Notebook

Scientists at Stanford University's biological sciences department are staking somewhat more than their professional reputations on the belief that their concerns about the environment are well-founded--about $15,000 more. The scientists responded to a challenge from Julian Simon--a University of Maryland professor of business administration who has long asserted that environmental trends are positive and "doomsaying environmentalists" are wrong--in the San Francisco Chronicle (Op- ed, May 12, 1995, page A25). Simon called on environmentalists to bet with him on whether "any trend pertaining to material human welfare" will get worse in the future. The Stanford scientists, ecologist Paul R. Ehrlich and climatologist Stephen Schneider, responded in an op-ed essay in the Chronicle on May 15 (page A23) with an offer to wager $1,000 on each of 15 current trends, betting that each will get worse over a 10-year stretch in the future. Among the trends they bet would continue were: rising global temperature; shrinking amount of cropland per person; increase in the atmospheric pollutants sulfur dioxide, nitrous oxide, and near-surface ozone; shrinking area of moist tropical forests; increasing number of people dying of AIDS diseases; decline in the amount of wheat and rice grown per person; decreasing oceanic fish harvest per person; and growing gap between rich and poor. In that vein, one negative trend that is almost certain to continue: The $15,000 they put up should be worth considerably less when the bet is decided in 2005. (The Scientist, Vol:9, #12, pg.30, June 12, 1995) (Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.) Golden Boy: Aleksandr Khazanov took first place in this year's U.S. Math Olympiad. At 16, Aleksandr Khazanov is becoming an old hand at reaching the Olympics. The senior at Stuyvesant High School in New York has won first place in the 24th USA Math Olympiad (USAMO), one of eight USAMO winners to be honored at award ceremonies this week at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C. This is the first year that he is the top winner in the competition, but the second consecutive year in which he has become a USAMO winner. It is also the second year in row that he will be one of six members of the U.S. International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) team, which this year will compete with 70 other teams from around the world in Toronto July 13-25. Begun in 1974, the IMO pits high school students in a rigorous competition consisting of problems that would challenge most professional mathematicians. Last year's U.S. IMO team received a perfect score for the first time in the competition's history. This year's USAMO winners are culled from nearly 550,000 entrants. After two preliminary tests, about 140 students compete in the USAMO for the top eight spots. Khazanov, whose father is a math professor at the City University of New York, plans to enter Penn State University this fall to study--what --math. The other winners of the competition are Jacob Lurie and Samit Dasgupta from Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Md.; Christopher Chang from Henry M. Gunn High School in Palo Alto, Calif.; Jay H. Chyung of West High School in Iowa City, Iowa; Andrei C. Knepp, Hawken School, Gate Mills, Ohio; Josh Nicols-Barrer, Newton High School, Newton, Mass.; and Craig R. Helfgott, Ramaz Upper School in New York. (The Scientist, Vol:9, #12, pg.30, June 12, 1995) (Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.) While some science administrators gird for the impending battle on Capitol Hill over the U.S. research budget (see Opinion, page 1), the Friends of the National Library of Medicine (NLM) have chosen two congressional leaders to honor with the organization's Lifetime Achievement Award. Sens. Mark O. Hatfield (R-Ore.) and Thomas Harkin (D-Iowa), who last month cosponsored an amendment to restore $1.1 billion to the National Institutes of Health in the proposed 1996 budget, were recognized for their "bipartisan leadership" and the "thoughtful manner in which both of these public servants support federal biomedical research." Hatfield, a senator since 1966, is currently chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations. Harkin, elected to the Senate in 1984, is currently ranking minority member of the Appropriations Committee's subcommittee on labor, health, and human services. The awards were presented last month at the Friends of NLM's 1995 Patron Dinner in Washington, D.C. (The Scientist, Vol:9, #12, pg.30, June 12, 1995) (Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.) The Washington-based Society for Neuroscience (SFN) chose another politician for its sixth annual "Decade of the Brain" award for "outstanding contributions to the advancement of brain research": Rep. John Porter (R-Ill.), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee subcommittee that oversees funding for NIH. The award was presented to Porter, whom the society lauded as "the leading congressional champion of biomedical research," on "Brain Day," a Capitol Hill event last month. Brain Day is sponsored by the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives to inform Congress on important advancements in neuroscience research. Head of the Class: John Porter was lauded as Congress' biomedical "champion". SFN president Carla Shatz praised Porter for his support of the nine NIH institutes engaged in mental health and neurological research and for making "the case that health reform should not simply be about how to pay medical bills, but how to prevent and cure disease through medical research." (The Scientist, Vol:9, #12, pg.30, June 12, 1995) (Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.) The Washington, D.C.