January 1990

A university institute for the optical sciences has turned Tucson into a haven for startups and new research. TUCSON--In 1981, scientists at IBM were looking for a better way to check whether the surfaces of the company's magnetic tapes were smooth. Dragging a stylus along the tape, the conventional method, threatened to damage the surface. Then IBM optics engineer Bherat Bhushen had a bright idea. Why not look for irregularities by bouncing light off the surface? Bhushen turned for help to J

Researchers, discouraged by mapping's drudgery, doubt that a 5-year plan to finish high-resolution image is now feasible. WASHINGTON--After three years of escalating expectations, rising financial support, and congressional accolades, the Human Genome Initiative has encountered its first major hurdle. A key element of the project has fallen several years behind schedule, in part because peer review panels at the National Institutes of Health decided that some incoming grant proposals on the to

With a neuroscience institute in Washington and an emphasis on basic research, FIDIA aims to bolster respect worldwide WASHINGTON - Long after the vinyl and paper folders from a typical scientific conference have been tossed in the trash, a genuine imported leather portfolio with bright red decorative stitching and the inscription: "FIDIA-Georgetown Institute for the Neurosciences, November 3, 1985" is likely to remain on the shelves of many scientists. It's just too nice to throw away. That

Under attack by animal rights campaigners, federal health agencies counter with a vigorous drive yo gain public support WASHINGTON - Top health officials in the Bush administration have begun an offensive on behalf of the use of animals in research. Their campaign is meant to counter the continuing efforts by animal rights activists to disrupt and condemn animal research as part of the movement's broader attack on the treatment of animals. This new, more aggressive attempt to preserve a scien

The president's global change program looks impressive, thanks to a cooperative Congress and some sleight of hand. WASHINGTON--This year the federal government will invest $664 million to study global climate change, a fivefold increase over its 1989 efforts. But this seemingly huge increase is more a reflection of a broader definition than of a bigger pocketbook. The biggest change occurred when the National Aeronaytics and Space Administration shifted almost $500 million into its global chan

WASHINGTON--The Department of Energy's troubled epidemiology program should double its research on the effects of radiation on workers and expand that research to encompass possible nonradioactive hazards, such as magnetic fields and industrial chemicals, an independent advisory panel has concluded. The DOE program is responsible for studying the health effects of radiation on humans, both by following the medical history of the survivors of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan at the end of Worl

If the editors of Poisk, a lively new science newspaper published in Moscow, need historical justification for their project, they can point to Lenin, who on his deathbed in 1922 called for a newspaper that would provide a forum for scientists. Or the editors can produce the letter Soviet physicist Pyetr Kapitsa wrote to Nikita Khrushchev in 1958 on behalf of his colleagues at the Soviet Academy of Sciences. Kapitsa, who would later win the Nobel Prize in physics, humbly wrote: "I would like t

They're fast, reliable, and tireless. Now they want a place at the bench. Can machines adopt the scientific method? PITTSBURGH--Repetitive lab work makes John Lindsey's mind wander. After a week or so of compound making - repetitive lab work at its worst - the Carnegie Mellon University chemist begins to think about automation. Robots. In particular, robots that can do his job. Lindsey has spent five years pursuing the construction of just such a machine - a compact and reliable robot that ca

WASHINGTON--Deputy Director John Moore has left the National Science Foundation to become professor of economics and director of the International Institute at nearby George Mason University. His decision, in addition to creating a vacancy that President Bush must fill, may force the administration to speed up its timetable for deciding who will lead the science foundation in the 1990s. Moore, 54, holds an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering and a Ph.D. in economics. The former associ

The Incredible Shrinking Tax Credit Congress has once again retained tax credits to companies both for their in-house R&D and for contributions to basic research at universities and other nonprofit research institutions. But the credit is steadily shrinking. The original law for new R&D spending was a 25% credit for four years. In 1986 the credit was extended for two years and lowered to 20%, and in 1988 one more year was added. The basic research credit, created in 1986, has followed a similar

UC Faculty To Weapons Labs: Begone Every decade or so, the University of California faculty has second thoughts about the school's relationship with the Department of Energy's weapons labs. So far, it hasn't made much difference - the university still manages the Los Alamos and Livermore national labs for DOE, as it has since the Korean War. But a recent rash of embarrassing environmental, legal, and ethical scandals at Livermore and other labs has added weight to a new faculty report recommend

