June 1987

WASHINGTON—Two years ago, having decided to create a microelectronics center to help the area's sagging economy, the Rochester Institute of Technology realized it needed additional funds for construction and equipment. Its president, M. Richard Rose, contacted the Washington lobbying firm of Cassidy and Associates. Last summer Congress specified that $11.1 million from the Defense Department's budget go to the institute for a variety of purposes, including the new center. Today, smocked st

LONDON—Scientists working in this country's military sector may suffer a "considerable" reduction in funding within two or three years if the Conservatives are returned to power in next week's elections. On the other hand, those involved in civil R&D may benefit from money transferred out of defense work. These intentions were outlined by Defense Secretary George Younger as he unveiled this year's Defense White Paper shortly before the June 11 election was announced. "We shall be taking a

PASADENA, CALIF—NASA's current plans for a space station are being challenged by advocates of a smaller station, more useful to scientists, that could be built more quickly and with fewer shuttle flights. This opposition has crystallized in recent weeks around two embattled figures: Peter Banks, the former chairman of NASA's task force on scientific uses of the space station, and Oliver P. Harwood, a senior engineer at Rockwell International. Banks, director of Stanford University's Space

LONDON—Space scientists from Western Europe and the Soviet Union are involved in what may be the most extensive extraterrestrial collaboration between the two sides in the 30-year history of the space age. The cooperation comes in the form of an orbiting observatory that is expected to begin transmitting data shortly. The Roentgen laboratory for collecting X-rays in space was built largely by scientists from the Netherlands, Britain, West Germany and the 13-nation European Space Agency and

William R. Graham has directed the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy since Oct. 1, when the US. Senate approved his nomination to succeed George A. Keyworth II. Graham, whose background is largely in classified military systems research, had been serving as acting administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration when President Reagan named him science adviser. A strong supporter of Reagan's 1980 presidential bid, Graham advised him on defense policy issues bot

WASHINGTON—The sudden and unexplained departure of Donald Fredrickson as president of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute is due chiefly to conflicts arising from his wife's participation in HHMI activities that exceeded the normal bounds of a spouse's interests, say several longtime friends and colleagues. According to these associates, Fredrickson's wife has played an active role in certain affairs of the $5 billion organization since Fredrickson became affiliated with the institute in 1

WASHINGTON—The Chinese government will not allow astrophysicist Fang Lizhi to come to the United States this year because of the potential "destabilizing" influence of such a visit on Chinese students in this country. Word of that decision came in a recent letter to scientists and administrators at the University of California at Santa Cruz, who had invited Fang for a month-long visit of lectures and joint research at the university's Lick Observatory. Last winter Fang was stripped of his

WASHINGTON—Surgeon General C. Everett Koop's plan to "revitalize" the Public Health Service's commissioned corps has drawn the fire of researchers at the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control. And the outcome of a May 18 NIH meeting designed to soothe them is not clear. "It looks like some of you came loaded for bear and weren't sure I was a bunny, so you shot anyway," Koop said following a series of pointed questions from the audience. Putting members back into

LONDON—A new report on technical collaboration in Europe argues for its value to society but warns politicians that it cannot solve all their economic problems. "Do not regard collaboration as a panacea for all of Europe's, let alone the United Kingdom's, high-technology problems," write British researchers Margaret Sharp and Claire Shearman. "But support it, and support it wholeheartedly. Decisions about European initiatives for R&D should be taken on their own merits and not be subordina

WASHINGTON—Federal funds for AIDS research would be funneled more quickly into labs and clinics under a comprehensive AIDS bill introduced May 15 by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.). The bill would ensure the timely review of research proposals, train more researchers, set up a network of AIDS research centers and create an NIH advisory board. Stepping up the pace of research is one aspect of a proposal to provide "new resources and new mechanisms to put the nightmare of AIDS behind us,"

NEW YORK—Superconductive power lines, high-strength composite cements and genetically engineered artificial sweeteners produced in the United States, Western Europe and Japan might seem of little concern to the people of Brazil, Zaire or other Third World nations. But an upcoming report from the U.N. Center for Science and Technology for Development (UNCSTD) says such a belief is not only mistaken but also damaging to the economies of those developing countries. It hopes to illustrate tha

