Retin-A, the acne drug that is prescribed for wrinkles, has also smoothed the future for the University of Pennsylvania’s dermatology department. The drug’s inventor and patent holder, longtime Penn dermatologist Albert Kligman, 71, has been donating his royalties to the department. The money, $4 million so far and climbing fast, frees the department from the hypocrisy” of grant-getting, says Kligman, and has been used to recruit faculty, buy equipment, and fund research.

University Space Centers Taking Off

NASA has just selected 10 universities (see table) to be University Space Engineering Research Centers. The schools, whose research will include planning missions to Mars and studying rocks from space, are eligible to receive up to $500,000 for the coming year. NASA expects to add about 11 more universities to the program in the next few years.

Purdue University and the University of Notre Dame have established the Indiana Center for Innovative Superconductor...

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