'GREAT SHOCK': The June 1997 death of Karen Wetterhahn from an accident that had occurred months earlier stunned the scientific community. Like any profession, life science research has dangers, but fortunately, deaths are rare. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reported only six fatalities in biological and life sciences, and 17 fatalities in all natural sciences, for 1994, the most recent year for which data are available. So when Dartmouth College chemist Karen Wetter

HARD NUMBERS: Penn's Fergus Couch evaluated the "actual prevelance of BRCA1 mutations" among 263 women with a family history of the disease. In the early days of the Human Genome Project, attention focused on rare disorders that strictly follow Mendel's laws of inheritance, recurring in predictable patterns within families. With many of these genes identified and mapped as the finish line nears, emphasis has shifted to genes that cause more common ills, particularly cancers, and the public has

STARTING POINT: Johns Hopkins' John Gearhart announced at a July meeting that he and a colleague had cultured human embryonic stem cells. Last July, with repercussions from Scottish sheep clone Dolly yet to die down, came news of potentially even greater importance. At the 13th International Congress of Developmental Biology in Snowbird, Utah, held the week of July 12, John Gearhart, a professor of gynecology and obstetrics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, reported

Edited by: Ricki Lewis E. Lander, L. Kruglyak, "Genetic dissection of complex traits: Guidelines for interpreting and reporting linkage results," Nature Genetics, 11:241-7, 1995. (Cited in more than 182 publications through August 1997) Comments by Eric Lander, Whitehead/MIT Center for Genome Research MAKE 'EM LAUGH: Eric Lander used humor to counterbalance heavy use of statistics in his paper on establishing linkage between a complex trait and genetic markers. For decades, geneticists have a

Edited by: Ricki Lewis S. Miyamoto, H. Teramoto, O.A. Coso, J.S. Gutkind, P.D. Burbelo, S.K. Akiyama, K.M. Yamada, "Integrin function: Molecular hierarchies of cytoskeletal and signaling molecules," Journal of Cell Biology, 131:791-805, 1995. (Cited in more than 123 publications through August 1997) Comments by Kenneth M. Yamada, Craniofacial Developmental Biology and Regeneration Branch, and J. Silvio Gutkind, Oral and Pharyngeal Cancer Branch, National Institute of Dental Research 'A NEW A

Sidebar: Focus On Inquiry ECHOES: TIMMS study director Albert Beaton says the U.S. elementary curiculum is too repetitive. International comparisons of precollege science and math achievement interest anyone concerned with future technological literacy and economic competitiveness. For scientists and mathematicians, such information also foreshadows the quality of future students and researchers in their professions. A poor performance at the elementary and secondary school levels can be a wak

Edited by: Ricki Lewis D. Broccoli, J.W. Young, T. de Lange, "Telomerase activity in normal and malignant hematopoietic cells," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 92:9082-6, 1995. (Cited in 95 publications through June 1997) Comments by Titia de Lange, Rockefeller University UNEXPECTED FINDING: Titia de Lange's lab at Rockefeller University used a sensitive assay to detect telomerase activity in noncancerous cells. A paper that reports an unexpected finding is destined to be hi

Edited by: Ricki Lewis H. Birkedal-Hansen, "Proteolytic remodeling of extracellular matrix," Current Opinion in Cell Biology, 7:728-35, 1995. (Cited in 56 publications through June 1997) Comments by Henning Birkedal-Hansen, National Institute of Dental Research TOOLS FOR REMODELING: Henning Birkedal-Hansen notes the importance of MMP enzymes in mediating changes in the extracellular environment. Few types of papers are as valuable to a scientist as a review article. For someone new to a field

The TIMSS results reveal, and national education standards stress, the value of inquiry-based learning, in which students apply the scientific method. They observe, hypothesize, experiment, and discuss and interpret results. Such learning allows students to build from everyday observations. "Even as simple an idea as dropping raisins in 7-Up and watching them bob up and down teaches principles of science," notes Richard Olenick, chairman of the physics department at the University of Dallas in

The graduate school years are the best of times and the worst of times. Scientists often look back at these years as a period when they could finally focus on their favorite subject. Yet graduate school in a life science requires such time-consuming and intense research efforts that life can include little else. This can create difficulties for students over age 30, who are more likely than their younger counterparts to have families. FAMILY TIES: Elizabeth Luna, who has mentored older Ph.D.

J. Kamens, M. Paskind, M. Hugunin, R.V. Talanian, H. Allen, D. Banach, N. Bump, M. Hackett, C.G. Johnston, P. Li, J.A. Mankovich, M. Terranova, T. Ghayur, "Identification and characterization of ICH-2, a novel member of the interleukin-1b-converting enzyme family of cysteine proteases," Journal of Biological Chemistry, 270:15250-6, 1995. (Cited in nearly 100 publications through June 1997) Comments by Joanne Kamens, BASF Bioresearch Corp., Worcester, Mass. HIGH INTEREST: Joanne Kamens' paper

Sidebar: New Ways To Separate Enantiomers Photo: Malboro Photo SUCCESS IN SEPARATION: Sepracor researchers found that the S-enantiomer of Prozac worked well in preventing migraine, says Dean Handley. A trend in the pharmaceutical industry toward increasing use of chiral chemistry techniques is leading to safer new drugs, while coaxing novel uses from existing blockbuster compounds. These techniques separate drugs that occur in two mirror-image molecular forms, called enantiomers. Louis Pasteur