So They Say

The Tourist Trade Prince Charles to The Rescue? Conflicts of Interest In Pursuit of Truth Problems In Portugal Is Chemistry a Dirty Word? Crushing Our Conservative Shell Doing Nothing and Lying About It R.R. Was Here A Welcome and Exciting Change A Plea from Jane Goodall Superconducting Supercollider: Not a Now or Never Decision Practitioners Are Not Just Slow Scientists The Glamour Factor As I see it, enterprising scientists will have to resort to the tourist trade like everyone [in Britain]. Very soon, coachloads of lab-coated Americans will be shepherded round our benches, by a Thomas Cook's chemist. Troops of eager Japanese will file past the very site in Cambridge where Watson and Crick uncoiled the mystery of DNA, poised to photograph Grandma perched on the bench. The ordinary working of the lab must remain undisturbed, of course, so the tourism as such will have to be kept to a minimum. The real advantage in terms of finance will be the spin-off trade in souvenirs. Happy holidaymakers, fuelled with a verve for science after a visit to the labs of Britain's best researchers, are sure to want to buy something to remind them of their visit. Haunting postcards of "Fume cupboards by Bunsen light" will wing their way homewards.... Genuine Petri-dish ashtrays will turn over by the thousand. And who could resist their very own porcelain "rampant butane molecule", the ultimate talking point for drawing rooms evrywhere? --Graeme Coulam Tourism to the Rescue" New Scientist, p.68 November 26, 1987 Britain's space buffs have been disappointed that they failed to persuade the Government to increase its interest in space technology The debate was settled in resounding fashion by the [United Kingdom's) recent decision to stay on the sidelines in a series of ambitious West European projects to develop manned space vehicles by the end of the century. The rebuff has not, however, led the space community to give up its efforts to persuade anyone who will listen of the foolishness of this move, which will, so the enthusiasts argue, consign Britain to the status of a third-class power in a few decades. Now it appears the extraterrestrial lobby has a chance to put its views at a particularly high level. Prince Charles, who has become keenly interested in technological matters in recent years, has written to Roy Gibson, Britain's former top space official who resigned from his government position as a result of ministers' intransigence on the issue, asking him for a briefing on the policy debate. --"Watch This Space" Financial Times, p.27 November 25, 1987 [R]esearch fraud, although probably rare, in view of the size of the research establishment, may evade detection, and.. . there are scientists prepared to run the appreciable risk of submitting inaccurate statements for publication. Sophisticated dishonesty can escape detection by peer review and replication. The emphasis on competition and the pressure to produce, while intended to advance the discovery of truth, may foster a conflict between personal career goals and the intellectual motivation of scientists to seek the truth. The scientific community needs to address the issues raised by recent reports of fraud. Each institution' and granting agency must have procedures for investigating suspected fraud or unethical practices, procedures that protect both the person who reports such practices and the accused person from premature disclosure. As we heighten awareness, we must avoid a "witch hunt." Deterrence of research fraud is clearly needed, but institution of practices that might, stifle originality or discourage cooperative research would be counterproductive. --R.L. Engler ,J.W. Covell, P.J. Friedman, P.S. Kitcher and R.M. Peters "Misrepresentation and Responsibility in Research" The New England Journal of Medicine, p. 1383 November 26, 1987 Self-deception might be remedied by reforms in the peer review process.... At the funding stage, prejudices about theories might be lessened if reviewers financed some researchers without considering their proposed work. They might consider the scientist's records instead.... Another anidote would be to have reviewers sign their evaluations, so that they would have to stand by their critiques. Of course, there is the danger that reviewers would then accept everything, fearing that anyone they rejected would reject them later. To protect against that, the author could be told who the reviewers were-so obvious ringers could be spotted-but not which way they voted. --Daniel Goleman "Failing to Recognize Bias in Science" Technology Review, p. 27 November/December 1987 "In recent decades, under a police regime," [Portugal's President Mario Soares] said, "our scientists and universities were viewed with suspicion. Young people had little liking for the regime, and the regime had little liking for them. Students and scientists were imprisoned, and many scientists were expelled from the university and obliged to leave the country." Those scientists... ennched scientific centers abroad when we needed them so badly." But today, when Portugal may need scientists and other highly educated researchers more than ever, low pay and uneven personnel policies in the universities are discouraging people from taking full-time academic positions. --Jane Monahan "Portugal Faces Challenge of Expanding Research and Access to Universities" The Chronicle of Higher Education, p. A32 December 9, 1987 When Rodney Dangerfield says, " don't get any respect!" one might be led to suspect he is a chemist. In large part as a result of media presentations, the American public has come to equate "chemicals" with "pollution" and sees "drugs" as those substances that are sold on dark street corners. In contrast, the extensive benefits that mankind garners from the work of chemists is increasingly credited to "material scientists," "biotechnologists," and "the marvels of engineering." It seems clear that chemistry is becoming a dirty word. A representative of one of our major chemical companies was recently heard to say: "We no longer employ chemists. We employ scientists." --Paul G. Gassman ACS Comment: "Will 'Chemistry' Exist in the Future?" Chemical&Engineering News, p. 5 December 14, 1987 Let's face it. Much of the published literature is boring. To a large extent, it confirms preconceptions. Occasionally, new ideas or innovative experimental designs and technologies do surface, but far too often the published literature contains only ideas conceived years We suggest the creation of a new section to journal articles. It could be called "Speculation." We envision this section, following the critical discussion, would be succinct, perhaps no longer than the abstract. Here the authors would consider what the data might mean in a broad context and suggest fruitful avenues of research based on their gut-feelings about the work. We do not see this section as an optional extended discussion or summary, but rather a thoughtful, critical requirement for all manuscripts. Such a requirement might even allow the scientific community to come out of its conservative shell and express