May 1993

As enthusiastic support for the superconducting supercollider cools off, advocates step up efforts to save the megaproject Proponents of the superconducting supercollider are mounting a vigorous public relations campaign to win over Congress and the United States public and to head off a repeat of last summer's House vote to kill the $8.3 billion project. Funding for the Dallas-based SSC was restored last year only through the 11th-hour mobilization of dozens of physicists to converge

Commercial productivity is the payoff when firms provide scientists with a comfortably collegiate professional environment Recognizing the successful tradition of the university science environment, industry research directors are carrying over the academic spirit in their efforts toward building harmonious and productive labs. Their aim is to preserve the pursuit of pure discovery and the free exchange of ideas, while at the same time moving assertively toward the achievement of commer

Biomedical researchers vow to go on using animal subjects in their labs, despite acts of personal intimidation Researchers targeted by a wave of protests from animal rights supporters late last month vow that the hunger strikes, sit-ins, candlelight vigils, and even some acts of vandalism by the activists will not deter them from continuing their work. The demonstrations were staged as a part of a national week of protests against the use of animals in biomedical research called World

Scientists and other employees at the Science Center for Social Research in Berlin are waiting to see if a nationwide petition drive they've initiated denouncing the recent wave of neo-Nazi violence in Germany will prod the country's lawmakers to crack down on those racist activities. Staff members at the center, called Wissenschafts-zentrum Berlin fr Sozial- forschung (WZB)--a research institution studying economics, labor market development, and environmental protection policy--began composi

reviewer of grant proposals and, since 1988, as a member of the advisory board. Given the position of CAAT, expressed clearly in its mission statement (see accompanying item), it is not surprising that radical animal rights activists have not embraced the center. However, over the years, I have learned that many academicians who are biomedical researchers also have a negative view of the center, a view that is usually based on ignorance and/or misconceptions about CAAT, its mission, and its ac

Last month I had the pleasure of speaking at a Bethesda, Md., meeting of scientists, college administrators, funding agency officials, and others on a sunject that has long been of paramount interest to me: the value of undergraduate research at small liberal arts colleges. The meeting was part of a two-day program cosponsored by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR). The council's 2,000-plus membership, for the most

AUTHOR: J.D. ANDRADE, p.12 I enjoyed the article "Vigilant Science Journal Editors Fight Redundancy" (Paul McCarthy, The Scientist, March 8, 1993, page 1). The real incentive for literature pollution, or your more polite term "literature redundancy," is the evaluation and reward system at most universities. Administrators and colleagues still decide tenure and promotion cases largely on the basis of numbers of papers in "peer- reviewed" journals. There rarely is any consideration of the signi

AUTHOR: PETER NICHOLLS, p.12 Regarding the commentary "A Pat On The Back For Westinghouse Finalists -- And For The Talent Search Sponsors, As Well" (Eugene Garfield, The Scientist, March 8, 1993, page 12): Why does my heart sink when I read the titles you listed of projects by two 17-year-old high school students--"Undocumented Complex Social Relations in Captive Theropithecus gelada" and "Loop Two Amino Acids Important for Ability of P-glycoprotein to Confer Multidrug Resistance"? They have ob

AUTHOR: PATRICK H. CLEVELAND, p.12 In his letter to The Scientist (February 22, 1993, page 10), Martin L. Stephens, vice president of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), took exception to my lumping his organization in with other animal rights groups ("Animal Rights Activism: Enough is Enough," The Scientist, Nov. 23, 1992, page 12). However, Stephens's artful use of language does not alter the fact that HSUS is indeed part of the same animal rights movement as People for the Ethical

p.14 Editor's Note: In an effort to identify research areas that appear to be capturing an increasingly large share of attention among scientists worldwide, the newsletter Science Watch undertook a detailed analysis of the titles of scientific journals that made their publishing debuts in 1992. undertook a detailed analysis of the titles of scientific journals that made their publishing debuts in 1992. The newsletter--published by the Institute for Scientific Information in Philadelphia--disc

Letters, 59:811, 1991. E.A. Fitzgerald, Y.-H. Xie, M.L. Green, D. Brasen, A.R. Kortan, et al., "Totally relaxed GeSi layers with low threading dislocation densities grown on Si substrates," Applied Physics Letters, 59:811, 1991. Eugene Fitzgerald (AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, N.J.): "Nearly all the microelectronic circuitry (very-large-scale integration [VLSI]) today is manufactured from silicon. For decades, scientists have been trying to estimate when Si would mature and another mater

P.16 M.P. McCormick, R.E. Veiga, "SAGE II measurements of early Pinatubo aerosols," Geophysical Research Letters, 19:155-8, 1992. M. Patrick McCormick (National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va.): "Since 1979, the global view of aerosols in the stratosphere and upper troposphere has been provided almost exclusively by the Stratospheric Aerosol Measurement II (SAM II) and the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE I and II) series of satellite i

As molecular biology becomes increasingly informational, computer software to manipulate and analyze nucleic acid sequences has evolved from a useful tool to an absolute necessity, researchers say. Foster City, Calif. 94404 (800) 345-5ABI Fax: (415) 572-2743 Products: GENESCAN 672 for microsatellite markers on Macintosh: call for price. DNASTAR Inc. 1228 S. Park St. Madison, Wis. 53715 (608) 258-7420 Fax: (608) 258-7439 Products: Lasergene comprehensive package: $3,995; Lasergene options,

Prospective graduate students eagerly awaiting word from schools about the size of their stipends for the next academic year will undoubtedly be pleased to learn that the median stipend paid to teaching and research assistants in university biological and physical sciences departments rose during the 1991-92 school year as compared with 1989-90, according to a recent study. The survey was conducted by the Office of Research and Graduate Studies at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. The good

On Science Education Author: Ron Kaufman, p.21 Concerning the role of astronomy in early science education, Frank H. Shu, a professor of astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley, and president-elect of the American Astronomical Society (AAS), says his field does not get enough respect. Shu, who will take over the 6,000-member AAS in June 1994, says astronomy can be a useful tool in capturing the interest of students in science at the elementary and secondary levels. "Many teachers

Ear to the Grindstone A Different Way Art For Earth's Sake Magnetic Personality Antimatter Matters While hearing aid manufacturers keep trying to make a less cumbersome and noticeable appliance, University of Virginia graduate student Jonathan Spindel has delved into the subject a little deeper. He has developed a device that transmits sound via a tiny magnet permanently implanted on the "round window" of the inner ear and an electromagnetic coil placed a short distance from the magnet.