The Scientist - Home

Photo: C. Garasi, C. Galino, N. Miller, A. Simon, J. & B. Peterson and the NMSU Visualization Center (scanning) 'WAKE-UP CALL': Comet Hale-Bopp could help illustrate the dangers of superstition, according to codiscoverer Alan Hale. He helped to discover Comet Hale-Bopp, science's biggest media darling since Dolly the cloned sheep, but astronomer Alan Hale has more earthly concerns these days. The adjunct professor of astronomy at New Mexico State University is worried about how difficult t

A Scientific American forum on the controversial issue has some scientists crying foul, contending editors failed to delete misstatements. TRUST BUSTED: UC-Berkeley’s Sharon Russell says her faith in Scientific American has been shaken. Some biomedical researchers are responding with disappointment and concern to the February issue of Scientific American, contending that portions of the magazine's cover package, a forum on the benefits and ethics of animal research, were misleading and

Sidebar : Two Efforts To Tackle Medical Marijuana Issues A MEDICINAL HERB? NIH may soon be looking into the therapeutic effects of marijuana as consensus grows among scientists that such studies are worth doing. Few areas of science policy are as politicized as the debate over the therapeutic benefits of marijuana. The federal government historically has been reluctant to acknowledge that the drug has medicinal value. Initiatives passed last November in Arizona and California legalizing mariju

Sidebar: Fourteen Journals Surveyed on Financial Interest of Authors For More Information On Academic-Industrial Collaborations Two recent studies have renewed attention on the perennial controversy over industry support of academic research. Some observers maintain that conflict-of-interest issues inherent in academic-industrial collaborations compromise scientific integrity and contribute to the public's mistrust of science, while others argue that such relationships benefit society and are a

RNA's Role At Beginning of Life - For Further Information Date: March 31, 1997 The International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life Mail Stop 245-1, NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, Calif. 94035-1000 World Wide Web: http://helium.ucsc.edu/~deamer/origins.html President: Andre Brack 420 members Journal: Origin of Life The RNA Society 9650 Rockville Pike Bethesda, Md. 20814-3998 (301) 530-7120 Fax: (301) 530-7049 World Wide Web: http://www.cup.org/Journals/JNLS

The American Medical Association (AMA), not to be outdone by the recent controversies surrounding sheep cloning, wrestled with a few ethical issues of its own earlier this month in Philadelphia. At a conference entitled "Ethics and American Medicine: History, Change, and Challenge," speakers tackled subjects such as end-of-life care and the problems of managed care and health-care rationing. The meeting’s concluding session, a roundtable discussion on medicine’s future ethical chall

Journal TitleTotal Number of original articles on biology and genetics in 1992 Number of original articles with Ma. authors in 1992 Percentage of total number of articles Percentage of database (a) Disclosure of interests required by journal in 1992 American Journal of Human Genetics 27111 4.06 1.36 no Cell 357 51 14.29 6.29 no EMBO Journal 54628 5.13 3.45 no Genes & Development 21727 12.14 3.33 no Journal of Biological Chem. 3,8542265.86 27.87 no Journal of Cell Biology 51642

D. Blumenthal, N.Causino, E.G. Campbell, K.S. Louis, "Relationships between academic institutions and industry in the life sciences-an industry survey," New England Journal of Medicine, 334:368-73, 1996. D. Blumenthal, E.G. Campbell, N. Causino, K.S. Louis, "Participation of life-science faculty in research relationships with industry," N. Engl. J. Med., 335:1734-9, 1996. E. Haber, "Industry and the university," Nature Biotechnology, 14:441-2, 1996. S. Krimsky, L. S. Rothenberg, P. Stott, G.

The National Institutes of Health's "Workshop on the Medical Utility of Marijuana," held February 19 and 20, served as a forum for researchers to present data on the therapeutic uses of the drug to an eight-member panel of scientists. The panel's recommendations may help determine future funding of studies to assess marijuana's possible healing powers. Panel members, who represent a broad spectrum of medical researchers, are: William T. Beaver, a professor of pharmacology and anesthesia at Geo

GREAT EXPENSE: Pittsburgh’s Bernard Fisher says that the government’s misconduct investigation against him cost too much. As renowned University of Pittsburgh cancer surgeon Bernard Fisher regroups after being cleared of misconduct in a highly publicized case, many observers are viewing the affair as a warning that the scientific community and the public need better ways of monitoring research activities. Fisher, cleared earlier this month of any wrongdoing, has filed a lawsuit ag

Sidebars: National Institutes of Health : Summary of Appropriations Research and Development Intestments Federal science and technology agencies are holding their own in President Clinton's recently proposed fiscal year 1998 budget, which allocates $75.5 billion-a 2.2 percent increase-to government-sponsored R&D. The National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation are slated to receive modest overall increases, approximately 2.6 percent and 3 percent, respectively. As the

Sidebar : Asthma Products - Delivering the Dosage Asthma Products - More Information CHEMICAL BLOCKER: Accolate was the first new asthma drug approved by FDA since the 1970s. New research is breathing life into the asthma drug market. Inspired by improving knowledge of asthma's biochemistry, more than 40 companies worldwide are investigating drugs to control the disease. This effort translates into new opportunities for creative chemists and biologists. For 25 years, a handful of drug firms,