Notebook

Items: The Industrial Biotechnology Association, meeting in Naples, Fla., last week, voted unanimously to merge with the Association of Biotechnology Companies to form a new group, the Biotechnology Industry Organization. According to Carl Feldbaum, the newly appointed president of BIO (Barbara Spector, The Scientist, Feb. 22, 1993, page 1), IBA's board first voted unanimously for the merger. Later in the meeting, ABC's board, also meeting in Naples, voted unanimously in favor of merging, as well. The "ayes" had it again--unanimously--when IBA's membership voted on the issue. What remains is a vote by ABC's membership, which will take place at the group's annual meeting next month. "I, frankly, didn't expect [a unanimous vote]," says Feldbaum, a former aide to Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) "I've gone through many votes in my life, and very few were unanimous." In other biotechnology news, Vol. II, Issue 1 of Your World, Our World, the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Association's magazine for junior high school students, is generating some controversy in Catholic schools because of its last page, which discusses genetic counseling and its consequences. A sentence on the page, in a section intended to stimulate discussion, reads: "If you knew you were pregnant with an afflicted child, would you want to have the baby?" Says association executive director Jeff Davidson, "We've had comments from some schools that yes, this is a helpful way to get the discussion going, but some Catholic- school teachers have said, `I had to rip off the back page.' We're not trying to be controversial; [the intent was] to ask open-ended questions and just raise the issue." Some students have responded quite positively to the magazine, Davidson says: "We got a letter from a ninth-grader who said she wanted to be a genetic counselor." The Deafness Research Foundation is taking applications for 1994 grant support of up to $15,000 for research projects directed to any aspect of the ear, including investigation of function, physiology, biochemistry, genetics, or pathology. The one-year grants, limited to tax-exempt institutions in the United States or Canada, can be competitively renewed for one or two additional years. First-year applications are due July 15; renewal applications must be postmarked by August 15. For more information, contact Wesley H. Bradley, Medical Director, The Deafness Foundation, 9 E. 38th St., New York, N.Y. 10016; (212) 684-6556, Fax: (212) 779-2125. While hardly advocating violent overthrow of the current regime, a group of Houston-based volunteers calling themselves Space Station Freedom Fighters say they are determined to save the space station from the budget-cutting clutches of unfriendly members of Congress. Begun with a small rally in Houston last summer, the grass-roots effort claims to have collected more than 10,000 signatures from 48 states on a petition aimed at convincing Congress to continue funding for the orbiting laboratory. The group has no formal organization or network, and the volunteers are from all walks of life--although a number of the organizers are part of the space station team. "I'm a Freedom fighter because I want my four children to have something to look forward to," says Dave Majchrowicz, an aerospace engineer with one of the Freedom contractors. "I'm doing this mainly for children because they will gain the most from space station Freedom in the next century." Blank copies of the petition can be obtained by sending a stamped, self-addressed envelope to Space Station Freedom Fighters, 16582 Space Center Blvd., Houston, Texas 77058. CONSTELLATION CONVENTION Stargazers of all sorts will converge on San Diego this summer for Universe '93, a national astronomy exposition and fair to be held July 10 and 11 in the Aztec Center at San Diego State University. Jointly sponsored by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific and ASTRONOMY magazine, the program will include nontechnical talks by noted professional and amateur astronomers, including astronaut Sally Ride; panels and workshops for beginners; an interactive solar system walk; and exhibits showcasing the latest in astronomical books, telescopes, computer software, and more. For information, write Summer Expo, ASP, 390 Ashton Ave., San Francisco, Calif. 94112; or call (415) 337-1100. Fax: (415) 337-5205. As of February 1, at least 14,000 pairs of eyes have been peering into the future, according to the Washington, D.C.-based National Science Teachers Association. The beginning of last month was the entry deadline for the Toshiba/NSTA ExploraVision Awards program, the association's largest science competition. According to NSTA, approximately 14,000 students in grades K-12, working in teams of four with a teacher adviser, submitted nearly 3,500 entries in the competition to predict technologies that could exist 20 years from now. The students have put their visions of the future on storyboards, with an accompanying script. By mid-March, judging panels will select 48 regional winning teams, who will each be given $500 to videotape a presentation based on their storyboards. Based on the videos, 12 national finalist teams will be selected in early May. Four of the finalist teams will be declared national winners at an awards ceremony in Washington in June, and each student on those teams will receive a $10,000 savings bond. Each student on the eight runner-up teams will receive a $5,000 savings bond. All participants will receive certificates and gifts. For more information, contact ExploraVision program manager Pamela Riley at (202) 328-5800.

Notebook

The Scientist Staff

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