May 1987

WASHINGTON—The Reagan administration has barred the Soviet Union from participating in an international scientific program to which the Soviets had already accepted an invitation. The decision was made by President Reagan late last month on national security grounds, after the Defense Department objected to the Soviets' participation in the project, which will analyze the composition of the ocean floor. The Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) is supported by the United States, the United Kingdom,

SAN DIEGO—Young scientists unwittingly caught up in scandals over fraudulent research have found the experience to be a drain on their emotions and a stain on their professional careers. Interviews with nearly a dozen researchers whose, names have been linked to some of the best-known cases of fraud revealed that the practice of "gift authorship" has sidetracked academic careers, put federal research grants beyond reach and thrown into question other legitimate studies they have published

LONDON—The summit meeting of European Economic Community leaders in Brussels on June 29-30 appears to be the earliest chance to resolve the longstanding deadlock over a new, five-year European research budget. The EEC's Framework Research Program embraces several collaborative R&D projects. Britain stands alone now in its opposition to the $7.5 billion budget suggested by Belgium as a compromise between a much larger figure requested by the European Commission and a smaller one proposed ea

ORLANDO, FLA.—Key industry and university research administrators are laboring over a model agreement meant to simplify and increase collaboration between the two groups. This unprecedented attempt to draft an agreement to govern various types of industrial sponsorship of university research is an outgrowth of a pilot project involving five federal research agencies and 10 Florida universities. That demonstration project, begun in April 1986, is aimed at freeing scientists from much of th

Through his activities as a science educator and popularizer, experimental physicist Sergei P Kapitza has become one of the best-known scientists in the Soviet Union. Millions of people watch his biweekly television show on scientific issues, for which he received the State Award in 1980. Kapitza was born in England, where his father, Peter L. Kapitza, was working on low-temperature physics and magnetism at Cam bridge. After graduating from the Moscow Aeronautical Institute in 1949, Sergei Kapi

LONDON—Younger directors will soon be appointed to about one-half of the 260 institutions directed by the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R. This follows the recent announcement by the new president of the academy, Guri Marchuk, that directors must retire at age 70 rather than holding their appointments for life, as is now the case. In addition to directors now being "prematurely" retired, many other senior scientists who enjoyed lifelong tenure will have to leave their posts when they re

WASHINGTON—An unexpected gift from the University of California has saved Issues in Science and Technology, the National Academy of Science's esteemed but money-losing quarterly journal of science policy. The university system's chancellors have volunteered a contribution of $150,000 a year for three years. The amount eases the magazine's $250,000 annual deficit enough for the Academy to rescind its decision to close Issues after publication next month of a summer issue. (See The Scientist

NEW DELHI—Scientists in India's government laboratories, unhappy over receiving proportionately less money than other civil servants, are calling for salary increases and more perks. Leading the drive are the associations of scientific workers of India's autonomous research councils: the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the Indian Council of Medical Research and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. The extent of the dissatisfaction became evident earlier this spring

BERKELEY, CALIF.—On April 29 Steven E. Lindow drove seven hours to the remote Tulelake area of northern California to begin open-air tests of bacteria genetically altered to combat frost formation on potato plants. For the University of California at Berkeley plant pathologist, however, the trip marked the end of a five-year journey. In 1982 Lindow discovered that the removal of a specific gene from the ubiquitous bacterium Pseudomonas syringae could shut down production of a chemical res

WASHINGTON—The recent controversy over the rejection of Harvard political scientist Samuel Huntington for membership in the National Academy of Sciences, which spilled over into a rare public debate, has focused attention on the academy's election process. It's an elaborate procedure, deliberately shrouded in secrecy, that repeatedly screens out candidates until a consensus emerges on those most worthy of NAS membership. it is built around a system that divides all of science into five cl

CRYSTAL CITY, VA.—The American Physical Society's report on the science and technology of directed energy weapons, released here at the society's spring meeting last month, is a scientific document with inescapable implications for defense policy. Its reception indicates that every action connected with such a report can be, and almost inevitably is, interpreted in a political light. Specifically, the report suggests that several of the fundamental assumptions of the Strategic Defense Ini

