February 1996

NRC Date : 11/78 Location : University of California, San Francisco Isotope : 32p Dose/Intake : 3-4 millicuries (110-190 megabequerels) Perpetrator : suspected self No. of People : 3 Contaminated Date : 2/82 Location : Brown University Isotope : 32p Dose/Intake : 157 microcuries (5.8 megabequerels) Perpetrator : none found No. of People : 2 Contaminated Date : 3/83 Location : Washington University, St. Louis Isotope : 125I Dose/Intake : 0.360 microcuries, (0.013 megabequerels) Perpetrator : s

Employment Crunch Author: Peter Gwynne Sidebar: How to Reach the Institutions One of the unpublicized victims of the heated congressional debate over the federal budget for fiscal 1996 is the discipline of history of science. In an environment of general uncertainty, one sure thing is that the field will lose significant funding. As a result, new Ph.D.'s as well as postdocs and junior faculty face intense and growing competition for academic posts. One year ago, for example, Harvard Universit

A center for studying and understanding the history of the chemical sciences. In addition to its publications, the foundation awards fellowships and grants. Address as of Feb.1,1996: 315 Chestnut St. Philadelphia, Pa. 19106 (215) 925-2222 Fax: (215) 925-1954 Publications: Chemical Heritage (journal) Co-sponsor of two book series The institute's goals are fostering and disseminating outstanding scholarship in the history of science and technology and allied fields, and initiating new directi

In Plant-Derived Drugs Author: Steven Benowitz Date: February 5, 1996 Historically, industry interest in plant-derived pharmaceuticals has waxed and waned. But greatly improved drug-screening technologies and a concern over disappearing Third World resources (and potential sources of medicines) have fueled a resurgence of drug-industry interest in natural products and plant-derived drugs in recent years. Optimistic: James Miller of the Missouri Botanical Garden sees new technology as key to

Strive To Improve The Health Of Impoverished Populations Author: Steve Sternberg The World Bank, once a stronghold of public-spirited but nonscientific economists, has over the past decade emerged as the major financier of research to improve the health of people in Third World countries. Banking on Health: Richard G.A. Feachem, World Bank senior adviser on human development, has put health at the top of the bank's agenda. Each year, the World Bank invests $2 billion for health programs in i

1 It helps with the little things. 6 Compound ending in -ite or -ate 10 Parkinson's disease drug 11 Plant tissue wall substaince 12 Quick covering 13 Bio-, etymologically 14 Transfer living tissue 15 Computer screen 18 Monovalent hydrocarbon radical 20 Beam-shaped organ 22 Monosaccharide having five carbon atoms 24 Omega's opposite 25 Cell suffix 27 Nobelist Hahn 29 _____ cell (estrogen secreter) 30 Species' habitat 31 Plasm preceder 32 It includes the vermis 1 Skin tumor 2 Outermost membrane

Professional Societies and Journals American Society for Microbiology 1325 Massachusetts Ave., N.W. Washington, D.C. 20005-4171 (202) 737-3600 Fax: (202) 942-9340 Call for appropriate E-mail address. Executive director: Michael Goldberg President: Carol Nacy Internet Home Page: http://www.asmusa.org Pertinent journal: Journal of Virology Thomas Jefferson University 233 S. 10th St., Room 408 Philadelphia, Pa. 19107 (215) 955-5534 Fax: (215) 923-8021 E-mail: jnv@jeflin.tju.edu Kamel Khalili, ed

Date: February 5, 1996 BIOTECX Laboratories Inc. BioVentures Inc. Boehringer Mannheim Corp. Clontech Laboratories Inc. Gentra Systems Inc. Invitrogen Corp. Life Technologies Inc. Molecular Bio-Products Inc. Perkin-Elmer Corp. , Applied Biosystems Division Qiagen Inc. Roche Molecular Systems Stratagene Cloning Systems

Ranks Of Ph.D.'s Author: Jesse H. Ausubel The proletariat of American research, the graduate students and the postdocs, cry and whisper. Internet traffic even suggests they organize. At Yale, some struck. Meanwhile, William Massy of Stanford University and Charles Goldman of RAND Corp. present a fresh analysis to explain the doctoral system (W.F. Massy, C.A. Goldman, The Production and Utilization of Science and Engineering Doctorates in the United States, Stanford Institute for Higher Educa

