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Scientists are realizing that substances in the environment can have devastating effects on the human nervous system For decades, neuropathologist John Olney waged a one-man crusade to have "excitotoxins," chemicals in the brain that cause nerve cells to self-destruct, removed from foods. One of the worst, he argued, was glutamate, consumed by millions as the food flavoring monosodium glutamate. But nobody really paid much mind to Olney's concerns. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) did no

A small tortoise-shell cat stars in a new General Electric television commercial, getting most of the credit for founding GE's thermoplastic business. The year is 1953. In the ad, the cat crawls through an open laboratory window, slinks across a lab table occupied by test tubes and pipettes and then, in a reckless leap, knocks a beaker onto the floor. The following morning Dan Fox, a young researcher, finds that the liquid in the beaker has turned into a hard, transparent block. The voice-over

A 12-member group of chemical companies that produces chlorofluorocarbons is stepping up efforts to investigate the environmental impact of their alternative: hydrochloro- fluorocarbons and hydrofluorocarbons. They are hoping that this research will confirm their initial findings, presented at the United Nations Environment Programme in Nairobi last year, that these alternatives have little significant environmental impact, unlike chlorofluorocarbons, which have been implicated in the destructi

The scientists who study surface water, and what's needed to keep it clean, now find themselves in positions of public authority. When Michael Principe landed his first job as a limnologist nine years ago, he considered himself lucky. The economy was mired in a recession, and the outlook for increased government spending on the environment looked dim. Few federal or state agencies were seeking scientists in Principe's research realm, the scientific study of fresh water systems - an area increa

A news brief on page 6 of The Scientist's Jan. 8, 1990, issue reporting on a survey conducted by the Public Agenda Foundation that will compare the views of scientists and the public misstated the source of the names of the scientists who participated. The scientists were chosen at random from American Men and Women in Science (17th ed., New York, R.R. Bowker, 1989). Also on page 6 of the Jan. 8, 1990, issue, captions were transposed on photographs of FIDIA Pharmaceutical Corp. president Albert

Together, the nation's marine lab directors hope to shape their futures and keep their institutes and coastal sciences thriving WASHINGTON--The directors of the nation's marine labs are banding together to keep their institutions afloat. Next month, as soon as the trustee ballots are in, Harlyn Halvorson will begin his tenure as the first president of the National Association of Marine Laboratories (NAML). This loosely knit network of directors and administrators intends to prove that, when it

The National Academy of Sciences has a program for researchers in search of colleagues in Eastern Europe or the Soviet Union. Beginning in April, the academy will sponsor two-week project development visits by U.S. scientists to the USSR, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, or Yugoslavia. This new effort is meant to pave the way for long-term cooperative research. Scientists can visit one or more institutions in Eastern Europe in any discipline supported by NSF. Vi

Marian Diamond, professor of integrative biology at the University of California, Berkeley, has been appointed acting director of U.C.-Berkeley's Lawrence Hall of Science, the campus' public science center. The facility, which serves as a research center for science curriculum development and teacher education, also features science exhibits and public programs. Diamond's research focuses on brain anatomy and environmental effects on the brain. She recently served as scientific adviser for the

WASHINGTON--For entomologist James Erickson, the former director of the U.S. Agency for International Development's troubled malarial vaccine program (The Scientist, July 10, 1989, page 1, and Dec. 11, 1989, page 1), 1989 was not a good year. And this week he'll find out whether things are going to get any better in 1990. Erickson goes before U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., to defend himself against charges that he defrauded the government program of more than $140,000. He was indicted

The lines between those who support and those who oppose the use of animals in research have always been rather sharply drawn, with last month's break-in and theft of files from a University of Pennsylvania's anatomy professor's lab only the latest example. But now it will be ever easier for members of Congress to choose sides in the acrimonious debate. Last fall, Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) and Rep. Bob Smith (R-N.H.) formed the Congressional Friends of Animals to provide a forum for those who

The already low profile of the House science, research, and technology subcommittee is likely to sink further in the next session of Congress with the expected transfer of the gavel from chairman Rep. Doug Walgren (D-Pa.) to Rep. Tim Valentine (D-N.C.). Walgren, who has led the panel since 1983, has done his best to showcase such issues as science education, university-industry consortia, and the health of academic research. But his earnest, soft-spoken style doesn't attract much attention, and

The New York-based scientific publisher Gordon and Breach has suffered a setback in the first round of its legal battle waged in European courts against the American Institute of Physics. The publishing firm had brought suits against AIP last year, claiming that an article in the July 1988 issue of the institute's monthly, Physics Today, reporting on a survey of journal prices (The Scientist, Sept. 4, 1989, page 4), was damaging to Gordon and Breach. The article, written by retired physicist He