NORFOLK, VA.—The Howard and Georgeanna Jones Institute for Re-productive Medicine, which pioneered human in utero fertilization and embryo transfer in the United States, has moved strongly into research on contraceptives. The Contraceptive Research and Development Program (CON-RAD) is supported by a large grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development, $28 million over five years. Some of the work is being done here, but about two-thirds of the budget is going into extramural re

WASHINGTON—The Superconducting Supercollider will have international partners in its construction, promises the new acting director of the Office of Energy Research within the Department of Energy. On April 27 James Decker took over as head of the $1.8 billion research program when Alvin Trivelpiece became executive director of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The 46-year-old Decker, who was hired by Trivelpiece in 1973 after working as a plasma physicist at AT&T B

TUCSON. ARIZ.—Find a wealthy benefactor. Assemble a small group of hard-working people committed to a common goal, and let them teach themselves what they need to know. Enlist a few respected scientists who are kindred spirits. Discourage contact with the outside world. And shoot for the stars. That approach is not the usual way science is done in this country. But then Biosphere II is not run-of-the-mill science. Rather, it's an attempt to create a 2.5-acre, enclosed ecological system th

Regarding Jeffrey Mervis' article "Many Questions, Few Answers on New NSF Science Centers" (THE SCIENTIST, March 23, 1987, p. 1), I'd like to ask a question or two myself. Does the right hand know what the left hand is doing? Why are we overlooking the fact that the NSF's Industry-University Co operative Research Center Program (IUCR) is an excellent model for the Science and Technology Centers? Why is Mervis raising concerns that have been answered in the course of the 10 years or so that the

Editor's Note: On April 23, the American Physical Society released the findings of a special study group on the science and technology of directed energy weapons such as those proposed in the Strategic Defense Initiative. The 424-page report concludes that the technology for these weapon systems would have to improve by factors of 100 to 1 million or more before they would perform acceptably. The following excerpts are taken from the executive summary and first chapter of the report. The Ameri

When I was growing up, there were perhaps only three facts of geography I knew for sure: the equator was exactly 25,000 miles long, heaven was located just above the Van Allen radiation belt, and Mount Everest was the highest mountain in the world. These were scientific facts of the first order, known to all parochial school children, and inculcated through repetition and regular use of the chart and pointer by Sister Mary Geography. It is a sign of the faithless age in which we live that no o

A conference at which no one reads a single paper may seem a contradiction in terms. In fact, Dahlem Konferenzen, which this month reach 50 in their unique series of highly successful gatherings in West Berlin, are of exactly that sort. Dahlem conferences generate their prestigious state-of-the-art reports through a sensitively structured five-day program of group discussions and feedback. They contrast starkly with the type of congress at which fragments of worth are lost among a phalanx of pre

It sounded like an experiment that was all a molecular biologist could hope for. It had a noble purpose (the protection of nutritionally important fruits and vegetables), it was of great scientific elegance and theoretical interest, and it was perfectly safe. It went like this. Take a common saprophytic bacterium, present in food, water and soil, and remove one of its 200-odd genes. Grow the organism in pure culture, spread it on plants that are harboring the wild type, and PRESTO! the massive

At 10 I wanted to be a chemist, and at 16 a poet. At 18 I entered college as an English major but soon realized that I loved social science courses more than literature courses. In dismay, I consulted a college career counselor, who suggested social science as a compromise between a humanities discipline and a biological science. So I became a sociologist (though if the truth be known, I still hanker after biology and harbor a secret ambition to write a novel). After majoring in sociology I wen

Both the pace of chemical regulatory change and the pervasiveness of chemical regulation itself have increased dramatically over the past few years. At the same time, keeping track of changing regulatory requirements has become a much more difficult task. This is especially true for small to medium-sized firms, which often face severe budgetary and staff restraints when it comes to regulatory compliance matters. On the other hand, with such sweeping new requirements as the 1986 Superfund Amendme

The Politics of Uncertainty: Regulating Recombinant DNA Research in Britain. David Bennett, Peter Glasner and David Travis. Routledge & Kegan Paul, Boston, 1986. 218 pp. $35. The history of science and technology should give us perspective on the context of scientific and technological development and provide us with lessons for the future when, as is usually the case, we again face similar questions. In this volume three authors—David Bennett, a molecular biologist/sociologist and Peter G

