The Scientist - Home

BOSTON—Two MIT professors without business experience hope to turn a unique manufacturing process into a commercial success in the burgeoning field of high-temperature superconductivity. Gregory J. Yurek and John Vandersande, both of MIT’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering, decided to launch the American Superconductor Corp. last spring after developing a proprietary process for fabricating superconductors through oxidation of metallic components. The program is sai

WASHINGTON—Small new high-tech firms that struggle for their share of the federal research and development pie have cast a vote of confidence for the Small Business Innovation Research program, which helps them get it. Ninety-five percent of the nearly 800 small companies responding to a General Accounting Office survey said it is worthwhile participating in the program, which by next month will have handed out $1.1 billion in federal R&D funds. “The program opened up a new area

WASHINGTON—A proposal to use the commercial fruits of federally funded research to finance new projects may get a hearing this fall in Congress. Although its passage is unlikely, the idea is seen as an innovative approach to funding R&D at a time when there is little room in the federal budget for new research programs. A bill (S. 1302) introduced May 29 by Sen. James Exon (D-Neb.) would create a technology trust fund with royalties from the sale of products that originated in federally

WASHINGTON—A bill calling for the creation of a national advisory panel on AIDS is moving swiftly through Congress. The bill, which passed the House last month and could be taken up as early as this month by the Senate, would authorize the president and Congress to appoint a 15-member panel to make policy recommendations in the areas of AIDS research, testing, treatment and education The bill specifies that at least eight members would be “recognized experts” in the fields

MADRID—The Council of Europe, seeking a common framework for legislation regulating experiments on human embryos in its 21 member nations, is considering a new report by a Spanish physician on the ethics and biology of such research. In his report, Marcelo Palacios, a Socialist member of Spain’s parliament, endorses the increasingly accepted view that a fertilized human egg becomes an embryo 14 days after conception. The pre-embryo, he suggests, could be used for experimentation&

ITHACA, N.Y.—The new director of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., hopes to expand its research efforts and use its exhibits to further public understanding of science and technology. Cornell astronomer and astrophysicist Martin 0. Harwit last month took charge of one of the most-visited museums in the world, with an estimated 9 million visitors annually. It houses exhibits ranging from the Wright Brothers’ first aircraft to the Apollo 11 command module and

WASHINGTON—The pam of the present will eventually lead to longterm gains for space scientists if NASA’s budget continues to grow, says Lennard A. Fisk, the agency’s new associate administrator for space science and applications. “NASA has essentially been directed by the president to go back to its R&D roots, and that will do well for science and applications,” Fisk told THE SCIENTIST in one of his first interviews since taking the position in April. “If I

BOSTON—The American Mathematical Society (AMS) has agreed to ask its 20,000 members to set a policy on the role of the military in funding mathematics research. The vote, to be taken in January, will cover five motions touching on the nature of federal support for the discipline. The society’s decision to poll its membership comes after two controversial motions on the topic of military funding generated heated debate during the society’s meeting last January. One of these

LONDON—British universities have been invited to participate in a network of interdisciplinary research centers that will be created if the government provides sufficient funds. The Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) hopes to set up at least 10 such centers during the next three years as part of a new strategy to support state-of-the-art basic research that will have commercial applications. The program is similar in many ways to the new Science and Technology Centers prog

WASHINGTON—The status of research funding bills for 1988, as Congress returns from its month-long summer break, reflects the difference between word and deed in politics. In January President Reagan proposed a federal budget that called for a healthy increase for NSF, selective increases for R&D at NASA, and a sharp reduction in funding for NIH. Eight months later, as Congress approaches its October 1 deadline to appropriate money for the 1988 fiscal year, the opposite appears more like

WASHINGTON—The 142-year-old Scientific American has undergone a facelift to make its contents more attractive to a wider audience. The September issue of the magazine contains numerous changes in graphics, typography and organization, according to Editor Jonathan Piel. Piel said the new design continues a trend toward shorter, easier-to-read articles and columns and more compelling illustrations and photographs that began when he became editor in 1984 and has continued under its new own

WASHINGTON—Universities have until January 15 to submit proposals for the first year of NSF’s new $30 million science and technology centers program. The program was created to allow scientists from several disciplines to work together on projects involving basic research questions that are expected eventually to have commercial applications. The centers, although based at individual universities, are expected to receive support from state and local governments, federal laboratori