Researchers fearing that the agreement between Congress and President Clinton to balance the federal budget by 2002 would decimate science funding can rest a little easier. Each of the eight major federal departments funding research will at least keep pace with or slightly exceed the 2.6 percent inflation rate in FY1998-with the exception of the Department of Agriculture, which will receive 2 percent less research funding in real dollars. As expected, Congress met or exceeded the president's b

SCIENCE PRIORITY: Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas) is sponsoring legislation to double all nondefense research funding in 10 years. Congress has been discussing proposals to double biomedical research funding over five years, double nondefense research funding over 10 years, and raise additional funds to benefit science. So should scientists start celebrating a renaissance in research funding? INFLATION EROSION: AAAS's Al Teich notes that science funding in many categories has declined over the pas

A proposal to elevate the National Institutes of Health's Office of Alternative Medicine (OAM) into an institute fell short during the appropriations process, but a 60 percent increase in funding represents a victory of sorts for the office. The $8-million boost proposed by a conference committee would raise OAM's current $12-million budget to $20 million for FY1998. The conference committee's decision was a surprise considering earlier requests. The House and the Clinton administration both so

Nutritionists once associated low levels of folic acid-a B vitamin found in fruits and leafy green vegetables-primarily with birth defects. But in recent years, epidemiological studies have established more correlations between folate deficiency and heart disease, cancer, and brain damage. Now, researchers are discovering mechanisms that may explain how folate deficiency contributes to these health problems. BRAIN CONNECTION: Berkeley's Bruce Ames thinks chromosome breaks caused by folate defi