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Last month, Roald Hoffmann, winner of the 1981 Nobel Prize in chemistry, added two more laurels to his already lengthy curriculum vitae when he accepted honorary degrees from the universities of Central Florida and Arizona. Top United States research institutions giving honorary degrees to scientists this spring include: University of Arizona, Tucson: Roald Hoffmann, John A. Newman Professor of Physical Science, Cornell University, winner of 1981 Nobel Prize in chemistry; Julius B. Richmon

KIDNEY DISEASE STUDY CENTERS SOUGHT The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases within the National Institutes of Health invites qualified institutions to become research centers for the study of kidney and urologic disorders. While clinical treatment of kidney disorders has improved in recent times, scientists still have little insight into the basic physiological mechanisms of these diseases. These new study centers are intended to attract fresh investigators to the

Geophysicist Receive Filmakers Award for Video On Earthquakes in Holyland UCSF'S Leonard Hayflick Awarded 1991 Sandoz Prize for Gerotological Research Judith Rodin John D. Minna Daniel F. Veber Frederick A. Murphy Esther M. Cromwell Alfred S. McLaren Amos Nur, Wayne Loel Professor of Earth Sciences and chairman of the geophysics department at Stanford University, and Chris MacAskill, a former student of Nur's who is currently manager of developer partnerships at NeXT Inc., Redwood Cit

Observers question whether the institute will find a chief who can match Thier's record of progress in establishing IoM's credibility WASHINGTON--Samuel Thier's decision last month to leave the Institute of Medicine (IoM) after six years as president for a university presidency represents a significant loss to the organization that has only recently become an important voice in health care policy debates, say institute members and others who are familiar with this affiliate of the National Aca

The Powers Behind The Throne Maybe Yes, Maybe No Comings And Goings At AAU Educational Food For Thought Rep. George Brown (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, has decided to take another look at the health of federally funded research. And this time he's created a task force of the folks who do most of the work on Capitol Hill--congressional aides. Five years ago, members from the same committee issued a 22-volume report on the topic that sunk quic

1991 HONOREES REFLECT ON THE CUSTOM Below, scientists who received honorary degrees at graduation ceremonies this spring give their thoughts on the tradition. Roald Hoffmann, John A. Newman Professor of Physical Science at Cornell University, who received honorary degrees from the universities of Arizona and Central Florida last month: "One of the most memorable honorary degrees I received was from Yale University in 1980. Two times--when I had applied to college, and later, wh

While the agency's program to encourage recruitment of minority investigators is said to be `marvelous,' few grantees apply for it WASHINGTON--Nursing professors Irene Lewis and Faye Whitney think they can spot a good thing. And a program that gives scientists as much as $50,000 a year to add a minority investigator onto National Institutes of Health grants is, as far as they are concerned, one of the best deals around. NIH grantee Whitney, an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylv

A renewed interest in ancient pharmaceuticals spurs debate over the extent to which natives should be compensated Lisa Conte, president of two-year-old Shaman Pharmaceuticals in San Carlos, Calif., needed a way for her company to find new therapeutic agents to compete with massive drug-screening efforts and biotechnology-based drug-discovery initiatives waged by the major pharmaceutical companies. The strategy she came up with was to look for leads from plant-based, non-Western medicines used

LENINGRAD--Dimitry Filotov is an unlikely scientific pioneer. The 30-year-old physicist, who wears a windbreaker and blue jeans in his lab and sports a shaggy head of hair, is not a member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, the prestigious organization that dominates the country's scientific enterprise through its network of some 350,000 scientists and technicians at about 500 research institutes. Nor does he drive a Mercedes Benz, the Soviet Union's most visible status symbol. In fact, at the

For His `Mitochondrial Eve' Research Allan C. Wilson, who used DNA to trace the origin of modern humans to a woman living 200,000 years ago, has received the 1991 3M Life Sciences Award, presented by the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB). The $25,000 award, sponsored annually by the Minneapolis-based 3M Corp. since 1975, was presented to Wilson in Atlanta at the annual meeting of FASEB, held in April. Wilson is a professor of molecular biology and biochemistry a

WASHINGTON--The National Science Foundation has quietly launched a new, highly selective program of research awards to young faculty. The initiative, to be called the Presidential Science and Engineering Faculty Fellows program, will offer more money than and have different ground rules from those of the existing Presidential Young Investigators (PYI) award, which will now be called simply the NSF Young Investigators Program. And more than a name change may be afoot for the original PYI progra

Loose Lips Sink Budgets, Says Massey Out Of The Ashes Of The Space Station No Silly Questions, Please Too Much Of A Good Thing With Congress once again poised to cut out start-up funds for the proposed $211 million Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO), NSF Director Walter Massey is blaming scientists for helping to wield the knife. In March, astrophysicist Tony Tyson of AT&T Bell Labs told the House science committee that LIGO won't be sensitive enough to measure