March 1996

SENSE OF PROPORTION: "more needs to be done relative to the scale of the problem," remarks Stanford ecologist Gretchen Daily. The worldwide spate of emerging and reemerging infectious diseases in the first half of this decade has prompted a growing recognition of the connection between global climate change and human health. Individual researchers from such disparate disciplines as epidemiology and public health, ecology, virology, climatology, nutrition, and biomedicine have directly addresse

Optimism, Caution Date: March 4, 1996 (The Scientist, Vol:10, #5, pg.3 & 6, March 4, 1996) (Copyright ©, The Scientist, Inc.) When Oakland, Calif., AIDS activist-now patient-turned-guinea-pig-Jeff Getty received baboon bone marrow cells in December, doctors gave the daring cross-species experiment little chance of working. Now, three months later, scientists are debating not only whether or not the procedure was a success, but also if it was appropriate in the first place. In question also

Life Science Journals The career of nearly every scientist-male or female on a university faculty includes a stint reviewing papers for professional journals. But at the higher levels of editorial leadership-the editors-in-chief and other senior-level journal editors -- the number of men far outpaces the number of women. For example, Science, Nature, Cell, the Journal of Molecular Biology, Genetics, Molecular and Cellular Biology, the Journal of Immunology, and many others all have a male scien

But Various Regulatory Obstacles Persist Date: March 4, 1996 (The Scientist, Vol:10, #5, pg.1 & 8, March 4, 1996) (Copyright ©, The Scientist, Inc.) SIDEBAR : Functional Foods: An AG Biotech Boom? Life scientists are finding new opportunities to test wise words uttered by the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates: "Let your food be your medicine, and your medicine be your food." OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS: Louis Lasagna notes the field's potential. In academic and industry labs across the United

Copyrightº 1996 by Eric Albert ACROSS 1 Glycolysis end product 5 Complex heterocyclic ketone 10 Strength 11 Of a chemical compound containing carbon 12 Chemical bond 13 Gland that releases oxytocin 16 Any of a class of spherically shaped carbon molecules 17 Protist's locomotion features 18 Radioactivity unit 20 Synthesis of more complex substances from simpler ones 23 Responding to stimuli 25 ____ of Henle (kidney piece) 29 Serve as a stimulus 30 ____ fragments (DNA substrands) 31 Ha

Equipment and Supplies Date: March 4, 1996 (The Scientist, Vol:10, #5, pg.19, March 4, 1996) (Copyright ©, The Scientist, Inc.) Amicon Inc. J.T. Baker Chemical Co. Beckman Instruments Inc. Bio-Rad Laboratories CAMAG Scientific Inc. Fisher Scientific PerSeptive Biosystems Inc. Pharmacia Biotech Inc. Pierce Chemical Co. Rainin Instrument Co. Inc. Scanalytics Sigma-Aldrich Chromatography Spectronics Corp. VWR Scientific Whatman Inc.

Copyrightº 1996 by Eric Albert ACROSS 1 Glycolysis end product 5 Complex heterocyclic ketone 10 Strength 11 Of a chemical compound containing carbon 12 Chemical bond 13 Gland that releases oxytocin 16 Any of a class of spherically shaped carbon molecules 17 Protist's locomotion features 18 Radioactivity unit 20 Synthesis of more complex substances from simpler ones 23 Responding to stimuli 25 ____ of Henle (kidney piece) 29 Serve as a stimulus 30 ____ fragments (DNA substrands) 31 Ha

Bringing together the normally disparate disciplines of ecology, ethics, environmental management, economics, and medicine is the goal of the two-year-old International Society for Ecosystem Health. The society and its journal, Ecosystem Health (Blackwell Science Inc., Cambridge, Mass.), are run by ecologist David Rapport, who holds the Eco-Research Chair in Ecosystem Health at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. In 1994 Rapport and University of Maryland ecologist Robert Costanza coc