The Liposome Solution The benefits of many drugs, especially those used to combat cancer, are compromised by their toxicity. Now a Berkeley, Calif., researcher believes he has developed a technology that overcomes this problem, thus making possible more successful treatments of cancer and other diseases - and changing the way pharmaceutical companies will do science. Kenneth Matsumura, director of the Alin Foundation's Immunity Research Laboratory, believes he has found a method of using liposo

New York Scientists Take French Partner Virogenetics, a newly opened vaccine research lab in Troy, N.Y., is an international marriage of scientific convenience - a partnership between a French vaccine manufacturer and a team of New York scientists from the state Health Department's Wadsworth Center for Laboratory and Research in Albany. Several years ago the New Yorkers, led by state research scientist Enzo Paoletti, developed a method, using recombinant DNA technology and the cowpox virus, tha

Cold, Clear Nights and Cosmic Radiation Although the future of Antarctica is still uncertain (The Scientist, Nov. 13, 1989, page 2), scientists continue to brave the harsh weather conditions for the sake of research. The newest addition to the list of hardy researchers is a team of physicists from Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind., and the University of Wisconsin, Madison. The team, organized by Purdue physicist James A. Gaidos, will travel to Antarctica in shifts until the end of Februar

Optimizing A New Journal A sure sign that a realm of science or mathematics is gaining recognition is an increase in the number of journals devoted to the field. And that kind of growth is what optimization - the study of the mathematical procedures involved in making something as functional and effective as possible - is getting now, thanks to the Philadelphia-based Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. John E. Dennis, Jr., chairman of the mathematical sciences department at Rice Uni

GTE Sponsors Science And Society Talks "Technology and Ethics" is the theme of the 1990-91 GTE Lectureship Program, which provides grants of up to $4,000 to sponsor talks on university and college campuses about science, technology, and society. The program seeks to encourage public awareness and participation in issues related to science and technology and to stimulate universities to develop an interdisciplinary focus on these issues both inside and outside their campuses. The S&H Founda

With this issue, The Scientist steps forward into its fourth year of publication as the trade newspaper for the science professional. In celebrating this milestone, I can say with confidence that The Scientist has indeed arrived and is here to stay. Following its startup in October 1986, our young paper - like most fledgling publishing ventures - suffered its share of uncertainties. The solid gains it has posted in subscriptions and advertising since then - particularly during the past six mon

P. Sassone-Corsi, J.C. Sisson, I.M. Verma, "Transcriptional autoregulation of the proto-oncogene fos," Nature, 334, 314-9, 28 July 1988. Inder M. Verma (The Salk Institute, San Diego): "The paper showed for the first time that the transcription of nuclear oncogenes is autoregulated. It is generally believed that many nuclear oncoproteins can cause cancer if they are transcribed in an unregulated fashion. Autoregulation is one way to regulate their transcription. We showed that fos protein can

So you were passed over for the Nobel Prize (again!) in 1989. Chin up. You probably weren't ready for it, anyway. I don't mean that your research wasn't worthy. And I'm not talking about the public adulation or the prize money. I mean the media attention - the onslaught of TV and radio reporters. You may understand megabytes and particle spin, but what do you know about "sound bites" or putting "spin" on a story? Well, I can help. I'm one of those broadcast news reporters who'll be calling when

Last spring, the British pharmaceutical firm Glaxo Inc. launched an ambitious $10 million Cardiovascular Discovery Grants Program. The company, whose United States office is located in Research Triangle Park, N.C., announced 20 grants, each providing a maximum of $250,000 per year for three years to a researcher or team (see accompanying table). The proclaimed purpose of the program: to support research that may lead to the discovery of therapeutic agents for treatment or prevention of cardiova

Berthold Holldobler, professor of biology at Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., has been awarded the Leibniz Prize by the government of West Germany. Holldobler, 53, who also is Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology at Harvard, received the $1.8 million prize in recognition of his career-long research on the social biology and behavioral ecology of social insects, such as ants, termites, and bees. The Leibniz Prize, which is awarded annually by the West German government, was established in