November 1990

But advocates wonder if the kind of research body they have in mind can survive turf skirmishes in the Washington ecosystem WASHINGTON--Ecologists scored a victory last month when Congress earmarked $400,000 for the Environmental Protection Agency to sponsor an independent evaluation of the nation's environmental research. Scientists view this study, which EPA initially opposed as unnecessary, as a first step toward creating a national environmental research institute. As envisioned, this new

A wide range of scientific challenges spawns a surge in basic research for this once unacclaimed discipline Most researchers long believed that the sense of smell was genetically determined and, therefore, unchangeable. But at least one scientist--Charles Wysocki of the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia--doubted this theory. Wysocki, a psychobiologist who investigates the genetics of olfaction in the 45 percent of the adult population who can't detect androstenone, a component in s

While a workable policy for modified organisms stays unresolved, scientists laud recent developments WASHINGTON--Congress and the Bush administration are moving along parallel tracks in search of a more efficient and comprehensive system to regulate the testing and mass production of genetically modified organisms. Most industrial scientists, academics, and environ- mentalists hail this movement as a sign of progress toward resolving this major obstacle for the biotechnology industry. At the s

But while access to DOD data could be a boon to global change scientists, some of them worry about ties with the military WASHINGTON--The Department of Defense is planning a dramatic increase in its support of environmental research that could provide scientists with valuable data and resources in their study of global change. The Office of Naval Research (ONR) has proposed DOD's first-ever direct contribution next year to the government's interagency global research program, and last month C

Everyone is using them, and a new study will try to learn how computer networks have changed the practice of science MADISON, Wisc.--The mail, as usual, is waiting for University of Wisconsin mathematician and psychologist Dennis Fryback when he arrives at his office. But it's not exactly "stacked up"; it's more "loaded in." This morning's batch--data from an off-campus collaborator about their research on cancer treatment cost effectiveness, a citation Fryback had requested from an editor in

DECIPHERING THE DYNAMICS OF SMELLING Two articles in Nature and Science that address fine points of signal transduction in olfactory neurons--the cellular pathways that get turned on in response to an odor--have far-reaching implications in the field of olfaction. The Nature piece (347:184-7, Sept. 13, 1990) moves researchers closer to isolating the elusive odor receptor. The article in Science (249:1166-8, Sept. 7, 1990) helps quell a controversy about whether olfaction transdu

Doctors warn researchers not to ignore adverse reactions to animals and other menacing specimens SAN DIEGO--Who would have thought that a rabbit could send a scientist to the emergency room? Or that butterfly scales would force an entomologist to wonder about his future as a scientist? Or that a Nobel laureate could be seized by a sneezing fit brought on by the subject of her award-winning work? The truth is, it's actually quite common for scientists to suffer allergic reactions to their own

Advances in transplant science, synthetic organic chemistry, and the study of quarks have allowed six North American scientists to sweep this year's three Nobel science prizes. E. Donnall Thomas, 70, and Joseph E. Murray, 71, shared the Nobel Prize in medicine or physiology for their work in transplant medicine. Thomas, director emeritus of the Seattle-based Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center's Division of Clinical Research, was cited for his pivotal work on bone marrow transplantation--a

ENDOTHELIN: A WHOLE-BODY APPROACH John Burnett's team has been on a winning streak in the past few months as the Mayo group of clinicians had two more endothelin studies accepted for publication: one appeared in the August issue of the American Journal of Physiology (P.G. Cavaro, et al., "Endothelin in experimental congestive heart failure in the anesthetized dog," 259:F312-17, August 1990), and one is to be published in the January 1991 issue of Circulation. The team also presen

Since its establishment in 1957, the Gairdner Foundation International Award, which recognizes outstanding contributions in medical science, has earned a reputation as a "Nobel predictor" prize. The award, given each year by the Gairdner Foundation of Ontario, Canada, has lived up to its reputation again this year. Within the same week in October, E. Donnall Thomas, director emeritus of the division of clinical research at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, received both the