April 1997

'EMOTIONAL ISSUES': Allegheny University’s Suzanne Ildstad is not surprised by the vigorous debate over xenotransplantation guidelines. Scientists are weighing in heavily with comments-both favorable and unfavorable-about the Public Health Service's (PHS's) draft guidelines for xenotransplantation, or transplantation of cells, tissue, or organs across species. While many researchers see the guidelines as a sound beginning to regulate a new field, some say they don't go far enough to prot

Many observers endorse waiving the pedagogy requirement initially, but say additional training in education is crucial Facing a shortage of qualified applicants, some public school districts have begun hiring college graduates who majored in the sciences, rather than in education, to teach science, primarily in high schools. Science education observers say the practice is likely to increase in coming years. Most are cautiously optimistic about its effectiveness, although many warn that greater

In the seven weeks since the announcement of the successful cloning of a lamb called Dolly from an adult ewe, the scientific community has had time to reflect on what they've read, heard, or watched in the mass media. Among the scientists and bioethicists interviewed by The Scientist, there is unanimous excitement about the research itself. Despite this enthusiasm, observers and participants have a mixed reaction to the initial media coverage of the Dolly story. Some are pleased with news repor

NO PROBLEMS? AWIS’s Catherine Didion comments that women often are not willing to acknowledge impediments to advancement. Women and underrepresented minorities-African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans-generally are paid lower salaries and occupy fewer supervisory positions than their white, male counterparts in industry, according to a recent study conducted by the National Science Foundation. The study also sheds light on the issues that women and minorities say often impede t

For too long, national debates on science and technology (S&T) policy have been conducted as a footnote to budget debates. Nagging and important issues, fundamental to the conduct and future of our national research and development (R&D) enterprise, have been left to languish while Congress debates artful accounting exercises that do not pencil out, budgets that are really Trojan horses for someone's ideological social blueprints, or "feel-good" proposals to increase spending on R&D

A March decision by the United States Supreme Court represents a significant victory for patent owners. The court upheld the doctrine that the rights of a patent owner are not always limited to what is literally described in the patent. Instead, if a competitor is using the "equivalent" of the patented invention, the patent is infringed. The Supreme Court's decision is particularly important in areas of rapidly developing technology, where a patent applicant may not be able to foresee technol

I read, with great interest, your articles in The Scientist, Volume 11, No. 4, dated Feb. 17, 1997, concerning underrepresentation of minorities in science. I congratulate you for presenting an excellent array of diverse points of view involving minorities in science and technology. While the reasons for the underrepresentation of women and minorities in science are numerous, few discussions have focused on solutions to reduce the imbalances and oversights affecting these groups. I would like

Steven Benowitz's page 1 story (The Scientist, March 17, 1997) is entitled "Scientists Optimistic About Clinton's Federal R&D Budget." Which scientists? The only ones identified in the text who are not disconsolate about the Clinton budget are senior federal political appointees in various departments and agencies-Commerce, the National Science Foundation, and the Office of Science and Technology Policy-who don't get to have their own opinions (if they want to keep their jobs). The proposed

Editor's Note: For the fifth year in a row, the newsletter Science Watch has identified the most cited research articles of the preceding year and determined who were the top producers of these "hot" papers. Based on citation records compiled by the Philadelphia-based Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), analysts prepared the rankings for 1996. "Hot" papers are research articles that have been referenced in subsequent papers-in this case, between November 1994 and December 1996-more fre

Edited by: Karen Young Kreeger F.C. Tenover, R.D. Arbeit, R.V. Goering, P.A. Mick, B.E. Murray, D.H. Persing, B. Swaminathan, "Interpreting chromosomal DNA restriction patterns produced by pulsed- field gel electrophoresis: Criteria for bacterial strain typing," Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 33:2233-9, 1995. (Cited in nearly 70 publications as of March 1997) Comments by Fred C. Tenover, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The detective work performed by hospital microbiologists du

Edited by: Karen Young Kreeger K.W. Wucherpfennig, J.L. Strominger, "Molecular mimicry in T cell-mediated autoimmunity: Viral peptides activate human T cell clones specific for myelin basic protein," Cell, 80:695-705, 1995. (Cited in more than 90 publications as of March 1997) IMMUNE IMPERSONATIONS: Kai Wucherpfennig’s work with T-cell clones may explain why some autoimmune diseases are related to microbial infections. Comments by Kai Wucherpfennig, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard

Sidebar: Temporary Lab Employment - For More Information When most people think of temporary workers, they think of the office clerk filling in for someone on vacation. Increasingly, though, scientific workers-including highly trained Ph.D.'s-are being employed on a temporary basis, sometimes for months or years at a time. "Temping" provides jobs for scientists who might otherwise be unemployed, helps companies fill in for missing employees, and gives firms the flexibility to take on short-term

Temporary Lab Employment - For More Information Date: April 14, 1997 Kelly Scientific Resources c/o Kelly Services Inc. P.O. Box 331179 Detroit, Mich. 48266-0172 (800) KELLY62 Fax: (810) 244-5440 ksr-mn@bitstream.net http://www.kellyscientific.com Lab Support A Division of On Assignment Inc. 26651 W. Agoura Rd. Calabasas, Calif. 91302 (800) 998-3332 Fax: (818) 878-7930 dehallberg@aol.com The Science Registry P.O. Box 965 Cranford, N.J. 07016-0965 (908) 272-8900 Fax: (908) 27

There is a war going on to win over the hearts and minds of molecular biologists: Radioactive isotopes-long the gold standard for tagging and later detecting RNA and DNA strands- are being challenged by a new generation of fluorescent labels that promise greater flexibility with fewer disposal problems. SEQUENCE DETECTION SYSTEM: Perkin-Elmer’s ABI Prism 7700 system uses a probe with a reporter and a quencher dye attached to it. With 14C, 32P, 125I, 3H, or some other radioactive atom bui

Photo: C. Garasi, C. Galino, N. Miller, A. Simon, J. & B. Peterson and the NMSU Visualization Center (scanning) 'WAKE-UP CALL': Comet Hale-Bopp could help illustrate the dangers of superstition, according to codiscoverer Alan Hale. He helped to discover Comet Hale-Bopp, science's biggest media darling since Dolly the cloned sheep, but astronomer Alan Hale has more earthly concerns these days. The adjunct professor of astronomy at New Mexico State University is worried about how difficult t