OTTAWA—In 1898 the U.S. Department of State sent zoologist Charles Wardell Stiles to its embassy in Berlin to overturn protectionist measures the local government had taken against the import of American pork. Stiles won the commendation of the U.S. ambassador in that city for his successful advocacy of free trade. His larger place in history, however, is as the first person to hold the title "science attaché." Nearly 90 years later, science attachés are an increasingly visible p

WASHINGTON—The U.S. State Department is seeking scientifically literate recruits to join its 4,000-member Foreign Service. The campaign signals the department's recognition that science and technology are key factors in many international economic and political issues. The department says it wants "unintimidated amateurs"—peopie who know something about science and technology, can identify the foreign policy component of scientific issues, ask the right questions and find the right e

LONDON—Spending on research and development by British pharmaceutical companies this year will exceed $850 million. That figure represents 11 percent of the national total for industrial R&D, although drugs comprise less than 2 percent of Britain's industrial output. In evidence to the House of Lords' Science and Technology Committee, officials from the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry expressed concern that the average period of patent protection for a new drug was only

CAMBRIDGE, MASS.—Medical researchers in this university town are no longer allowed to use two well-known animal toxicity tests after passage of the first legislation of its type in the country. The Cambridge City Council voted May 18 to ban the Classical LD-50 Acute Toxicity Test and the Draize Eye-Irritancy Test. The move is the latest step in a heated local debate on the use of laboratory animals. (A survey by city officials found that at least 50,000 research animals, mostly rats, were

WEST BERLIN—Both East and West Germany must come to terms with the various political views of Albert Einstein, a West German physicist told colleagues at the annual meeting of the German Physical Society here this spring. "Einstein needs to be rehabilitated" in both countries, said Jacob Szer, a theoretical physicist at the Technical University in West Berlin. Despite universal admiration for his early scientific work, Szer said, scientists and politicians on each side of the Iron Curtain

For his article "Shame on You, Mrs. Thatcher" (The Scientist, March 9, 1987, p. 9) Eugene Garfield deserves the gratitude of the British scientific community. His article, sympathetic to the impoverished state of British science, highlighting some of its failings, and proposing solutions to its problems, demands attention. It should be compulsory reading for scientists and politicians. Even Harvard humanities professors should be forced to study it. Yet, although Garfield has provided an accurat

There are several arguments against the Superconducting Supercollider that come from outside high-energy physics. High-energy physics, an exciting pioneer field in science, suffers from Big Science syndrome: it requires massive efforts in human and material resources to further the acquisition of knowledge. Meanwhile, areas systemic research show great promise with only moderate expenditure of resources. Huge potential breakthroughs in the principles of accelerator building (such as the superc

I would like to lay out the scientific case against the Superconducting Supercollider because I think many of my colleagues who understand this case are hesitant to make it, not least because some of the arguments are two-edged. I am very hesitant myself, because I am not against the project, except insofar as it competes for resources which I see as needed more elsewhere. Let me organize my thoughts in terms of four slogans, each of which is aimed at sowing doubt about one of the myths supporti

Dinosaurs are ubiquitous: from the front page of The New York Times to Esprit fashions, they are making an indelible impression on the public's imagination. But the enormous exposure dinosaurs receive brings with it some troubling concerns. Scientifically, the study of dinosaurs is prospering as never before. New dinosaurs are being described at the rate of one every seven weeks: more than 40 percent of all dinosaurs that we recognize today have been described since 1970. Dinosaur studies were s

I'm sending the tuition bills to Stephen Jay Gould. After, all, it was hearing me read aloud a charming essay of Gould's in The New York Times about his early love of dinosaurs that prompted my son, Brendan, to confide, "Daddy, I love dinosaurs, too. I wanna be a planeatologist when I grow up." Of course, some days it's a spaceman or a detective, but just as often his career goal at age 5 has something to do with dinosaurs. It's not entirely Gould's fault. Dinosaurs have been Brendan's obsession

All cells receive messages via hormones, neurotransmitter molecules and growth factors. These molecules bind to protein receptors in the cell membrane and relay their information in the form of "second messengers" to the cell's interior. It has long been known that cells contain a vitamin-like substance called myoinositol. Our discovery 35 years ago that cell-surface receptor activation leads to increased metabolic turnover of an inositol-containing phospholipid, phosphatidylinositol (PI), was s

