Notebook

NAS On The Move Patently Extraordinary Grants for Health-Related Projects My Lab Has Fleas SSC Helps Minority Businesses Sea Stories Bruce M. Alberts, a biochemist and molecular biologist at the University of California, San Francisco, has been nominated to succeed 12-year president Frank Press as head of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). Alberts was selected by special committee and approved by the academy's 17-member governing council. Other individuals may be nominated by petition before the NAS membership votes this December; the new president will take office July 1, 1993. Alberts, a pioneering researcher in DNA replication, has also been a strong voice calling for the revitalization of science education at all levels in the United States. General Electric Research and Development Center physicist William R. Engeler has joined two other GE scientists in the center's informal "100-Patent Club." Engeler, who joined GE in 1951 and began his career at the R&D center in 1961, has received patents over the years for a wide range of electronics products-- from high-power lasers to television camera tubes to integrated circuit chips. He is a pioneer in the modern era of solid-state electronics, particularly in computer memories. His 100th patent, issued this past May, was for an innovation in neural networks, computer systems that process information in a manner similar to the way such information is believed to be processed in the human brain. Engeler joins imaging specialist Harvey E. Cline (126 patents) and artificial diamond expert Thomas R. Anthony (119) in the club. Each year, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation gives approximately $170 million in grants to programs designed to improve the health and health care of Americans. The foundation's new emphasis is on gathering of health-related statistical information, policy analysis, and epidemiologic research, among other topics. The foundation requests a preliminary letter of inquiry before submission of a full proposal. Letters of inquiry are accepted on a continuing basis. For more information, contact the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, P.O. Box 2316, Princeton, N.J. 08543-2316. Given the chance to create the perfect dog, Cornell University parasitologists decided to produce one with fleas--thousands of them. Jay R. Georgi, an emeritus professor of parasitology at Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine, claims that the university's "Artificial Dog" can churn out about 12,000 fleas a day, the equivalent production of roughly 25 severely infested animals. Using a system of 25 tiny cages (with even smaller screens) and an alluring diet of warm cow's blood, the "dog" provides a controlled breeding ground for the pests--immensely valuable to pharmaceutical laboratories and chemical companies as testing agents and study subjects. The staff of the superconducting supercollider lab has received a Special Performance Award from the Department of Energy for exceeding goals in creating opportunities for minority- and female-owned contractors. According to Secretary of Energy James D. Watkins, the lab awarded $35 million in contracts to such companies in fiscal year 1991, exceeding its goal of $25.9 million. In the first three quarters of fiscal year 1992, the SSC has already awarded $52.2 million in contracts to "disadvantaged" firms, surpassing its $48 million annual goal. "We conduct a very aggressive outreach" to minority- and women-owned businesses, says SSC director of minority affairs James H. Richardson Gonzales, who notes that although the SSC almost lost its funding this summer, "we didn't see any significant loss of interest by vendors." The National Science Foundation has granted the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, $500,000 to create the first major oceanography exhibit in the United States. Scripps' Stephen Birch Aquarium-Museum opened the 3,700-square-foot display on September 16. Entitled "Exploring the Blue Planet," the exhibit has several sections. For example, one shows the causes of the sea's currents, tides, and waves; another demonstrates how shifts in the sea floor can result in earthquakes and volcanoes. The exhibit also includes a simulated submersible ride to show how marine life survives in the ocean environment.

Notebook

The Scientist Staff

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