Issue | January 1996 | January 1996 | The Scientist Magazine®

News

Nobel Peace Prize Signals New Beginning For Pugwash

Sidebar: Plugging into Pugwash It would be reasonable to assume that last month's awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs and Pugwash president and cofounder Joseph Rotblat represents something of a glorious swan song. The conferences and Polish-born physicist Rotblat, 87, were honored by the Nobel Committee last month in Oslo, Norway, for their nearly 40-year effort "to diminish the part played by nuclear arms in international politics" (K.Y. K

NCI's Reorganization, Director Scrutinized By Cancer Board

if (n == null) The Scientist - NCI's Reorganization, Director Scrutinized By Cancer Board The Scientist 10[1]:, Jan. 08, 1996 News NCI's Reorganization, Director Scrutinized By Cancer Board By Myrna E. Watanabe Little official business was concluded at a two-day meeting of the National Cancer Advisory Board (NCAB) November 28-29. Rather, the proceedings were dominated by a lavish presentation of the wide-ranging reorganization of the National Cance

George Soros Reduces Scope Of His International Science Foundation

Foundation Author: Peter Gwynne Just over three years ago, Hungarian-born financier George Soros established the International Science Foundation (ISF) with a grant of $100 million to support basic science and scientists in the countries that used to constitute the Soviet Union. Now, pointing out that he always regarded the effort as a stop-gap measure designed to lead to more permanent support from other donors, Soros is significantly reducing ISF's scope. Soros, who made his billions throug

Plugging Into Pugwash

For more information on Pugwash activities, contact The Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, Flat A, 63 A Great Russell St., London, U.K. WC1B 3BJ; (44) 171-405-6661 (44) 171-831-5651 E-mail: pugwash@qmw.ac.uk World Wide Web home page: http://www.qmw.ac.uk/pugwash/html For information on the Student Pugwash movement, contact Sandra Ionno, executive director, Student Pugwash USA, 815 15th St., N.W., Suite 814, Washington, D.C. 20005; (800) WOW-APUG Fax: (202) 393-6550 E-mail: sp

The Scientist - Crossword Puzzle - January 8, 1996

ACROSS 1 Java Man, taxonomically 9 Class of leeches 10 Double-helix codiscoverer 11 Sort of sample 12 Kneecap 14 Eli ____ 15 Dendrite's opposite 16 What nociceptors detect 19 Tree hugger? 20 Some prefix 21 Intestinal bacterium 24 Experimental result 26 Its atomic number is 55 28 Bonded structure 29 Doctor 30 Like some injections DOWN 1 Type of group in an alcohol 2 It carries the code to the cytoplasm: abbr. 3 Green org. 4 Act as a stimulus 5 Experimental treatment 6 1991 Nobelist who invented

Scientific Societies Concerned With Sexuality Research

International Academy of Sex Research c/o Ken Zucker Child and Family Studies Centre Clarke Institute of Psychiatry 250 College St. Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5T 1R8 (416) 979-4747, Ext. 2271 Fax: (416) 979-4668 E-mail: zuckerk@cs.clarke-inst.on.ca 235 members Raul Schiavi, president Ken Zucker, secretary/treasurer Affiliated journal: Archives of Sexual Behavior Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality c/o Howard J. Ruppel, Jr. P.O. Box 208 Mount Vernon, Iowa 52314 (319) 895-8407 Fax: (31

Opinion

Science Grants

With Tax Credits Author: Dudley G. Moon and John W. Fenton II For American science, it is "the best of times and the worst of times." Progress in many fields, particularly biomedical research, borders on the fantastic. At the same time, science education is described in the media as being in shambles, the physical infrastructure of science is crumbling, and the morale of many scientists is at an all-time low. Why is this happening? The stock answer to this question is that there are insuffic

Commentary

Now Available On A Screen Near You: The Scientist On The World Wide Web

World Wide Web Readers of The Scientist are no doubt aware that our newspaper has been available free of charge on the Internet at the AT&T server since late 1992, under a five-year National Science Foundation Internic Award. Current and back issues through 1992 are available, including full editorial content as well as information on new grants, symposia, conferences, and employment opportunities from The Scientist's classified sections. Of course, this Internet edition is an ASCII text-only

Letter

AIDS And Anti-Science

Lead articles in the July 10, 1995, issue of The Scientist include one on anti-science (F. Hoke, "Scientists See Broad Attack Against Research And Reason," page 1) and another on science-on-science (B. Goodman, "Massive NIH AIDS Priority Review Panel Begins Work Against A Daunting Schedule," page 1). Last year, the American people spent $1 billion on microwave popcorn, and the $8.4 billion in annual sales of home computers exceeded the $8 billion in annual sales of television sets for the firs

Irrational Reaction

It is amazing how rational scientists can react so irrationally to a challenge. Why do they feel so threatened? Do they fear that their enemy wields some unearthly power to overthrow them? Have they cleverly deduced that theirs is the only correct worldview, absolute and final? Before continuing, I should state that I am a natural scientist. I work every day to uncover the biochemical processes associated with allergic inflammation, a very "real" phenomenon. I should add that my sole source of

