April 1993

University department chairpersons have been pushing to see dollar support for NIH double in the near future Five billion dollars is not enough, according to a group pushing for the federal government to pump more money into the basic biomedical research funded by the National Institutes of Health. And with Bill Clinton now in the White House, members of the group--the National Caucus of Basic Biomedical Science Chairs-- say they are very optimistic about achieving their goal. Composed of 2

While some experts see virtue in the new president's technology policy, others warn of hidden probems High-technology company executives and association officials, along with leading scientists and others in the United States research and development community, are largely upbeat in their initial responses to President Bill Clinton's economic program and his ambitious effort to redirect U.S. technology policy. At the same time, several science and technology policy-watchers interviewed by Th

Stock market declines have taken their toll on established firms, but startup ventures still attract backing Launching a new biotechnology company calls for a number of key ingredients, as any wide-eyed scientist who has tested the entrepreneurial waters will attest. You need your enlightened concept, of course, and the enduring visionary force that eventually is to hammer your concept into shape as a viable product. You also need the right people--and the proper blend of them--to keep the

At an April 1 meeting in Washington, D.C., the Carnegie Commission on Science, Technology, and Government formally began the process of going out of business. The commission's five-year charter ends June 30. The panel was convened in 1988 under the auspices of the Carnegie Corporation of New York to assess the ways in which policymakers take science and technology issues into account when making decisions. The blue-ribbon panel is cochaired by Nobel laureate Joshua Lederberg, former president

N.Mex., is sponsoring a number of events, beginning next week, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Manhattan Project and the opening of the lab. A series of seminars and panel discussions on the scientific and policy implications of the lab's work is slated for April 12-16, featuring speakers such as former laboratory directors Harold Agnew (1970-80) and Don Kerr (1980- 85); Sens. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.Mex.) and Pete Domenici (R-N.Mex.); and Frank von Hippel, editor of the Bulletin of Atomic Scie

Science and mathematics education in the United States is desperately in need of reform, and any substantial remedy will demand not only the financial support of the federal government, but also a concerted effort by scientists, lawmakers, and educators. Although the current crisis has been in the making for decades, efforts at corrective action have been stymied by a fundamental and disastrous misunderstanding. In December 1981, James Shymansky, a science education professor at the University

In an old parable, each part of the body claims superiority: The head boasts of its intelligence, the feet of their fleetness, the eyes of their vision. The respective claims don't pan out, though, the moral of the parable being that, to function most effectively, each of the parts must learn to work with the others. This is a lesson that the scientific community should heed--especially now that science and society must join in thwarting serious threats to our environment. Traditionally, it's

As president of Americans for Medical Progress (AMP), I am writing on behalf of our 1,600 members concerned with the radical "animal rights" movement's threat to medical progress. AMP is a nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring the future of medical research that eases human suffering and saves human life. The article "Opponents Set 1993 Tactics For Animal Rights Showdown" (Ron Kaufman, The Scientist, Jan. 25, 1993, page 1) doesn't tell the whole story with respect to the issue of the us

PBS show on Rachel Carson and Silent Spring would include "interviews with foes and friends." The interviews with "foes" were with only one person: myself. The only other opponent was Professor Robert White-Stevens of Rutgers University, who died several years ago and thus, for obvious reasons, was not interviewed. Instead, two or three selected film clips were shown, to represent him as a spokesman for the pesticide industry. Several "friends" came on camera for a total of about 30 times, plus

While the most popular theory—that the key to the disease is beta-amyloid, the peptide fragment that accumulates in patients' brains—continues to gain ground, some worry that devoting all research to the beta-amyloid theory may be dangerous.

D.E. Manolopoulos, "Proposal of a chiral structure for the fullerene C76," Journal of the Chemical SocietyFaraday Transactions, 87:2861, 1991; P.W. Fowler, D.E. Manolopoulos, H.C. Batten, "The higher fullerenes -- A candidate for the structure of C78," J. Chem. S.F., 87:3103, 1991. David Manolopoulos (Department of Chemistry, University of Nottingham, England): "The summer of 1991 was an exciting time to study the fullerenes. The beautifully symmetric structures of the C60 and C70 molecules ha

S. Shimasaki, L. Gao, M. Shimonaka, N.Ling, "Isolation and molecular cloning of insulin-like growth factor-binding protein- 6," Molecular Endocrinology, 5:938, 1991. Shunichi Shimasaki (Whittier Institute for Diabetes and Endocrinology, La Jolla, Calif.): "There are two types of insulin-like growth factors: IGF-I and IGF-II, which act on a wide variety of target cells to regulate growth and cytodifferentiation. The IGF ligands interact with plasma membrane receptors, and the interactions are

E.L. Berg, M.R. Robinson, O. Mannsson, E.C. Butcher, J.L. Magnani, "A carbohydrate domain common to both Sialyl Lea and Sialyl Lex is recognized by the endothelial cell leukocyte adhesion molecule ELAM-1," Journal of Biological Chemistry, 266:14869, 1991. John Magnani (Glyco Tech Corp., Rockville, Md.): "A greater understanding of the physiological functions of carbohydrate structures is currently being pursued by an exciting new field of research termed `glycobiology.' My coauthors Eugene But

Tempted by the enormous data storage capacities of CD-ROM disks and spurred by recent drops in their production costs, scientific publishers are making available to researchers an increasing number of novel reference tools. accompanying article is available from these publishers: ADONIS P.O. Box 839 NL-1000 Amsterdam, Netherlands 020 6842206 Product: ADONIS ALDRICH CHEMICAL CO. P.O. Box 355 1001 W. St. Paul Ave. Milwaukee, Wis. 53233 (800) 231-8327 Fax: (800) 962-9591 Product: ALDRICHEM Da

RONALD and ESTHER BRESLOW are living proof that scientific couples who pursue successful independent careers can also raise a happy family -- in their case, two daughters. Ronald Breslow is currently University Professor and Mitchill Professor of Chemistry at Columbia University. A member of Columbia's faculty since 1956, he pioneered the study of novel conjugated systems and their tendencies toward antiaromaticity. And since 1961,Esther Breslow has been a professor of biochemistry, and more re

One way to combat future science phobia and illiteracy is to bring children closer to scientists, educators say. And because scientists often have many stories to tell, publishers have found that using them as authors of children's science books can help bring the excitement of research to youngsters with an authenticity and perspective that nonscientist-authors cannot easily convey. The secret of good writing is for the final product to look effortless. But writing a successful book requir

Entomologist, JOHN CASIDA, to get Wolf Prize in agriculture ROBERT W. PARRY, a University of Utah chemistry professor, has won the American Chemical Society's 1993 Priestley Medal Pesticide Chemistry and Toxicology Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, will receive the 1993 Wolf Prize in Agriculture. Since 1978, the Israeli-based Wolf Foundation has been granting four $100,000 prizes annually for individual achievements among the five fields of agriculture, chemistry, m