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Los Alamos Wins Laser War... An outbreak of pragmatism in the Defense Department’s “Star Wars” program has tipped the balance toward Los Alamos National Lab in its 10-year competition with Lawrence Livermoew National Labs to develop a ground-based free-electron laser. in October, the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization picked Los Alamos and its partner, Boeing Aerospace and Electronics, for the $500 million project. The decision will mean $75 million over the next five

Although it’s certainly lively enough, it’s not “The Cosby Show.” And while it’s about science, it’s not as grandiose as “Cosmos,” the $30 million astronomy extravaganza hosted by Carl Sagan a few years ago. But for Nobel laureate Roald Hoffmann, “The World of Chemistry,” a 26-segment television series produced for the Public Broadcasting System, is a vehicle that’s sufficiently entertaining and stylish to convey his enthusia

Faster Sequencing Ahead A Foster Park, Calif., firm feels it could be holding the key to speedy completion of the human genome project. Applied Biosystems Inc. is developing a device called a sequencer front end that would take over much of the manually done chemical sequencing reactions that now limit the speed of automated sequencers. The publicly owned company, abiotech equipment maker that recorded $160 million in sales last year, is hoping the new device will be ready by the end of next y

PRINCETON, NJ.—Drop a certain name in conversation with a fusion scientist or a Department of Energy official and you’re likely to observe an unusual reaction. Rolling eyes and sighs are common responses; mild cases of apoplexy are not unknown. Usually composed researchers become animated, others simply nod their heads knowingly. Rarely does the name pass without comment. The name is Bogdan Maglich, and the man who owns it claims he’s just a scientist with a relatively mo

TUCSON—Karen Saucier’s first glimpse of her new workplace—the insect molecular genetics laboratory at South Carolina’s Clemson University—came as a shocking disappointment. “I almost cried,” recalls Saucier, who had just left a high-powered postdoctoral fellowship at a human genetics laboratory at the University of Miami and was eager to apply those techniques to insects. What confronted her upon arriving at Clemson last year was a huge storage room

From dedication inscriptions accompanying 17th-century Jesuit astronomical texts to the genesis of today’s animal rights debate, the past and present of scientific discovery were put under the microscope last month as the History of Science Society met at the University of Flor- ida, Gainesville, for its 65th annual conference. To society officials, several aspects of the three-day event affirmed not only the current vitality of the organization, but also its promising future: overal

The National Science Foundation’s cancellation of funding for the John von Neumann National Supercomputer Center has, as might be expected, drawn sharp criticism from supporters of the Princeton, N.J., facility. But here, the move is being watched as a leading indicator of where the program is headed. Assuming the failure of a lastditch effort by the Princeton center to reverse NSF’s rejection of its request for $70 million over the next five years, NSF officials say that the e

Fireworks At The Foundation Every year during the holiday season, Bassam Shakhashiri, NSF associate director for science and engineering education, performs a flashy chemistry demonstration intended to get children excited about science. This year, however, Shakhashiri has begun his pyrotechnics a little early with a controversial campaign to increase spending on education, including a recent article in Science (246:317, 1989) that examines his wish for a $600 million annual budget, three time

Navy Hikes New Investigators Awards For scientists who earned their doctoral degrees after Dec. 1, 1984, the Office of Naval Research now offers an even bigger Young Investigator Award. ONR will award about a dozen grants of at least $75,000 per year to young tenure-track scientists who are not already holding ONR contracts. The previous awards were limited to $50,000. Applicants can submit proposals to any of ONR’s 13 divisions. The award can cover salary, equipment, graduate student su

Eugene Cronkite, of the Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, N.Y., received the 17th Robert de Villiers Award from the Leukemia Society of America in recognitionof his research on hematopoiesis, the process by which the cellular elements of blood are formed. Cronkite, the recipient of a medal and a cash prize of $10,000, has been a member of the Brookhaven staff since 1954. He earmed his A.B. degree in 1935 and his M.D. in 1940, both from Stanford University. In the 1960s, Cronkite develope

WASHINGTON—Congress wants to cap the salaries that biomedical scientists receive for their work on federal research grants. Although the proposed limit .may not actually shrink the paychecks of individual scientists and will save the National Institutes of Health only about $10 million annually, it represents the latest move in a campaign to force universities to pick up a greater share of the cost of their research faculty. Asking universities to take on that burden, according to feder

Exit The Fusion Critic The persistent rumors that Robert Hunter was on his way out as director of DOE’s Office of Energy Research came true last month when Hunter resigned, effective immediately. His abrupt departure marked the end of a year-long battle with advocates of magnetic-confinement fusion projects like the Princeton Plasma Lab’s tokamak. Hunter preferred a process known as inertial-confinement fusion that is being developed at Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore national la