This Is second of two articles on keeping up with changes in chemical regulations. The first article, "How to Keep up With Chemical Regs" appeared In the May 18, 1987 issue of The Scientist, p. 18. Although newsletters attempt to keep one current, they are neither comprehensive nor do they provide what might be called an information base on which to build. For example, a newsletter is likely to mention the addition of a hazardous waste to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA); it is

"Risk Assessment," Science. April 17, 1987. Vol. 236. Pages 267-300. American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington, D.C. In its April 17 issue, Science published six lead articles on health risk assessment. Although none of the articles carefully defines the subject term, all of them use it to mean structured estimation of probability and severity of harm. Actually, the articles focus more on social risk management than on the science of risk assessment. The topics covered are

Governing Science and Technology in a Democracy. Malcolm L. Goggin, ed. University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville, 1986. 314 pp. $34.95. In the last decade or two, a coherent "radical critique" of science has taken shape in Europe and the United States. The critique attacks the notion that science can be significantly "value-free," arguing instead that at its heart, all science has been shaped in the interest of dominant economic and political sectors. Having recognized this, it becomes incumben

STI Review: No. 1. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Pans, 1986. $16 (£8) per issue; $30 (£15) for subscription. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) exists to promote consultation and coordination among Western bloc industrial nations. Examining trends and policy developments in scientific, technological and industrial arenas is an important part of the organization's activities. The OECD Secretariat collects statistical data and perfo

Technology Transfer in China: Selected Papers. Lisbeth A. Levey, ed. American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington, D.C., 1986. This publication from the American Association for the Advancement of Science contains several papers presented at a May 1986 symposium entitled Innovations in Technology Transfer: International Comparisons (China, Europe, Japan and the United States). The papers form a somewhat incoherent collection when considered under the topic of technology transf

State of the World 1987: A Woridwatch Institute Report on Progress Toward a Sustainable Society. Lester R. Brown et al. W.W. Norton & Co., New York, 1987. 268 pp. $18.95 HB, $9.95 PB. The Worldwatch Institute has performed a valuable service for the public and governments with the publication of this detailed report, State of the World 1987, which examines the interdependencies of human population growth, resources, the environment and the world economy. Lester Brown, president of the institute,

"If centuries are to be burdened with names, our own may bear the title of the century of science," write David Collingridge and Colin Reeve in their book Science Speaks to Power: The Role of Experts in Policymaking (Frances Pinter Publishers Ltd., 1986). As science and technology become increasingly important in issues of broad social import, how can science best inform the policymaking process? Historians and sociologists of science debate the merits of new agencies like the Science Policy Sup

This list of forthcoming books has been complied from the latest information available from publishers. Dates of publication, prices and numbers of pages are tentative, however, and are subject to change. ANTHROPOLOGY Artifacts of the Spanish Colonies of Florida and the Caribbean, 1500-1800 (Volume 1: Ceramics, Glassware, and Beads). Kathleen Deagan. Smithsonian Press: June, 208 pp, HB $35, PB $19.95. Primarily for archaeologists, this book examines artifacts of both European and New World manuf

Verbatim excerpts from the media on the conduct of science. Space Spectators or Participants? … there is no doubt that every scientist connected with space research is concerned with the costs of scientific activities in space and the consequences of the development of expensive flight hardware. It is the scientific community's responsibility to inform NASA of its concerns and to argue in national forums for an economically responsible program for scientific investigations in space that in

The U.K. Advisory Council for Applied Research and Development has added five new appointees to its ranks. The 18-member ACARD reports to the government on the advancement of applied research and technology and the role of the United Kingdom in international scientific collaboration. In addition, the ACARD and the Advisory Board for Research Councils coordinate research supported through the Department of Education and Science. The new members are: Terry Harrison, chairman of Northern Engineerin

Scientists in the Third World face many problems, not the least of which is funding. Of necessity, Third World nations cannot yet support science at levels commensurate with those of the developed nations. Meeting the basic needs of their citizens leaves the governments of developing countries with few resources to expend on long-term investment in the form of scientific research. So it often happens in the Third World that university and government research centers are understaffed, equipment i