Notebook

Gold in That Thar Crater Where Credits Are Due Garden of E-Mail WHI Expands Survival Center Power Lines Bibliographers' Competition Date: November 14, 1994, pp.25 In today's overpublished research environment, what kind of work captures the world's attention? Los Alamos National Laboratory geologist Fraser Goff has an answer. Last month, at the Geological Society of America's annual meeting in Seattle, he presented a paper reporting that the Galeras volcano in Colombia releases gold into the atmosphere during eruptive episodes. While gold, silver, and platinum are commonly present in rocks from eruptions of extinct volcanoes, Goff explains, "here was an example where we actually found it in a live volcano." His report has "generated a lot more interest than I was expecting," says Goff, who was attending a conference in Colombia in January 1993 when the eruption occurred, killing nine people, six of whom were scientists. "Reporters from Spanish-language papers asked me questions like: Have I staked it?" For enterprising souls who think they can "run around with baskets, collecting nuggets," Goff adds a note of realism: The volcanic eruptions distribute the gold into the atmosphere; "you'll never find it." (The Scientist, Vol:8, #22, pg.4, November 14, 1994) (Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.) The University of California, San Diego, bioengineering program is finally getting accreditation to go along with the respect it's acquired over the past 28 years. UC-San Diego has designated bioengineering a separate department in the School of Engineering, joining the existing departments of electrical engineering, computer science and engineering, and applied mechanics and electrical sciences. The program was ranked fifth best in the United States this year in a recent survey of engineering school deans conducted by U.S. News and World Report (March 21, 1994). The new department will be chaired by Shu Chien, director of the school's Institute for Biomedical Engineering. Armed with a $3 million grant from the nonprofit Whitaker Foundation, the department intends to eventually increase its present faculty of eight professors by seven, beef up its core facilities, and establish graduate and postdoctoral fellowships. The new department offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in two major areas: bioengineering and premed biomedical engineering. For more information, contact Chien at (619) 5345195. (The Scientist, Vol:8, #22, pg.4, November 14, 1994) (Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.) The 250,000-volume library of the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx has made its complete catalog available on the Internet. CATALPA--which stands for Catalog for Library Public Access and is also the name of a genus of American and Asiatic trees of the trumpet-creeper family--is fully searchable by author, title, subject, call number, keywords, corporate entry, or contents notes. According to library officials, the garden is the first major botanical institution to make its entire library (The Scientist, Vol:8, #22, pg.4, November 14, 1994) (Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.) The National Institutes of Health has added 24 new centers to the existing 16 participating in the $628 million, 15-year Women's Health Initiative (WHI), conducting research on the chronic diseases that affect women, such as various cancers, heart disease, and osteoporosis. The study targets postmenopausal women, aged 50 to 79, and follows them for at least three years. Thus far, according to Ruth Kirschstein, NIH deputy director, the centers have carried out more than 52,000 screening visits since the original sites were announced last year. (The Scientist, Vol:8, #22, pg.4, November 14, 1994) (Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.) The situation for the Earth's species, scientists warn, is precarious. Biologists predict that humans may cause as many as 500,000 to 1 million species to be lost in the next 20 years. But from deep within the concrete environs of New York City, five local institutions are collaborating to study and help preserve the world's disintegrating species. Columbia University, the American Museum of Natural History, the New York Botanical Garden, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and Wildlife Preservation Trust International have established the Center for Environmental Research and Conservation (CERC) with the help of a $6 million grant from the Netherlands-based V. Kann Rasmussen Foundation, and $3 million more from Columbia, where the center will be headquartered. Much of the research will be conducted in 12 remote study centers to be established in Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia, and Africa. The center will create interdisciplinary research groups that will propose strategies to manage habitats and bring back endangered species, as well as study the effects of such policies on humans. Another important goal will be to train future generations of scientists and policymakers. For information, contact Robert Nelson at Columbia, (212) 854- 5573. (The Scientist, Vol:8, #22, pg.4, November 14, 1994) (Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.) The Department of Energy recently moved to make more comprehensive information from its national laboratories and other facilities accessible online. Taking advantage of an increasingly popular free Internet navigational and search program, or "browser," called Mosaic, DOE provides a single point of access to agency-wide resources through the program's "home page" feature. Included are various news and program announcements, as well as appropriate agency contacts for further information. The electronic address for DOE's home page is http://www.doe.gov. (The Scientist, Vol:8, #22, pg.4, November 14, 1994) (Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.) Every scientist knows it pays to keep up with the literature, but a prize awarded every two years recognizes individuals who do so with conscientiousness and innovation. The Oberly Award for Bibliography in Agricultural Sciences is granted in odd numbered years for the best English-language bibliography in the field of agriculture or a related science compiled during the two-year period preceding the year in which the award is made. Winners receive a cash award (which varies) and a citation. The deadline for nominations is December 1. Nominations should be sent to: Oberly Jury Chair, Mike Haddock, Farrell Library, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kan. 66506.

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