Science Magazine

Primitive Organics

Tue, 26 Sep 2006 06:23:16 +0800

Interplanetary dust particles are particularly carbon rich, and are thought to have their origins outside the solar system in interstellar material andcomets.

Shuttle Service for Polymer Synthesis

Wed, 20 Sep 2006 06:13:33 +0800

In a “living” polymerization, each polymer chain grows at a steady rate from a single catalyst site. The successive removal and addition of different monomers to the reactor yields block copolymers with structurally distinct chain segments.

Texas Earmark Allots Millions to Disputed Theory of Gulf War Illness

Mon, 11 Sep 2006 06:47:19 +0800

Scientists usually bristle when U.S. legislators mandate a project that benefits their constituents.But Gulf War illness researchers are especially troubled by such a funding provision inserted by Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R–TX) in this year’s budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The $15 million earmark to the University of Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas not only avoids the traditional peerreview process, but it also marks the rare—and possibly first ever—VA funding of a program outside its research network, and to a researcher whose theory of the debilitating illness hasn’t won much scientific support.

Google Scholar, Look Out

Mon, 11 Sep 2006 06:43:01 +0800

Microsoft has debuted its answer to the literature search engine Google Scholar (NetWatch, 3 December 2004,p. 1661). Released last month as a beta version, Windows Live Academic ferrets out articles and abstracts from more than 6000 journals and conferences.

Think Globally, Conserve Locally

Sun, 10 Sep 2006 06:28:36 +0800

Insects are undoubtedly the most diverse multicellular organisms on Earth, yet our understanding of the extent of this diversity is still patchy, and to be able to predict patterns of community structure and local diversity would be important in the context of conservation.