July 1990

The successful growth of human brain cells in a dish already has some researchers pondering commercial applications WASHINGTON - When a team of neuroscientists at Johns Hopkins Medical School made headlines this past May for establishing a colony of human neurons that divide and grow in a petri dish, they may have launched a new era on the business side - as well as the science side - of neurobiology. The Johns Hopkins team, headed by Solomon Snyder, reported its achievement in the journal Sc

Despite praise from Congress, others charge that his single-minded drive for bigger budgets alienated many scientists WASHINGTON - Muted by the uproar following the removal of Bassam Shakhashiri as head of the directorate for science and engineering education at the National Science Foundation is the applause of many scientists who are glad to see him gone. "There aren't any tears being shed around here, I can promise you that," says one NSF program officer. "Most of us see it as a chance to

Genetic engineers at Crop Genetics and Mycogen place hopes on two different strategies for pest control Like Babe Ruth, John Henry sees himself as a slugger. The president and CEO of Crop Genetics International of Hanover, Md., Henry is going for a grand slam in his field of pest control: a genetically designed biopesticide against the European corn borer, a pest that munches $500 million worth of corn annually in the United States. In contrast to his heavy-hitting strategy are the efforts of

Max Cooper, director of the Division of Developmental and Clinical Immunology in the Departments of Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, and Jacques Miller, head of the Thymus Biology Unit at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, recently received a share of the first $100,000 Sandoz Prize for Immunology. The prize, to be given biennially by the Basel, Switzerland-based pharmaceutical company, encourages research in basic cellular, d

A conflict-of-interest case demonstrates that she lacks the power to enforce guidelines on post-employment contact WASHINGTON - Last year the National Science Foundation broke its own rule that bars former employees from discussing a potential grant or contract with foundation officials for at least one year. But when NSF's new inspector general blew the whistle on the infringement, agency officials in effect shrugged their shoulders and promised to do better the next time around. The case of

Watching Their Wallets The rankings of 1989's top 100 spenders on industrial R&D suggests that the R&D slowdown in the U.S. has begun to reach the labs of industry leaders. Technical Insights, Inc., the Englewood, N.J., firm that publishes Inside R&D, a weekly newsletter, finds in its latest annual survey that last year the top 100, headed by General Motors, increased research spending by 8.7 percent, after posting spending gains of 10.7 percent the previous year. Charles Joslin, editor ofInsid

Speakers' Fund For Women Geoscientists The Association for Women Geoscientists has received a $9,000 grant for three years from Phillips Petroleum to fund travel costs of members serving as speakers. The AWG Speakers Bureau maintains a list of 120 nationally recognized women geoscientists who are available for speaking engagements. Nonprofit, nongovernment organizations needing speakers to discuss geoscience topics can apply. Up to $300 in direct travel costs is available. The deadline for appl

Harry B. Gray, Arnold O. Beckman Professor of Chemistry at the California Institute of Technology, has been named winner of the 1991 Priestley Medal, the American Chemical Society's highest honor. Gray's research has focused on inorganic photochemistry and artificial photosynthetic systems. In addition, he has conducted research on electronic structures of iron- and copper-containing proteins, and on chemical reactions that involve transfers of electrons between metal centers in proteins. In Ma

Third Time's A Charm On Misconduct The scientific community learns from its mistakes in investigating allegations of misconduct - but not very quickly, says former NIH director James Wyngaarden. Wyngaarden, speaking last month at a luncheon sponsored by a National Academy of Sciences panel examining responsible conduct in research, says that he's developed a rule of thumb that predicts how institutions are likely to handle scientific misconduct by their faculty. "They blow it the first time," h

U.S., USSR to Share Plant Collections U.S. and Soviet agriculture officials plan to link the world's two largest collections of plant germplasm (genetic material contained in seeds and cuttings) via a computerized database accessible to both nations. The U.S. Agricultural Research Service's Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN) has for the past six years allowed North American scientists to access the U.S. collection via personal computer. This fall two ARS scientists will travel to L

"There are really two cold fusion controversies. One is the technical debate over how to achieve and sustain a room-temperature fusion reaction. The other debate concerns how news about the research has been communicated among scientists and by journalists. This second controversy has raised troubling questions about who determines when research may be discussed publicly and who determines the importance of science news - the journalist or the source? The March 1989 press conference of Univers

When the "fifth force" burst upon the scientific scene in January of 1986, its arrival was noted with great fanfare by the nation's news media. "Hints of Fifth Force in Universe Challenge Galileo's Findings," proclaimed the New York Times the day after the discovery was announced in the journal Physical Review Letters. (56:3, Jan. 6, 1986). But when the force was pronounced all but dead almost four years later at a December 1989 conference in Les Arcs, France, no reporter was present to note it

Some say that the United States is on a collision course with a serious crisis - that the nation is approaching this crisis at dangerously high speed and that the destructive potential of the inevitable impact is frightening to ponder. The crisis could slow the country's economic growth, weaken its national security, and undercut its efforts to compete successfully in global markets. The crisis: Is it to come in the form of a dread disease such as AIDS? Will its roots lie in a chronic social p

