March 1993

Targeted alliances and sharply focused planning as well as financial clout are factors in their high achievement Which are the top research universities in the United States? And what makes them the best? Not surprisingly, there are no hard and fast answers to these questions. But when several indicators are compared--such as total research-and-development spending, citations per published paper, and the number of science Nobelists coming from their respective campuses--some general conclusi

Research Priorities Author:RON KAUFMAN Policy watchers say President Bill Clinton's proposed restructuring of the environmental advisory groups within the White House and other proposed changes could alter not only the arrangement of how the government oversees environmental research and development, but also the thematic approaches to this type of R&D. They say researchers may find themselves working with a whole new set of priorities. During the presidential campaign, candidate Clinton spo

They strive to ward off authors who rehash findings in order to rack up lengthy lists of publishing credits In today's competitive job market, some scientists may be tempted to add heft to their c.v.'s by stretching their research a little, engaging in practices referred to by journal editors as redundant publication. Redundancy--attempts to get two or more articles out of the research for one--has always existed in some form or other, editors say. But, spurred by speculation that the pres

Frank Press, outgoing president of the National Academy of Sciences, and chemist Kary B. Mullis, inventor of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), have been selected as winners of the 1993 Japan Prize. Press and Mullis will each receive 50 million yen (about $385,000), a gold medal, and a certificate from the Science and Technology Foundation of Japan during a ceremony to be held at the National Theatre in Tokyo on April 28. The award has been given since 1985 in two categories that change annua

United States Food and Drug Administration officials were, understandably, pleased late last year when Congress authorized the agency to hire 600 new drug reviewers. Additional staff, FDA officials contended at the time, would be bound to reduce-- perhaps by as much as half--the time required for pharmaceuticals to move through the agency's review process and, thus, make great inroads in relieving FDA's long-criticized "biotech bottleneck." Now, however, the edge of optimism among the offici

Nobel Laureate Baruch Blumberg has been a basic scientist and clinical researcher for many decades. He discovered the virus that causes hepatitis B and, along with Irving Millman, invented the hepatitis B vaccine. Blumberg and his colleagues at Philadelphia's Fox Chase Cancer Center also are involved in the development of antivirals for hepatitis B and other viruses. Hard at work on two continents, he is currently master of Balliol College, Oxford University To help keep abreast of the fast-

Editor's Note: World-renowned instrument maker Arnold Beckman, born in 1900, received his master's degree in physical chemistry from the University of Illinois--his home state--in 1923, after which he joined what was then Bell Electric Engineering (now AT&T Bell Laboratories). After two years, he left that company and, with his young wife, traveled to Pasadena, Calif., to take his Ph.D. in photochemistry at the California Institute of Technology and, afterward, a faculty spot at that instit

Search Sponsors, As Well As this issue was going to press, 40 remarkable American teenagers--finalists in the 52nd annual Westinghouse Science Talent Search--were on their way to Washington, D.C., to find out who among them was to be declared winner of this year's competition. All of the finalists, of course, are winners in a sense: Their research projects were selected as especially meritorious among 1,600 entries submitted from throughout the United States--and all finalists will share in

"Science's Golden Rule: Give Back To The Community" (Liane Reif- Lehrer, The Scientist, Dec. 7, 1992, page 21) conveys an important message to scientists about their responsibility to the younger generation. While mentoring has traditionally been a one- on-one relationship, the concept is evolving beyond this classic model. Recently, professional societies have begun to take up the challenge of supporting mentoring activities in an organized fashion. An example is the Association for Women i

Anthropocentricity? Following months of fruitless search on Loch Ness, our two inveterate cryptozoologists suddenly explode into action. "Look! There's Nessie! Quick! Shoot her!" I found Paul McCarthy's article on cryptozoology and its adherents (The Scientist, Jan. 11, 1993, page 1) fascinating-- until the final sentences: "And then there is always the possibility that some hunter will bring down a Bigfoot. `Bingo, I'm vindicated,' says [cryptozoologist Grover] Krantz." Does Bigfoot (or Ne

