News Notes

Science at State Conceding that "the State Department's science capabilities have not always been as substantial as they should be," U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright promised a number of improvements last month. Speaking at a plenary session at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Albright said she will issue a policy statement this month "setting forth my commitment to enhance the department's ability to handle [science and technology] issues and to improve our access to the experts who can help us." She also outlined several other measures, including the appointment of a science adviser position within the Undersecretariat for Global Affairs; establishment of a Science Directorate within the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs; a boost in "solid scientific competence throughout the department"; a review of science counselor positions worldwide; and the forging of "a truly active partnership with the S&T community." Albright said her changes would not be proposed for just the remainder of the Clinton administration, but for "a multiyear, multiadministration, bipartisan mission." Albright acknowledged the contribution of a recent National Research Council report, "The Pervasive Role of Science, Technology, and Health in Foreign Policy: Imperatives for the Department of State" ( books.nap.edu/catalog/9688. html ), which she requested, but she added that she was awaiting a State Department task force report before offering an extensive response (See also R.A. Frosch, "Science for diplomacy," The Scientist , 13[23]:11, Nov. 22, 1999). "It is in America's interest to bring nations closer together around basic principles of democracy, liberty, and law that will lift the lives of people everywhere," Albright said. "To me, this provides a deeper connection between diplomacy and science than any single initiative or project. Because the best science is driven by a similar impulse to improve not just the American condition, but also the human condition; to enable children in even the poorest countries to grow up in health and hope."--Margaret F. Heinrich Symposium Honors Sociobiology The advent of the field of sociobiology 25 years ago had a major impact on scientists' views of evolution and social behavior. At a symposium at last month's American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting, sociobiology researchers celebrated the birth of the field and honored its founder, Harvard University entomologist Edward O. Wilson, and his revolutionary 1975 book Sociobiology: The New Synthesis. Wilson's most recent work, Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge, attempts to bridge the perceived divide between the sciences and the humanities. Wilson himself served as a discussant and commentator for the two three-hour sessions. The subjects of participants' talks included evolutionary psychology, the impact of sociobiology on religion, and how sociobiology elucidates male and female behavior. In a morning panel discussion, Wilson recalled the molecular biology revolution of the 1960s and its less-than-positive effect on the perception of his own fields of evolutionary and organismal biology. "We needed the kind of experimental science and hard theory that have now been developed at the population level in sociobiology," said Wilson. "We just weren't competitive, and we kind of got brushed aside. It was not pleasant." Wilson suggested, though, that today's biologists, from molecular biologists to ecologists, have "a kind of overall conceptual agreement about the way biology is going." But, he added cautiously, "maybe I'm being too optimistic."--Eugene Russo

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Margaret Heinrich

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March 2000

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