Garland Allen (The Scientist, May 14, 1990, page 17) provided a gross caricature of Bogaert's and my scholarly review of race differences in sexual behavior (Journal of Research in Personality, 21:529-51, 1987), implying our reliance on "prurient" sources and our "misrepresentation of data." He ignored our extensive reanalyses of the Kinsey data, our reviews of international surveys carried out by the World Health Organization, and the surveys carried out within the United States since Kinsey,

Thank you for the invitation to comment on the dispute between Philippe Rushton and Garland Allen. Since you have read my op-ed piece "Academic Freedom and Racial Theories" in the New York Times (May 3, 1990, page A27), I'm quite certain it comes as no surprise to you that I believe that Professor Allen has by far the better of the debate. As a writer and teacher of literature, I have tried to bring a skeptical humanism to all questions of human relationships and human strivings. What I find s

I find it surprising that The Scientist did not publish an accompanying editorial to the Rushton versus Allen debate on the controversial topic of genetic differences amongst racial groups. Rushton argues on emotional issues alone in his article, with no scientific defense and has listed no confirmation other than 11 pieces of his own work. On the other hand, Allen recommends a reading list from seven works of different authors. From an analysis of Rushton's work, Allen indicates how Rushton

[Editor's note: Dr. Rushton was asked by the editor to supply a list comprising only his own works, while Dr. Allen was asked to cite a broader range of writings.] I read with interest the Opinion articles by Professors Rushton and Allen, dealing with Rushton's work on race-related research. I have had some interest in this topic myself, having taught a course on "The Social Issues in Genetics" for several years, and the I.Q./race issue was always hotly debated in this course. I share many of

The institution that David Baltimore will guide in the coming years has a well-earned reputation as one of the world's best biomedical research establishments. But is Rockefeller University still riding high, or is it resting on its laurels? According to data from the Science Citation Index (SCI) of the Philadelphia-based Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), Rockefeller University is not only maintaining its dominant position, but also moving ahead. The accompanying chart illustrates

The Scientist has asked a group of experts to comment periodically upon recent articles that they have found noteworthy. Their selections, presented herein every issue, are neither endorsements of content nor the result of systematic searching. Rather, the list represents personal choices of articles the columnists believe the scientific community as a whole may also find interesting. Reprints of any articles cited here may be ordered through The Genuine Article, 3501 Market St., Philadelphia,

NAME FIELD CITATIONS 1965-78 251. SINSHEIMER R.L. Molecular Biology 4,161 252. MORROW A.G. Cardiology 4,160 253. SEGAL G.A. Physics 4,159 254. ROBINS R.K. Organic Chemistry 4,157 255. GALLO R.C. Cell Biology/Virology 4,140 256. WYMAN J. Molecular Biology 4,133 257. DALGARNO A. Astrophysics 4,127 258. SHIRANE G. Physics 4,124 259. VALE W.W. Neuroendocrinology 4,123 260. CARLSSON A. Neuropharmacology 4,118 261. YEN S.S.-C. Endocrinology 4,108 262. WALDMANN T.A. Imm

S.R. Jordan, C.O. Pabo, "Structure of the lambda-complex at 2.5 Å resolution: Details of the repressor-operator interactions," Science, 242, 893-9, 11 November 1988. Steve Jordan (Agouron Pharmaceuticals Inc., La Jolla, Calif.): "The structure of the lambda repressor-operator complex was of great interest not only because it tied together a wealth of experimental data concerning the specific question of how lambda repressor binds to its operator, DNA, but also because the structure gave n

F.J. Himpsel, G.V. Chandrashekhar, A.B. McLean, M.W. Shafer, "Orientation of the O 2p holes in Bi2Sr2Ca1Cu2O8," Physical Review B, 38, 11,946-8,1 December 1988. Franz J. Himpsel (IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, N.Y.): "In the quest for understanding the mechanism of high-temperature superconductivity it is important to know the electronic states that cause superconductivity. Previous work had identified the copper oxide planes as active structural units in these materials, an

The financial prognosis is healthy for physiology faculty members, according to a salary survey released last month. The study was prepared by the 153-member Association of Chairmen of Departments of Physiology (ACDP) on behalf of an affiliated organization, the 7,000- member American Physiological Society (APS), based in Bethesda, Md. The study revealed that salaries for all academic physiology positions - from department chairperson down to instructor - are rising at medical schools, both pu

The James S. McDonnell Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts are providing funds for a new program in cognitive neuroscience research. Researchers in this specialized area focus on the way in which human mental events take place by studying how neural tissue carries out the signals it receives. A total of $12 million has been allocated for the initial three years of the program. A primary goal is to support exceptional postdoctoral work that is underfunded or is unlikely to receive funds fr

Erkki Ruoslahti, president and CEO of the La Jolla Cancer Research Foundation, has been named the winner of the 1990 G.H.A. Clowes Memorial Award, given by the American Association for Cancer Research. The award has been given annually since 1978 to recognize accomplishments in basic laboratory research. The $5,000 award was established by the Eli Lilly Co., an Indianapolis-based R&D company that focuses on medicine and agriculture, to honor Clowes, a founding member of AACR and former res

Motion analysis is the science (or art) of comparing sequential still images captured from photographing a body in motion, for the purpose of studying both the simple kinematics (the motions themselves) and the kinetics (the separate forces) involved. Originally developed in the early 1980s for use in sports medicine, motion analysis involves the recording of visual images of relatively large objects, such as the human body or an animal in movement, via a hardware-software system. Researchers