Scientific Graphics I found Caren D. Potter's article in the Tools & Technology section of the Dec. 7, 1992, issue of The Scientist [page 18] to be an informative introduction to the principal advantages and disadvantages of the various hard-copy output devices available for scientific graphics reproduction. However, the piece failed to mention a major printing modality that is rapidly becoming a cost-effective and efficient means of producing high-definition color output. Dye-sublimation pri

Recent studies are raising serious questions among toxicology researchers about the validity of cancer risk assessment methods as practiced today. Based on these findings, a growing number of scientists are calling for a thorough reevaluation of the criteria used to identify human carcinogens. "Twenty years ago, the assumptions that were made were appropriate, and the decisions made on those bases were appropriate because that's what we knew," says Samuel Cohen, a pathologist at the Epply Ins

Oceanography G. Jacques, M. Panouse, "Biomass and composition of size fractionated phytoplankton in the Weddell-Scotia Confluence area," Polar Biology, 11:315-28, 1991. Guy Jacques (Observatoire Ocean-ologique, Banyuls-sur-Mer, France): "One of the most debated questions among oceanographers today revolves around the determination of whether the Southern Ocean was, is, and will be a source or a sink for CO2--a very important question for those trying to understand our climate. Surprisingly,

Neuroscience L. Chen, L.-Y. M. Huang, "Sustained potentiation of NMDA receptor-mediated glutamate responses through activation of protein kinase C by a m opioid," Neuron, 7:319-26, 1991. Li-Yen Mae Huang (University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas): "Opiates such as morphine have been used as analgesia for thousands of years. The mechanism of opioid action is of great interest because the information can help us understand the regulation of pain transmission and provide us with th

Evolutionary Biology T. Madsen, R. Shine, J. Loman, T. Hakansson, "Why do female adders copulate so frequently?" Nature, 355:440-1, 1992. Richard Shine (University of Sydney, Australia): "According to Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection, individual organisms should behave in ways that maximize their reproductive output. This simple notion makes an immediate prediction about sexual behavior, at least for species in which males don't take care of their offspring. We would expect tha

Recent Advances Increase HPLC Use In Life Sciences Author: FRANKLIN HOKE The use of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) in life sciences laboratories surged in the late 1970s and early 1980s, according to many researchers, as the technique's ability to precisely separate and quantify biological molecules grew. Advances in the columns--the central instrument components in which the separations actually occur--are credited with much of this progress, but improvements in pumps, injector

Teamwork Is Key To Solving Complex Research Problems Author: ELIZABETH CULOTTA Every team needs members who fill four basic roles, according to management consultant Glenn Parker, author of Team Players and Teamwork (San Francisco, Jossey-Bass Inc., 1990). One person can play more than one role, but most researchers interviewed by The Scientist agree that in successful teams, someone fills each of these niches. The contributor: Contributors work on a piece of the project and deliver their

Survey: Female Toxicologists Earn Less Author: EDWARD R. SILVERMAN The average salary for most toxicologists has been rising, prompted by increased hiring, according to a recently released survey. Demand for toxicologists in 1991 was strongest at consulting firms, at contract laboratories (independent labs that conduct research for companies or government), and in industry, particularly at pharmaceutical and consumer products companies, accord- ing to Shayne Gad, who compiled the data for th

Items: The Industrial Biotechnology Association, meeting in Naples, Fla., last week, voted unanimously to merge with the Association of Biotechnology Companies to form a new group, the Biotechnology Industry Organization. According to Carl Feldbaum, the newly appointed president of BIO (Barbara Spector, The Scientist, Feb. 22, 1993, page 1), IBA's board first voted unanimously for the merger. Later in the meeting, ABC's board, also meeting in Naples, voted unanimously in favor of mer