Tokyo proposed the Human Frontier Program; now its scientists are among the first to take advantage of it STRASBOURG, FRANCE -- Biomedical researchers from around the world will have a second chance next month to participate in Japan's Human Frontier Science Program now that Tokyo has led the way in the first round of funding. The program was first proposed in 1986 by former Japanese Prime Minister Yosuhiro Nakasone at a summit conference of the seven leading democratic industrial nations -

Deals with the Pasteur Institute and Connaught Biosciences establish Institut Merieux as a global front-runner PARIS--At 8:20 A.M. on December 13, Jacques Francois Martin, general manager of the Institut Merieux, received a transatlantic call in his Lyons office from Alan Nymark, vice president of Investment Canada, a unit of the Canadian Ministry of Industry, Science, and Technology. Nymark was calling to tell Martin that Merieux could proceed with its proposed takeover of Connaught Bioscienc

"Many French intellectuals have the narcissistic tendency to expound theories without reference to reality, to fancy the well-said over the well-thought. Scientists have substance, but many don't want to write for the public. Vulgarisation [as the French call popular science writing] is seen as gross." So says Odile Jacob, a young woman who has coaxed scientists into writing best-sellers and launched an instant-success publishing company, Editions Odile Jacob. Yes, the name does ring a bell. Odi

PARIS-- In a country where thousands of physicians practics ho- meopathy the Beneviste affair has generated widespread publicity, much of it favorable to the French scientist. Paris Match magazine, for example acclaimed the initial paper about the alleged memory of water as a stupendous breakthrough, but did not mention Nature's subsequent investigation. The newspaper Le Point reported with tongue not in cheek, rumor that several Nobel Prize-winning physicists met in Bermuda, somewhere near

PARIS- U.S. proposal to resolve imbalances in scientific cooperation among nations may be adopted as early as this spring by science ministers from the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development. The organization’s Committee for Scientific and Technological Policy meets later this month to review the latest draft of a proposal put forth last fall by White House science adviser William Graham. U.S. officials believe that such common principles of scientific cooperation can als

PALAISEAU, FRANCE—France takes great pride in its mathematical tradition. But its position has slipped since the days of Blaise Pascal, Pierre Fermat, Evariste Galois and the fictitious Bourbaki. Frenchman have collected five of 30 Fields medals awarded by the International Mathematicians' Congress since 1950, but only one has come in the past 20 years. And the number of mathematicians has declined precipitously since the 1970s, triggering a shortage that threatens the country’s p

LA RECHERCHE MAL MENEE (Research Misled.) Pierre Piganiol, Editions Larousse. Pals, 1987 288 pp. Fr 69 The Creativity of French research is on the decline. State-supported research is too isolated from industry, too centralized and often “functionnalized,” to the extent that researchers are discouraged from physical as well as intellectual mobility. The most prestigious engineering schools have not given enough importance to research, but often serve as stepladders for students to

PARIS—The Pasteur Institute, which over the past century has evolved into a major center of biomedical research, celebrate its centennial this week with unusual panache for such a venerable institution. It enters its second century in far better financial shape than it was a decade ago, and having recently tucked several new feathers into its cap. French President Francois Mitterand and Prime Minister Jacques Chirac will launch the anniversary events, which include a conference on the f

PARIS—Europeans this summer have gained intimate experience in an exercise they had viewed in the past as a strictly American sport: genetic engineers versus ecologists. The contest arose after a spate of reports revealed that field tests of modified bacteria and plants were under way in France, West Germany, Belgium and Britain. Ecologists quickly denounced the “arrogance” of the European Economic Community, which financed some of the experiments. Of particular concern is