In the excitement over functional foods in the supermarket, researchers shouldn't overlook other opportunities -- namely, animals and agriculture, according to George Kidd, president of the management consulting firm Kidd and Co. Inc. of Shorewood, Wis. Kidd believes that the animal feed market offers pharmaceutical companies the perfect chance to seize functional food technology. "There are 1,200 human health companies that specialize in biotech," he says. "On the other hand, only a few speci

Depletion Date: March 4, 1996 (The Scientist, Vol:10, #5, pg.9 & 12, March 4, 1996) (Copyright ©, The Scientist, Inc.) Editor's Note: Three months ago, the Nobel Prize in chemistry was presented to three researchers "for their work in atmospheric chemistry, particularly concerning the formation and decomposition of ozone." In announcing the awarding of the 1995 prize to Paul Crutzen of the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, Germany; Mario Molina of the Massachusetts Institute of

Few elements in the public view of science and medicine rival the romantic image of a scientist drinking a self-concocted potion and risking his or her life to benefit humanity. Recently, K.S. Brown ( The Scientist, Dec. 11, 1995, page 1) outlined the history of self-experimentation in biomedical science. In but two paragraphs, however, was there any suggestion that, apart from being unconventional or potentially dangerous to researchers, self-experimentation as a methodological option might h

I recently read the letter that George Scherr had submitted to The Scientist concerning the relationship between the Journal of Irreproducible Results and the Annals of Improbable Research (AIR) [G.H. Scherr The Scientist, Jan. 8, 1996, page 12]. As a member of the editorial board of AIR, I felt I should respond. I was fascinated to read that Scherr asserts that neither Marc Abrahams nor AIR were ever associated with the Ig Nobel Prize. I participated in what I supposed to be the last two Ig

Having taken part in the first Ig Nobel celebration, which Marc Abrahams staged five years ago, and two others since, I can reassure George Scherr [Letters, The Scientist, Jan. 8, 1996, page 12], if he ever does witness that event, he surely would not want to claim to have originated it! His strange letter may be a plea to be considered for Ig Nobel dis-stink-shun. Dudley Herschbach Harvard University Department of Chemistry 12 Oxford St. Cambridge, Mass. 02138

I am writing to set the record straight. In a letter in the Nov. 13, 1995, issue of The Scientist [page 13], Paul K. Strudler, a National Institutes of Health grants administrator, refers to my article entitled "How Federal Funding Mechanisms Stifle Basic Biomedical Research (The Scientist, Aug. 21, 1995, page 10) as evidence that I believe that NIH study sections are not reviewing basic science applications adequately. In fact, I wrote that new innovative research-that is, R01s -- whether in

Where to Write Letters to the Editor The Scientist 3600 Market St., Suite 450 Philadelphia, Pa. 19104 Fax: (215) 387-7542 E-mail: 71764.2561@compuserve.com The Scientist welcomes letters from its readers. Anonymous letters will not be published. Please include a daytime telephone number for verification purposes. If you wish to have readers of The Scientist communicate with you, please include an E-mail address and indicate that it is for publication.

CHARLES A. SANDERS, Member of the President's Committee of Advisers on Science and Technology "THE SCIENTIST is unique in that it keeps you abreast of the happenings and personalities in science. The articles are clear and easily understood by readers who may not be well versed in science." Charles Sanders's 40-year career in science has run the gamut in the public and private sectors. A cardiologist by practice, he has been a physician, teacher, and hospital administrator, formerly serving a

Coauthorship Has Leveled Off Date: March 4, 1996 (The Scientist, Vol:10, #5, pg.13 & 16, March 4, 1996) (Copyright ©, The Scientist, Inc.) Editor's Note: In its January/February 1996 issue, the newsletter Science Watch -- published by the Philadelphia-based Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) -- took a broad look at international coauthorship of scientific papers (Jan./Feb. 7:1-2, 1996). Examining articles cataloged in ISI databases, analysts tracked the percentage of papers written