-based Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) has joined with the Institute of Biotechnology Information in Research Triangle Park, N.C., and Vitadata Corp. of Berkeley, Calif., to produce BIO Online, an Internet World Wide Web site. It provides a "comprehensive, industry-specific Internet resource for information and services relating to biotechnology and the biotech industry." These services include information about biotech companies, interactive product catalogs, job postings, links to major biotech-related scientific databases, information about federal and state regulations, educational materials, and a biotech-related news service. Access to BIO Online is free via the URL http://www.bio.com. (The Scientist, Vol:9, #12, pg.30, June 12, 1995) (Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.) Preliminary results from a long-term NIH study of nuns support the idea that Alzheimer's disease is not an inevitable consequence of biologic aging. The Nun Study, supported by the National Institute on Aging, began in 1990 with 3,926 members of the Sisters of Notre Dame congregation born between 1886 and 1916. Most of the women had joined the order at about age 20. Of the original total, 1,030 sisters survived and 678 agreed to participate in annual assessments of their mental and physical health and function as of the end of last year. The researchers, led by investigator David A. Snowden of the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging at the University of Kentucky, found that senile plaques or lesions and nerve cell tangles in the brain associated with the disease increased in density among those between ages 75 and 89, but decreased after age 90. "Because of the relatively homogeneous adult lifestyle of the sisters, our findings are not confounded by factors such as smoking and alcohol use, reproductive history, marital status, living arrangements, income, or social isolation," Snowden points out. Earlier results from the study showed that more highly educated nuns lived about four years longer with better mental and physical functioning than those with less than a bachelor's degree. The nuns are located in convents in Milwaukee; St. Louis; Chicago; Baltimore; Dallas; Wilton, Conn.; and Mankato, Minn. The median age of the surviving study population is 85; six are 100 or older. (The Scientist, Vol:9, #12, pg.30, June 12, 1995) (Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.) In a totally unrelated development, NIA-supported scientists from the University of South Carolina have found yet another compelling reason to avoid cholesterol. Men with lower blood cholesterol or higher amounts of the beneficial high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol may be less likely to develop erectile dysfunction or impotence. According to the researchers, atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), which may impede blood flow to and from the penis, is one primary cause of impotence. While a positive link between blood cholesterol and atherosclerosis exists, the association between cholesterol and impotence has only been suggested until now. The South Carolina scientists conducted a study of more than 3,200 generally healthy men between the ages of 25 and 83. Data indicated that the men with total cholesterol over 240 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dl) of blood had nearly double the risk of penile dysfunction as men with readings of 180 mg/dl. A similar pattern held true in patients with significant amounts of HDL cholesterol. Those with HDL readings of 60 mg/dl or greater were one-third less likely to develop dysfunction than were men with less than 30 mg/dl HDL. (The Scientist, Vol:9, #12, pg.30, June 12, 1995) (Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.) Formal discussion of such ethical issues as the allocation of credit, conflicts of interest, and treatment of data is increasingly becoming a part of scientific training (K.Y. Kreeger, The Scientist, Sept. 5, 1994, page 1). As part of this wider effort, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Washington, D.C., is producing a series of five videos--scheduled for completion by spring of next year--on scientific research integrity. The plan is for each film to dramatize a different "gray area" of ethical behavior associated with scientific research. Themes for the videos are still being developed by the 10-member advisory committee, which includes Frederick Grinnell from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center; C.K. Gunsalus from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Marcel LaFollette from George Washington University; and Richard Meserve from the Washington, D.C., law firm Covington & Burling. The scenarios will not draw any conclusions; instead, they are meant to be departure points for classroom or seminar debate on the issues surrounding each example, according to AAAS. A discussion book and resource list will accompany each video. For more information, contact Alexander Fowler at (202) 326-7016. Fax: (202) 289-4950. e-mail: afowler@aaas.org. (The Scientist, Vol:9, #12, pg.30, June 12, 1995) (Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.) For the well-dressed virtual reality adventurer, first came the insect-like headgear; now there's the cyberglove. Ron Renzi, a technician at Sandia National Laboratory's Livermore, Calif., site, is literally adding a touch of reality to the virtual environment, through the development of the glove. (See related story on virtual reality on page 14.) Expanding on computer research associated with weapons dismantlement, Renzi, along with colleagues at both Sandia's Livermore and Albuquerque, N.Mex., facilities, have so far "felt" the surfaces of computer-generated stucco, wood, and stone images. The wearer of the glove feels textures through electromagnet-studded fingertips. Signals associated with a virtual object turn on an electric field that causes vibrating patterns along the glove. The actual sensation of touch is created by several electromagnetic plungers resembling pencil leads that lightly tap the hand. Renzi envisions a host of future applications, such as entertainment systems, computerized Braille translation of CD-ROM texts, and robotic telesurgery. (The Scientist, Vol:9, #12, pg.30, June 12, 1995) (Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.) garfield@aurora.cis.upenn.edu 71764.2561@compuserve.com The Scientist, 3600 Market Street, Suite 450, Philadelphia, PA 19104 U.S.A.

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