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The federal government is beginning to take a close look at the accountability of programs designed to increase opportunities for minorities in science. Funding applications now require that grantee institutions set internal goals, fashion programs to meet those objectives, and become actively involved with government agencies in the evaluation process. Moves also are afoot to create an independently managed clearinghouse of data on such programs. But these changes are occurring under a shadow

POSITIVE SIDE EFFECT Proposed legislation designed to ban genetic discrimination may boost participation in clinical trials, says Kathy L. Hudson, assistant director for policy coordination at the National Human Genome Research Institute. Vice President Al Gore issued guidelines for genetic discrimination legislation in a report entitled "Genetic Information and the Workplace" January 20 at the National Academy of Sciences. The legislation, if enacted, would bar employers from using genetic mak

With the passage last year of Proposition 215 in California and similar measures in Arizona and other states, voters have indicated their belief that marijuana should be made available for medicinal purposes. In response, the Office of National Drug Control Policy requested that the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences undertake an 18-month study to assess the science base, the therapeutic use, and the economics of medical marijuana. The study will not be completed until th

Editor's Note: Scientists looking for a crash course in effective communication of their research findings should catch Alan Leshner in action. During recent months, the personable director of the Rockville, Md.-based National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has been moderating a series of "Town Meetings" in such metropolises as Philadelphia, Dallas, Chicago, and Atlanta. In the keynote talk he gives on the myths and realities of drug abuse and addiction, he juxtaposes graphs and cartoons with a

SPREADING THE WORD: Materials developed by NIDA use a neuroscience approach to teach students about the dangers of drug abuse. A new program from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), "Mind Over Matter," is using neuroscience research results to teach, rather than preach to, students about the dangers of addictive drugs. "People have historically seen drug abuse as purely a social problem that results from voluntary behavior and remains voluntary. But science has taught us that addictio

Membership in the Institute of Medicine (IoM) is becoming a family affair. Increasingly, members of the same family-husbands and wives, and also parents and their offspring-are being elected to the honor society. Six couples now boast membership. There also are four instances in which a parent and a son or daughter have been elected to the institute. And in one extraordinary case, there's a husband and wife and their daughter. "Perhaps both nature and nurture helped to shape the offspring," say

BASIC ADVOCATE: Maryland's Rita Colwell plans to advocate more basic science funding as the next NSF deputy director. On January 8, President Clinton announced his intent to nominate Rita R. Colwell as deputy director of the National Science Foundation. Colwell, currently the president of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, says that if her nomination is confirmed, she will use the position to push for more research dollars for basic science. She remains unfazed by the limits t

Photo: John Wang ETHNOBOTANY: This Ava puhi Mohi plant will provide an ingredient for a Nu Skin cosmeticeutical to be launched in March. America's fascination with youth and physical beauty has prompted a rise in the development over recent years of "high-performance" cosmetics containing bioactive ingredients for skin damaged by the effects of sun and aging. Companies that produce personal-care products now are seeking new bioactive ingredients and new delivery system technologies. This deman

SEARCHING FOR IDENTITY: USDA Undersecretary Mylie Gonzalez wants to give the agency a higher research profile. Image is everything for federal agencies that compete for a frozen pool of research dollars. Congress associates the National Institutes of Health with cancer cures, the National Science Foundation with sound basic research, and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) with subsidies, according to USDA officials. Although USDA will spend $1.6 billion on basic and applied re

The field is given a boost by a widening of focus at the institutes as well as a report praising a major initiative. During the brief earthly tenure of the species Homo sapiens, the human genome seems to have accumulated just the right amount of variation to suit the purposes of geneticists. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), the DNA bases that vary systematically between subpopulations, are common enough to serve usefully as chromosomal markers but not so common as to make genetic analys

Imagine it as F. Lee Bailey meets Albert Einstein, with David Letterman hovering in the background. The Annals of Improbable Research (AIR) and the Journal of Irreproducible Results (JIR), two of a handful of publications that take an intentionally humorous view of science and scientists, are moving slowly toward a date in court. George H. Scherr, publisher of JIR, is suing Marc Abrahams, editor of AIR, and Improbable Research Inc., AIR's parent company, for what Scherr claims is unfair competi

RECORD DONORS: U.S. Healthcare founder Leonard Abramsom and his wife, Madlyn, a cancer survivor, donated $100 million to create a new cancer research center at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center. Photo: Courtesy Bruce Wemger INJECTION INNOVATION: A young patient shows some apprehension as a needle-free injector device is placed against her arm prior to firing. Remember the terror you felt as a child when you went to the doctor for a vaccination? These days, docto