NEWS ANALYSIS WASHINGTON—Budget analysts refer to it as Account 302b. But scientists may want to use more colorful names once they realize it will almost certainly block the sizable R&D increases being proposed for 1989 by President Reagan. The budget process works well when spending is rising gradually each year,” observed John Hoimfeld, a staff member of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee who later this year will complete a multi-volume report on science policy fo

Washington - A proposal for a permanent body to stimulate biotechnology research and its commercial applications has triggered political tug-of-War over the right to shape federal policy. The Senate is expected to act a early as this spring on a bill (S. 1966) to set up a National Biotechnology Policy Board with 20 members drawn from government agencies, industry and academia. The board would be a permanent body within the executive branch and would produce a report every two years, beginning

WASHINGTON--Once more, with feeling. That's how officials at the U.S. National Academy of Sciences seem to view a cooperative agreement with the Soviet Academy of Sciences. They hope the new five-year agreement will lead to a more productive exchange of scientists than occurred under a nearly identical two-year pact that would have expired in April. The impact of perestroika and glasnost was visible in our discussions," said NAS President Frank Press on his return from Moscow after signing th

WASHINGTON-Robert J. Glaser has begun a five-year adventure in philanthropy to extend the frontiers of basic medical research in the United States. Only institutions doing the most innovative and important work need apply, but for those talented few scientists the sky’s the limit. Glaser is director for medical science at the Lucille P. Markey Charitable Trust, formed after the 1982 death of the owner of Calumet Farms, the Kentucky thorough-bred racing and breeding stable. She stipulate

WASHINGTON—Thomas Rona, confirmed in late November as associate director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, is described in a press release as an electrical engineer with a Sc.D. from MIT. But it is ideas, not objects, that excite him. During a long career at Boeing Aerospace Rona was an anomaly, a self-proclaimed “exotic brain” whose job was to hunt for long range opportunities outside the defense contractor’s normal product line. That search

WASHINGTON—It’s hard to escape the dominance of Japan in worldwide technology, even if the subject is France. Gallic pride took a beating when its government asked American research administrators for their views on French technology. The U.S. executives said that France provides the United States with its stiffest competition in only two. categories—nuclear energy and aeronautics. The Japanese came out on top in a majority of the 11 categories, covering automobiles, comput

WASHINGTON—There’s a time for research and a time for panic. Despite what you already may have read about the reduced levels of ozone in Antarctica, NSF officials say that insufficient data pose a greater threat to scientists than ultraviolet rays. “Antarctica is a naturally occurring laboratory to get a good research program going,” said Peter Wilkniss, director of the Division of Polar Programs at NSF. “And we need to understand better what goes on down there.

WASHINGTON—Members of Congress debating funding for the Superconducting Supercollider have elicited a promise from the chairman of the House science committee for “a full review” of the cost of various large-scale science projects being contemplated by federal officials. Rep. Robert Roe (D-N.J.) made that pledge during debate last month on his bill to authorize $1.1 billion in the next three years for construction of the SSC. But anticipated across-the-board spending cuts

WASHINGTON—Almost five months after President Reagan announced the intention to nominate him, plasma physicist Robert Hunter waits in San Diego for word of his confirmation hearing to become director of the Office of Energy Research at the Department of Energy. The office, overseen since April by acting director James Decker after the departure of Alvin Trivelpiece, is the focal point for several of the hottest issues on the nation’s science agenda, including the Superconducting

WASHINGTON—The American Psychological Association has beefed up its commitment to its scientific members as part of an internal realignment that intended to better serve the needs of an unusually diverse membership. A steady rise since the 1950s in the number of practitioners—those who provide health care directly to the public—has slowly tipped the balance against the academics and researchers who once dominated the 95-year-old association. As a result, that group has grown

WASHINGTON—Organizers of a new effort to carve out a larger role for minorities in science and technology, faced with a shortage of people in the various disciplines, believe the solution lies in part with making better use of the minority scientists that do exist. “The money is secondary at this point,” explained Melvin Thompson, director of the Institute on Science, Space and Technology to be housed at Howard University. “We’ll attract the resources we need by

WASHINGTON—A small but popular NSF program to provide scientific instruments for undergraduate programs is being expanded to let in both two-year colleges and major research universities. The changes reflect pent-up demand within higher education for such teaching equipment and a feeling here that the federal government must do more to support the next generation of scientists and engineers. But the expansion may dilute the program’s value for its original audience. The College