Journal Of Irreproducible Results

In the Oct. 2, 1995, issue of The Scientist on page 3, there was an article by Peter Gwynne ["Science Humor Magazine, Comic Awards Improbably Change Location"] concerning a conversation Gwynne had with Marc Abrahams. Some of the remarks and assertions made in this article have been repeated in other media, and it has become necessary to set the record straight concerning the relationship between the Journal of Irreproducible Results (JIR) and the Annals of Improbable Research (AIR). The article

Research

Biological Determination Of Sexuality Heating Up As A Research Field

if (n == null) The Scientist - A 'Long Tradition' The Scientist 10[1]:, Jan. 08, 1996 News A 'Long Tradition' The biological basis of sexual orientation is a research area that is coming out of the closet By Robert Finn Sidebar: Scientific Societies Concerned with Sexual-Orientation Research For the last few years each new result has been covered extensively in the popular press. And last May, Minot State University in North Dakota hosted an internation

Hot Paper

Public Health

Edited by : Neeraja Sankaran R.C. Kessler, K.A. McGonagle, S.Y. Zhao, C.B. Nelson, M. Hughes, S. Eshleman, H.U. Wittchen, K.S. Kendler, "Lifetime and 12-month prevalence of DSM-III-R psychiatric disorders in the United States-Results from the National Comorbidity Survey," Archives of General Psychiatry, 51:8-19, 1994. (Cited in more than 100 publications through December 1995) Edited by : Neeraja Sankaran Comments by Ronald Kessler, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor This publication is the fi

Structural Biology

Edited by : Neeraja Sankaran Y. Cho, S. Gorina, P.D. Jeffrey, N.P. Pavletich, "Crystal structure of a p53 tumor suppressor-DNA complex: understanding tumorigenic mutations," Science, 265:346-55, 1994. (Cited in more than 140 publications through November 1995) Comments by Nikola Pavletich, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York City "One of the goals in cancer biology has been to find a unifying theme underlying the cause of cancer, and the p53 tumor suppressor is the closest we hav

Clarification

In the article "Scientists' Heated Debate On Immigration Mirrors Issues Argued Throughout U.S." (R. Finn, The Scientist, Nov. 27, 1995, page 1), an incorrect statement was made about the founding of the Young Scientists Network (YSN). Kevin Aylesworth was the sole founder of YSN.

Profession

Where PIOs Convene

National Association of Science Writers P.O. Box 294 Greenlawn, N.Y. 11740 (516) 757-5664 Fax: (516) 757-0069 E-mail: 71233.3441@compuserve.com President: Laurie Garrett 1,830 members Public Relations Society of America 33 Irving Place New York, N.Y. 10003-2376 (212) 995-2230 Fax: (212) 995-0757 E-mail: hdq@prsa.org President: Luis W. Morales CEO: Ray Gaulke Approximately 17,000 members

Communications Professionals Help Researchers To Meet The Press

The Press Author: Ricki Lewis Sidebar: WHERE PIOs CONVENE They have many titles-public information officer (PIO), communications director, media liaison. These behind-the-scenes professionals link scientists to the public by presenting research results to journalists. Working at universities, companies, medical centers, and government agencies, PIOs write press releases and fact sheets, and spend many hours connecting interviewers to interviewees. At times, some reporters may also find PIOs ob

Leaders of Science

Uma Chowdhry

UMA CHOWDHRY, Business Director, Intermediates, DuPont Specialty Chemicals, Wilmington, Del. "By reading THE SCIENTISTregularly, I can track who is doing what in the field I have my roots in. THE SCIENTIST provides me with a quick review of the most significant developments in science and technology." It is not often that a researcher gets the opportunity to become director of a business based on the technology he or she was involved in. But that is what happened to DuPont's Uma Chowdhry. Sh

Technology

Scientists Benefit As Life Sciences Companies Stream To The Web

The Web Author: Robert Finn Sidebar:Web Addresses of Selected Life Sciences Companies The last 18 months have seen the rapid spread of the World Wide Web, a new medium of communication that some compare to Gutenberg's invention of the printing press in significance. The Web may not continue to live up to this level of hype, and its explosive growth may one day slow. But it's undeniable that many companies and individuals are betting millions of dollars that the Web will change the face of comm

Web Addresses Of Selected Life Sciences Companies

American Type Culture Collection http://www.atcc.org/ Amersham International http://www.amersham.co.uk/amersham Beckman Instruments Inc. http://www.beckman.com/ Boehringer Mannheim Corp. http://www.corange.com/ CLONTECH Laboratories Inc. http://www.clontech.com/ Eppendorf Scientific Inc http://www.webcom.com/eppendrf/welcome.html Integrated DNA Technologies Inc http://www.idtdna.com/ Invitrogen Corp. http://www.invitrogen.com/ Jandel Scientific Software http://www.jandel.com/ Life Tec

Notebook

Robert Walker (R-Pa.) surprised many of his colleagues both in and out of Congress with his December 15 announcement of plans to resign his seat when his term ends later this year. Walker, known as a staunch supporter of government-funded basic research, has headed the committee since 1995. He has also been a controversial figure, advocating merging federal science committees into a single cabinet-level agency. Many contend that Walker's departure will leave a void that will be difficult to fil