creativity within the written text. --Stephen B. Brandt and Michael E. McDonald "Homage to Speculation: Putting Fun Back into Science" BioScience, p. 771 December 1987 [The AIDS) virus was not difficult to find. It did not take any laboratory longer than seven months to find this virus. The National Cancer Institute did not begin its search for the AIDS virus in earnest until April11, 1983, and this is the account of the NCI chieftains themselves. I'm not some gay activist who's making wild assertions. What I show, again and again, is that at every step of this epidemic since 1981 the administration's own doctors and own experts were pleading for funds and the administration ignored them. Not only that, then they'd go public and tell everybody that they were giving the researchers all the resources they needed. Therefore, I think the policy of the Reagan administration on AIDS could be summed up in one sentence: They did the least they possibly could do and then they lied about it. --Randy Shilts Author of And the Band Played On (St. Martin's Press, 1987) in an interview with Margaret Engel "AIDS and Prejudice: One Reporter's Account of the Nation's Response" Washington Post Health, p.10 December 1, 1987 President Reagan got some hands-on experience in Strategic Defense Initiative technology last week during his Denver visit to Martin Marietta, where he operated a medical, free-electron, laser device. The President used it to brand his initials on a grapefruit, following in the footsteps of Vice President George Bush, who earlier became the first top Administration official to monogram fruit with SDI technology. The night before Reagan's visit, Secret Service agents replaced the original laser target-an orange-with the grapefruit, affording the President a little bigger target. --"Washington Roundup" Aviation Week&Space Technology, p. 15 November 30, 1987 Arms control and prospective cuts in the defense budget are no threat to defense-related industries, the chief executive officer and chair man of the board of Hughes Air craft Corp. said at Stanford [University] Dec. 4 during a panel discussion on "Security, Stability, and Deep Cuts." Albert Wheelon, CEO at Hughes, got the biggest round of applause of the afternoon when he said that arms control "is a far more urgent matter than employment in the defense industry in this country." "But I think American technology has plenty of other things to do. A substantial part of our work(at Hughes) in recent years has gone into building most of the world's telecommunications satellites, and that didn't seem to hurt anyone very much. As a matter of Fact, it promotes understanding." "And that technology is a good deal more exciting to the young scientists and engineers working on conventional tactical weapons systems. So I think most thoughtful young people would welcome the change, not worry about it." --Mary Ann Seawell Stanford University News Press Release: "Hope for Arms Control Lies in Political Realm, Panelists Say" December 7, 1987 Many of the scientists believe that a bleak, sterile, and restricting environment is necessary for their [animal] research. The cages must be small, the scientists maintain, because otherwise it is too difficult to treat the chimpanzees-to inject them, to draw their blood, or to anesthetize them. Moreover, they are less likely to hurt themselves in small cages. The cages must also be barren, with no bedding or toys, say the scientists. This way, the chimpanzees are less likely to pick up diseases or parasites. Also, if things are lying about, the cages are harder to clean. And the chimpanzees must be kept in isolation, the scientists believe, to avoid the risk of cross-infection. Finally, of course, bigger cages, social groups, and elaborate furnishings require more space, more caretakers-and more money. Perhaps, then, if we are to believe these researchers, it is not possible to improve conditions for chimpanzees imprisoned in biomedical research laboratories. I believe not only that it is possible, but that improvements are absolutely necessary. If we do not do something to help these creatures, we make a mockery of the whole concept of justice. -Jane Goodall "A Plea for the Chimpanzees" American Scientist, pp. 576-77 November-December 1987 The best way to limit the cost of the 550 [Superconducting Supercollider] to the United States is to entice other nations to contribute. Yet DOE [Department of Energy] seems singularly unenthusiastic about this prospect. The reasons for this are unclear.... In real dollars, the budget is not going to be growing over the next several years. This money is going to come at the expense of some other program. So where does this leave me? First, I, along with some colleagues, must continue to push DOE to begin immediately to solicit contributions from other countries. Second, we must remember that the SSC is not a "now or never" decision. Delaying or slowing construction is as likely to protect as to damage American science. A delay may also give us more time to generate public support for the SSC as a science project instead of a construction project. --Rep Sherwood Boehlert Speech at SSC Conference sponsored by the American Physical Society's Division of Particle Physics Denver. Colorado December 4, 1987 The first step in conceptualization the relationship between science and practice should be to reject the idea that practitioners are merely slow scientists. Just as science is not practice, practice is not merely applied science. Different purpose lead to different activities, associations, information, and codes of behavior. The goal of biomedical research is the advancement of knowledge. Professional subscribers share a universal language an universal criteria for scientific judgment. The process of scientific discovery is continuous, and conclusions always remain tentative Scientific norms concern knowledge and do not deal directly with practical outcomes risk is not central concern. In contrast, the goal of practice is healing, it is particular and local in its nature.... --Anne Lennarson Greer ";The Two Cultures of Biomedicine: Can There Be Consensus?," JAMA, p. 2739 November 20, 1987 We should .. . do something to make science more glamorous. The whole problem of promoting science has been faced by other countries, at other times, and the answer has usually been found-successfully-in the creation of new institutions. Already in the 18th century, for instance, the French knew that they were falling behind, but their universities, then as now, were a mess. They set up grandes écoles, still efficient, for the creation of engineers. These were run by the army, graduates wearing natty uniforms and regarded, then as now, as the best products of the system. Excellent graduates went into these institutions, were well paid, well taught and highly regarded. Is there not a case for us to take one or two of the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge and turn them into grandes écoles of this kind? --Norman Stone The Sunday Times, p. 38 November 29, 1987

So They Say

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