W.J. Su, R.L. Woodward, A.M. Dziewonski, "Degree-12 model of shear velocity heterogeneity in the mantle," Journal of Geophysical Research -- Solid Earth, 99:6945-80, 1994. (Cited in more than 50 publications as of February 1996) Comments by Adam Dziewonski, Harvard University According to Adam Dziewonski, a professor of geophysics at Harvard University, this paper describes the "highest resolution available for three-dimensional, seismological models of the Earth." He relates that such models

K. Braig, Z. Otwinowski, R. Hegde, D.C. Boisvert, A.Joachimiak, A.L. Horwich, P.B. Sigler, "The crystal structure of the bacterial chaperonin GroEL at 2.8 angstroms," Nature, 371:578-86, 1994. (Cited in more than 100 publications as of February 1996) W.A. Fenton, Y. Kashi, K. Furtak, A. Horwich, "Residues in chaperonin GroEL required for polypeptide binding and release," Nature, 371:614-9, 1994. (Cited in more than 60 publications as of February 1996) Comments by Arthur Horwich and Paul Sigle

In a list of World Wide Web addresses accompanying the article "Scientists Benefit As Life Sciences Companies Stream To The Web (R. Finn, The Scientist, Jan. 8, 1996, page 17), an incorrect address was given for Nikon Inc. The correct Web address is http://www.klt.co.jp/nikon In the "Leaders of Science" feature on Francisco J. Ayala in the February 5, 1996 issue of The Scientist (page 17), the name of evolutionary biologist Theodosius Dobzhansky was misspelled.

Of A Grant Application Date: March 4, 1996 (The Scientist, Vol:10, #5, pg.15-16, March 4, 1996) (Copyright ©, The Scientist, Inc.) Getting financial support for research -- especially basic research -- has become very time-consuming and frustrating for scientists. At the National Institutes of Health, for example, the number of applications reviewed increased 14 percent, from 11,487 to 13,141, between October 1991 and October 1995, according to the October 1995 issue of Peer Review Notes,

For Life Scientists Date: March 4, 1996 (The Scientist, Vol:10, #5, pg.17 & 19, March 4, 1996) (Copyright ©, The Scientist, Inc.) Sidebar:List of Vendors When two or more different biomolecules are present in a solution and a researcher wishes to study only one, the technique considered most often to achieve the separation is chromatography. Biochromatography in its various guises has been driven in part by the biopharmaceutical industry's demand for better and faster protein- purification

Shalala Gets Fired Up No Stud Finders Here Politically Incorrect Small Audience, Lively Debate Is Anybody Out There? Unsubtle Advice Date: March 4, 1996 (The Scientist, Vol:10, #5, pg.30, March 4, 1996) (Copyright ©, The Scientist, Inc.) FILTER FAUX PAS: Cells of Vibrio cholera (Photo taken from Vibrio cholera and Cholerea: Molecular to Global Perspective, I.K. Wachsmuth, P.A. Blake, O. Olsvics, eds, American Society of Microbiology, 1994,p. 128) The Baltimore Sun is very sorry abou

Contributions To Knowledge Date: March 4, 1996 (The Scientist, Vol:10, #5, pg.9 & 12, March 4, 1996) (Copyright ©, The Scientist, Inc.) In December, Paul Crutzen, Mario Molina, and F. Sherwood Rowland received the 1995 Nobel Prize in chemistry for their work toward understanding how stratospheric ozone is naturally produced and destroyed and wherein human activities are capable of reducing worldwide ozone. The many other scientists who contributed atmospheric observations, laboratory meas

That Ozone Politics Played A Role Date: March 4, 1996 (The Scientist, Vol:10, #5, pg.9 & 12, March 4, 1996) (Copyright ©, The Scientist, Inc.) In awarding the 1995 Nobel Prize in chemistry to the originators of the stratospheric ozone depletion hypothesis, the Swedish Academy of Sciences has chosen to make a political statement. Quoting from the citation: "The three researchers have contributed to our salvation from a global environmental problem that could have catastrophic consequences