2,000 persons ab

This is the second in a series of occasional articles on scientists' professional societies. The first, on the American Association for the Advancement of Science, appeared in the February 9 issue. NEW YORK—The planners of Session 17 had envisioned the usual dull lecture—dimmed lights, a slide projector, burnt coffee wafting from silver urns at the back of the room. What they got were undercover police in the audience, and lawyers arguing in court. The events surrounding Electro '87

WASHINGTON—Last August the National Science Foundation awarded a $25 million, five-year grant to design earthquake-resistant buildings to a six-institution consortium led by the State University of New York at Buffalo. Five competing proposals lost, four quietly. But scientists in a consortium of universities in quake-prone California, led by UCBerkeley, grumbled in public. "In this case, peer review failed miserably," said Linda Royster, a spokeswoman for Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.), who

WASHINGTON—In the midst of a growing chorus lamenting the physical condition of the nation's research facilities, the National Science Foundation has been singing a different—and somewhat dissonant—tune. The battle, not surprisingly, concerns money: in particular, whether the federal government should undertake a multibillion dollar program to upgrade laboratories in hundreds of colleges and universities. A host of educational organizations think it should, and are backing a bi

LONDON—Nearly one-half of the United Kingdom's university earth scientists will become second-class citizens if a classification of their institutions proposed in a report to the country's University Grants Committee (UGC) is accepted. The report is widely seen as a blueprint for reorganizing research funding throughout the sciences. It calls for a three-tiered university system, with expensive research equipment concentrated in top-level universities and little or no opportunity for resea

At one time the scene of most of the world's great scientific discoveries, Europe still has a formidable reputation in fields such as particle physics and molecular biology. Yet growing concern about a "technology gap" with the United States and Japan has provided one of the motives for the European Economic Community Framework Program of Research and Technological Development, whose budget for 1987-91 has been the subject of intense political debate in recent months. The United Kingdom, while e

WASHINGTON—The Food and Drug Administration has given final approval to a set of regulations that will give some patients with immediate life-threatening diseases quicker access to experimental drugs. The rules have been revised in an attempt to allay scientists' fears that such a "fast track" would abandon traditional safety requirements and jeopardize clinical trials, and drug companies' concerns that it might prolong the process of gaining final approval. Yet the final rules may not hav

Paris—The French-inspired Eureka program is hoping to forge links with the world of venture capital to finance a series of cooperative industrial research and development projects throughout Europe. The 2-year-old program features 108 projects involving industrial firms from at least two European countries. Member governments agree to help their own national companies, typically through subsidies, but do not provide direct financial aid. As a consequence, several small and medium-sized com

WEST BERLIN—An attempt to compare the academic standings of West German universities has produced a confusing lack of correlation between five different quantitative indicators. Conducted by Ernst Giese from the University of Giessen and funded by the German Research Society (DFG), the survey has been published at a sensitive time for science policy in West Germany. Its results have been welcomed by the country's collective of university presidents, which does not wish science indicators t