Fearful Symmetry: The Search for Beauty in Modern Physics. Anthony Zee. Macmillan, New York, 1987. 384 pp. $25. For once I agree with the dust-jacket testimonials: this is an excellent book. Were a review not required I would let it go at that. Anthony Zee is a distinguished particle physicist who presently holds joint appointments at the University of California and the Institute for Theoretical Physics at Santa Barbara. In Fearful Symmetry he has written a sprightly, partisan history of 20th

The Making of the Atomic Bomb. Rlchard Rhodes. Simon and Shuster, New York, 1986. 788 pp. $22.95. This book is much more than a history of the atomic bomb. It is the story of the scientists who discovered that atoms consisted of nuclei and electrons, that atomic phenomena are quantized, and eventually that energy could be derived by splitting the heaviest nuclei. The author presents the scientists as real people with curiosity, imagination and fears in the turbulent years from the turn of the c

A Guide to the New Chemical Age. Hugh D. Crone. Cambridge University Press, New York, 1986. 245 pp. $39.50 HB, $14.95 PB. There are roughly as many atoms on Earth now as there were 50 years ago. All the chemist can do is rearrange these to create new molecules and materials. Chemists have been synthesizing new substances at an exponential rate in the last half-century. The materials affect our lives in every conceivable way. From the vinyl floor in the kitchen (or the polyurethane varnish on the

Walter B. Cannon:The Life and Times of a Young Scientist. Saul Benison, A. Clifford Barger and Elin L. Wolfe. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1987. 506 pp. $30.00. This biographical history is as interesting to read as a suspense novel, containing elements of personal and institutional conflict and intrigue, local and national politics, international conflict and cooperation, and scientific, educational and administrative creativity. A foreword by Howard E. Morgan, former president of

Status Report on Science and Technology in India: 1986. Compiled by P.S. Shankar, S.K. Rastogi and S. Arunachalam. Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, New Delhi, India, 1986. 64 pp. This report, compiled by PS. Shankar et al at the Publications and Information Directorate of the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research in New Delhi, gives an overview of the science and technology administration, activities and efforts in India. Essentially prepared as a conference paper, the report

"The fact [is] that I, a chemist, engaged here in writing my stories about chemistry, have lived a different season." For Primo Levi that "different season" was a place called Auschwitz. An assimilated Italian Jew, Levi quit his job at a pharmaceutical factory, joined a band of anti-fascist partisans, was betrayed and captured. At Auschwitz, he was skilled prisoner 17451Z forced to work in a chemical lab adjacent to the Nazi death camp. In 1947 he began writing a series of autobiographical work

This list of forthcoming books has been compiled from the latest information available from publishers. Dates of publication, prices and numbers of pages are tentative, however, and are subject to change. ASTRONOMY Flyby: The lnterplanetary Odyssey of Voyager 2. Joel Davis. Atheneum: June, 256 pp, $17.95. Recounts the frustrations and achievements of project scientists involved with Voyager 2's encounter with Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus. A Catalogue of Southem Peculiar Galaxies and Associatlons

Verbatim excerpts from the media on the conduct of science. A Word From the Frost Fighters ... Those protesting the test of a frost-fighting substance in a Brentwood strawberry patch have sat through too many showings of "Attack of the Giant Tomatoes." Protesters have gone to great lengths to make the field test of genetically altered bacteria into a science fiction soap opera in which men in white coats from Advanced Genetic Sciences, an Oakland-based biotechnology firm, are the mad-scientist

Paul J. Fink has been elected president-elect of the American Psychiatric Association. He succeeds George Pollock, who is the new president of the 35,000-member association. Fink is medical director of the Philadelphia Psychiatric Center, chairman of the department of psychiatry at Albert Einstein Medical Center, and professor and deputy chairman of the department of psychiatry at Temple University Health Sciences Center. Kenneth L. Nordtvedt Jr. has been nominated by President Reagan to serve

The watchword in Washington and the rest of the United States is competitiveness. There have been more discussions by more people about America's ability (or inability) to compete internationally than perhaps about any other topic this year. And with each announcement of further erosion in the U.S. balance of payments, the intensity of that discussion escalates. The problem has been at least two decades in the making. American industry did not modernize its manufacturing processes soon enough.