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Agricultural researchers at US universities claim that they are getting a raw deal from politicians in Washington compared to their colleagues in the biomedical sciences.

Washington

The Human Genome Project and Celera Genomics announce that they have compiled the ‘working draft’ of the human genome sequence.

Despite doubts in the West about GM crops, many developing countries are keen to exploit them — if they are allowed to do so at an affordable price.

washington

Tara O'Toole, the highly-rated official responsible for environment, health and safety at the US Department of Energy left Washington with a warning for scientists: engage with the communities you live in, or face oblivion.

washington

The US Department of Energy was told last week that it has not responded quickly enough to a report, which scathingly criticized the efficiency of its huge network of research laboratories.

John Peoples will retire next year as director of Fermilab, leaving it in solid shape. But with CERN expected to usurp its position at the forefront of high-energy physics, and doubts about government investment, his replacement must find a way of ensuring a secure future for the US lab.

In its pure form, maybe not. But elements of the organic philosophy are starting to be deployed in mainstream agriculture. Nature's reporters analyse this trend, assess the extent of organic farming worldwide, and frame the questions on which its wider adoption will depend.

washington

Scientific societies in the United States are increasingly concerned at a new US policy to isolate scientists from countries, including India and China, which it wishes to deny access to new technologies.

washington

President Bill Clinton has sought to bridge the chasm between two audiences for his climate change policy -- the international community and the US Senate -- by doing what he does best, and offering a vague compromise designed to appease both groups.

Signatories to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change will meet later this year to decide on targets for greenhouse gas emissions. Our correspondents in Washington, London and Tokyo report on the prospects.

NEW YORK

When delegations from 200 countries met this week to survey progress in the five years since the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, they faced a situation of growing global disarray, with inaction on key issues and divisions between and among rich and poor nations.

washington

An ambitious plan for ten regional ‘collaboratories’, each equipped with powerful nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometers, has been proposed by an informal group of US scientists.

washington

An international study which shows that American seventeen-year olds are performing poorly in mathematics and science could serve as a wake-up call to both scientists and school districts to take action to raise school standards, according to US scientific leaders.

US high-energy physicists facing deep cuts in their operating budgets have been given six months to come up with a consensus on the future direction of their $700 million research should take.

washington

A law forcing scientists to show their raw data to anyone who wants to see it could be watered down, under new proposals made by the White House.

President's call for global goal fails to impress.

philadelphia

Industrial science in the United States is enjoying a resurgence despite the demise of the corporate research laboratory, say research managers.

long island

Physicists at the Brookhaven National Laboratory last week succeeded in circulating gold ions around the first of the two underground rings of a $600 million facility built to study quark-gluon plasma.

washington

Privately-run observatories in the United States have come up with a new plan to persuade the National Science Foundation to help pay for instrumentation.

Probing parasite’s evasive tricks could herald novel anti-inflammatory compounds.

washington

A $100 million-a-year research initiative intended to ensure the future leadership of the United States in Internet technology, is getting off to a slow start.

washington

The US Environmental Protection Agency is pressing ahead with a controversial plan to screen 15,000 chemicals for their possible effect as endocrine disruptors in animals and humans.

washington

A report suggests that the US National Science Foundation should increase its annual spending on environmental research from $600 million this year to $1.6 billion in five years time.

washington & new york

Huundreds of scientists will this summer serve as mentors for inner city school teachers who will spend their long vacation discovering or re-discovering science.

Physicists have long been keen to harness the energy of thermonuclear fusion. The next planned step is a major international project to build an experimental reactor, ITER. But the project has recently been running into a quagmire of technical, economic and political uncertainties that will require all the efforts of its supporters to overcome.

washington

The US National Science Board is under fire for allegedly failing to adhere to 'sunshine laws' that are supposed to guarantee the transparency of the US government machinery.

washington

Public interest in science and technology is at an all time high in the United States, according to a study performed for the National Science Foundation.

The Canadian Institute for Advanced Research promotes excellence in research. But as a funding agreement with the government is set to expire, it must secure a firm financial base if this success is to continue.

Washington

Developing countries have called on the Consultative Group on International Agricultural to develop guidelines for the research, trial and commercialization of genetically-modified crops.

washington

Senior US officials have been asked to propose how the management and financing of synchrotron radiation sources can be adapted to cope with a growing number of biologists who want to use them.

The US Food and Drug Administration is holding public meetings to listen to critics of genetically modified food. Some fear the move may backfire.

washington

A seismic event in northern Russia last month, interpreted by White House officials as a secret nuclear weapons test, was in fact a small earthquake, according to prominent US seismologists.

washington

US president Bill Clinton has begun what he promises will be a sustained campaign to win US public support for action on climate change.