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Table of Contents An Improbable Debut Strange Bedfellows SRO Silvery Science Those Cards And Letters Keep Coming The Annals of Improbable Research (AIR)--a new journal published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Museum and developed by the same brilliant, but twisted, minds who originated the Ig Nobel Prizes for dubious scientific achievements--issued its first volume on December 14. The debut was commemorated at a ceremony highlighted by (questionable) pomp (Marilyn Vos Savant, holder of the world's highest IQ, ate alphabet soup and offered crackers to attendees), (unexplained) circumstance (an invited convicted felon, AIR board member Robert T. Morris, found guilty of paralyzing the Internet, was a no-show), (obligatory) interruptions (it was "a nonstop evening of heckling," according to journal cofounder Marc Abrahams), and the re- burial of a "tiny time caplet" found during renovation of the museum's basement. The occasion was also marked by the presentation of papers from the inaugural issue, including "The Taxonomy of Barney," by Ed Theriot and Earle Spamer of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia and Art Bogun of Freshwater Molluscan Research in Sewell, N.J. The research- -presented in the absence of the authors by their associate, Kate Eppers, age 11--concludes that the purple beast, X-rayed by the scientists, has "a dinosaur body but a clearly hominid skeletal structure, which has serious implications for the fossil record," according to Spamer. As eco-lobbyists ready for the first congressional session of the new year, there's at least one environmental group that is looking to 1995 with hope. According to officials at the Committee for the National Institute for the Environment (CNIE)--a group proposing a new environmental agency--the coalition is optimistic about its prospects in the Republican- dominated Congress. CNIE cites the diversity of its supporters as its main strength. The roster includes Greenpeace, the United States Chamber of Commerce, Dow Chemical Co., and an environmental justice group called Jesus People Against Pollution. Broad, bipartisan support in Congress is another reason they anticipate getting their plan approved. "You've got Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) on board as well as people like Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.)," claims Neil Dobbs, CNIE legislative director. Moreover, Dobbs notes, NIE would not have a regulatory mission. "NIE's not going to be making policy, so the Republicans have to love something like that," he says. Again this year, the auditorium of the Farrington Daniels Chemistry Building at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, was filled to capacity--and then some--with science enthusiasts of all ages. They came to hear Wisconsin chemistry professor Bassam Shakhashiri's 25th annual holiday chemistry demonstration, "Once Upon a Christmas Cheery, in the Lab of Shakhashiri." The silver-anniversary celebration--four lectures over two days--was distinguished by special displays. "We featured a lot of experiments that had to do with silver," says Shakhashiri. "For example, we made a very large silver ornament in a 12-liter, round-bottomed flask." The talks were inspired by the Royal Institution of Great Britain's Christmas lectures, started by Michael Faraday in 1826. The 165-year-old British series this year featured Susan Greenfield, a lecturer in pharmacology at the University of Oxford, as its first woman presenter. "The whole idea is to celebrate the joy of doing science and promote the idea that science is fun," Shakhashiri adds. Members of the National Institutes of Health Human Embryo Research Panel (F. Hoke, The Scientist, Nov. 28, 1994, page 1), were deluged with letters from abortion opponents comparing human embryo research with abortions, Nazi experimentation, and the production of "model" children, according to Brigid L.M. Hogan, science cochairwoman of the panel and a professor of cell biology at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Some are festooned with graphic illustrations of late-term abortions. "They send us these pictures as if that is what we are advocating," says Hogan, who notes that she has gotten "at least 200" letters; according to published reports, NIH has received more than 50,000. "Somebody is telling [the public] lies, and they are being misinformed," she adds, stressing that one major goal of proposed research is "preimplantation diagnoses to avoid late- term abortions."

Notebook

The Scientist Staff

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