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Editor's Note: On May 2, the National Academy of Sciences announced the election of 60 new members and 15 foreign associates from nine countries in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Nearly half of the new members are life scientists. In this article, The Scientist presents photographs of some of the new members and comments from a few of them on their careers and on past and current research. A full directory of NAS members can be found online a

Courtesy of Charles S. Hopkinson Jr.Brackish tidal marsh along the Plum Island estuary in northeastern Massachusetts Lessons learned decades ago resurfaced this spring when the National Research Council of the National Academies issued a report calling for a nationwide plan to combat the nitrogen and phosphorus pollution threatening U.S. coastal waters. Lesson one: Ecosystems are interdependent. Lesson two: Virtually every human being is part of the problem and can be part of the solution. "We

Acknowledging that it is important for medical schools to adapt educational programs to changes in the real world, Michael Whitcomb, senior vice president for medical education at the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), explains, "Successful medical education will produce doctors who are effective practitioners." The AAMC is establishing three Medical School Objective Project (MSOP) expert panels on health care quality, clinical research, and basic science. The MSOP was started four

Model of an inhibitor targeted to g-secretase interacting with presenilin. The background shows an Alzheimer's brain that carried a presenilin mutation, with immunohistochemistry revealing abundant amyloid plaques (red-orange patches). For years researchers have been perplexed by the identity of g-secretase, an enzyme that cuts amyloid precursor protein (APP) into amyloid ß (Aß) fragments that form telltale plaques in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. Now researchers from Merck Rese

Vical Inc.'s naked DNA nonviral delivery technology Even as gene transfer research endures criticism for inadequate clinical trial monitoring and underreporting of adverse events, the first several treatments are poised to enter final stages of development. Gene therapy for cancers of the skin and kidney, for severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) or "bubble boy" disease, and for hemophilia B, all have produced promising early clinical trial results, attendees were told during the American Soc

10 000 in its kitty aims to represent - and professionalize - rank-and-file British scientists.

The World Health Organisation (WHO)'s World Health Report for the year 2000 faces health ministries head on, and refuses to take their data for granted. Instead, it makes its own statistical analysis of how well 191 different national health systems are functioning. Tables cover a wide range of indicators, but summing up performance into a single measure, the report ranks the massively costly US system way down the list.WHO's Chris Murray

Does China need biotechnology? The answer from China seems to be an emphatic yes. We have only 7% of the world's land, and yet are feeding 22% of the world's population. China's per capita tillable land and per capita consumption of fresh water are both one-fourth those of the world's averages. It is estimated that our population will reach 1.6 billion by 2030 (from 1.3 billion now) and food consumption will reach 650 million tons, compared with present production of 500 million tons. On top of

A private company whose credo, according to its co-Presidents, DavidFischhoff & Mark Trusheim, is "work hard, have fun, kick butt", seems tohave decided to take a softer approach. It will be giving away valuableagricultural genetic data to the public research community, through aunique public-private agreement between the The Arabidopsis InformationResource (TAIR), funded by the US National Science Foundation, and thecompany - the American plant research partnership, Cereon Genomics.The numb

Graphic: Cathleen Heard Law enforcement officials routinely use DNA fingerprinting as a tool to get the guilty punished. Defense lawyers often rely on the same tool to free the innocent. Though their labs may be less dramatic settings than criminal courtrooms, life science researchers also use DNA fingerprinting, but rather than capturing criminals, their goal is to keep tabs on a different sort of culprit: infectious disease. The technology has revolutionized the way diseases are tracked and th

The unveiling of the DNA sequences of human chromosomes represents a new chapter in the unfolding story of genomics, but one with roots in the half-century-old field of cytogenetics. Chromosome-level looks can reveal the specific genes behind certain traits and disorders while providing information on genome organization. The diminutive chromosome 21--the smallest of the human contingent, despite its number as next to last--is the fourth to be described. Its debut in mid-May attracted attentio

Recent studies have shown that isolates of Campylobacter jejuni bacteria, major culprits in food poisoning, are gaining resistance to fluoroquinolone antibiotics, currently the drugs of choice in treating the disorder. Therefore, makers of agricultural antibiotics will soon need to take antibiotic resistance into account as part of the approval process, says Sharon Thompson, associate director for veterinary medical and international affairs at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). A requireme