Dystonia. It sounds like a dark, debilitating alien world--and for the estimated 300,000-plus people in North America alone who suffer the wrath of associated neurological disorders, it often is. Effects of repetitive skilled finger movements on functional organization in a primate motor cortex, as measured by microelectrode stimulation. Training resulted in improved motor skill and expansion of digit representation. Randolph J. Nudo Dystonias are movement disorders in which sustained muscle

AIDS has commandeered media headlines, instigated public awareness, and garnered funding in more profound ways than any other disease in history. Bolstered by a tenacious activist community, HIV/AIDS research has blazed trails empirically, politically, and even philosophically. Since this disease took hold some 15 years ago, new insights and understanding in immunology, cytokine biology, antiviral research, vaccine development, and gene therapy have emerged from HIV/AIDS research laboratories a

Photo: Steve Waldhauser SCIENCE IN PUBLIC: Almost 6,000 people attended the Nobel Conference, showing a high degree of public interest in science. When a group of leading virus researchers and scholars presented their reports on "Virus: The Human Connection" at the annual Nobel Conference in St. Peter, Minn., last month, the story that emerged was one of war and peace. The primary themes emanating from these talks--which were open to the public--outlined a heavy viral volume of battles won and

Just before his 71st birthday in the summer of 1982, Van Rensselaer Potter, Hilldale Professor of Oncology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, officially retired. During his career, Potter had distinguished himself in the field of cancer research and accumulated numerous accolades for his work, including the American Cancer Society's Medal of Honor in 1986. He also had coined the term "bioethics," referring to "the equitable application of medical and biological knowledge to assuring the s

Stereotyped images of scientists in popular culture can have a profound effect on the way the public perceives science. Such images, familiar to virtually all moviegoers, range from the arrogant, amoral researcher who wants to rule the world to the benign genius who is out of touch with reality. The implications can be far-reaching. Young people, who are heavily swayed by what they see on TV and in the movies, for example, may choose not to pursue careers in science because of these recurring

The unexpected--and unprecedented--success of theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes created a big bang of its own in the world of publishing. The Cambridge University re- searcher's textual flight through space and time, published by New York's Bantam Books in April 1988, earned rave reviews the world over and spent 100 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, ringing up sales of some 1 million copies in its hardcover edition alone

"It should be painfully clear to every scientist now that if they have good record-keeping habits, they're not going to get themselves into that kind of bind in the future," says Howard M. Kanare, manager of chemical services for Construction Technology Laboratories in Skokie, Ill., and author of Writing the Laboratory Notebook (American Chemical Society, Washington, D.C., 1985). Keeping a good notebook is a skill that goes with the territories of science and cuts across all boundarie

When Linus Pauling first began investigating vitamin C in the 1960s, it wasn't difficult for him to stay current with the latest findings--because he was the one doing most of the discovering. Now, he says, there are "probably 3,000 papers a year" that involve vitamin C. If anyone has the stamina to read them all, it would be Pauling, now 90. He is an avid reader, logging a minimum of five hours a day. Of course, Pauling's work goes way beyond the vitamin he claimed could cure the common cold