I believe the peer-review system is operating well. The concerns recently raised about peer review are a symptom of the lack of sufficient resources to fund all proposed meritorious science. For the past 12 years, I have served on multiple government and private foundation review panels and currently serve on the NIH Cellular Biology and Physiology II study section. Like all biomedical scientists, I, too, am competing for NIH and private foundation funding. It has been my experience that gran

Take for example the subject of "cold fusion." The viciousness of the attack in the science community on anyone working to perform research and experimentation in the field is appalling. Take for another example the subject of "paranormal phenomena." The attacks within the science community on anyone venturesome enough to engage in appropriate research in the field are equally appalling. There are many other examples as well, but from my perspective the science community is no different from a

Too often, bioethics courses equate bioethics with medical ethics, omitting questions related to the environment and parts of genetics. Even in the latter field, not all dilemmas relate to medicine; let us remember, for example, the ethical dilemmas resulting from the recent introduction of transgenic plants and farm animals. Fifteen years ago, I began offering a course in bioethics to upperclass majors in biology at Yale University. My colleagues were reluctant to sponsor such a "soft" course

Franklin Hoke's interesting article about strides in technologies that may soon make xenotransplantation clinically viable ("Biotech Companies Set To Profit From Animal Organ Transplants," The Scientist, Oct. 16, 1995, page 1) was marred by the inclusion of the predictable complaints and criticisms of animal-rights groups. Spokespersons for these groups have nothing of value to say about science in any form, since they know little or nothing about it, or they conveniently subjugate their scien

It is clear for everyone that to make a difference in today's science depends mostly upon the scientific idea or upon persistent practice of an idea. An independent investigator may have an idea leading to a revolutionary discovery; so might a fellow or a student, although he or she generally has a relatively small chance owing to inexperience. The key element in choosing one who is eligible to get an award is to determine whose idea works or who insistently pursues the idea that has been give

Viruses, Diseases Author: Karen Young Kreeger Sidebar: Professional Resources for Viral Disease Researchers In the mid- to late 1980s, numerous correlations were discovered between viruses and various types of cancers. For example, Epstein-Barr virus was associated with nasopharyngeal carcinoma and B-cell lymphoma, hepatitis B virus with liver cancer, and human papillomavirus with cervical cancer. Now, a decade later, basic and clinical scientists are finding out that viruses may also play a r

'NO GENE IS AN ISLAND': A paper coauthored by MIT's Robert Horvitz describes genetic similarities between mammals and worms. This paper is one of the many to have been published in the last few years that have added to the growing understanding of what factors control cell death. "We have for some years been attempting to understand the mechanisms that control programmed cell death by studying the genetics of cell death in the nematode C. elegans," says H. Robert Horvitz, an investigator with

WEST-COAST COURSE: Nearly a third of the new TB cases in San Francisco were from recent transmissions, relates Stanford University's Peter Small. P.M. Small, P.C. Hopewell, S.P. Singh, A. Paz, J. Parsonnet, D.C. Ruston, G.F. Schecter, C.L. Daley, G.K. Schoolnik, "The epidemiology of tuberculosis in San Francisco: A population-based study using conventional and molecular methods," N. Engl. J. Med., 330:1703-9, 1994. (Cited in more than 50 publications through November 1995) Comments by David A

The Effort Author: Ricki Lewis It's little wonder that scientific conference planners say they must begin preparations months, and even years, before the big event. Planning a scientific conference is an enormous undertaking. While arranging for a cozy gathering of a few dozen scientists can usually be handled by a professor, student helpers, and an able administrative assistant, some conferences are so huge that dozens of companies, and hundreds of individuals, become involved in planning and

FRANCISCO J. AYALA, professor of biological sciences and philosophy, director of the Bren Fellows Program, University of California at Irvine; Chairman, American Association for the Advancement of Science; Member, President's Committee of Advisers on Science and Technology. Francisco Ayala has an undergraduate degree in physics. His interest in evolutionary genetics began while he was in Spain working on philosophy. He came to study evolutionary biology at Columbia University, New York, und

With the introduction of the polymerase chain reaction by Nobelist Kary Mullis and other scientists with the former Cetus Corp. in 1985, researchers can amplify their minute samples into a virtually unlimited supply of material to study.

Gay Health Advocates To Launch Journal Bioegineers, Move Over At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, even the plumbers are inventors New IIASA Head Named Horwitz Prize Honoree Building Blocks Cheeseburgers In Paradise Save A Species, Kill A Bill The San Francisco-based Gay and Lesbian Medical Association (GLMA), a health-advocacy group, has announced plans to launch the Journal of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association. The quarterly, planned to begin publication in early 1997, will