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This article discusses issues related to plant biology. May 2003 was an up-and-down month for the scientist Daniel Klessig. On 7 May he resigned as president of the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research in Ithaca, New York, for health reasons. But 9 days later, his lab published a paper in Cell that promised to be a major advance. According to Klessig, an "absolutely critical" experiment described in the Cell paper cannot be reproduced by members of his lab, and he now considers the experiment's data to be "shaky." The initial Cell paper was considered a breakthrough because plant biologists have recently come to recognize that nitric oxide may have as many roles as a signaling molecule in plants as it does in animals, where it regulates immunity, nerve cell communication, and much more.

Bibliographic analysis has been a very powerful tool in evaluating the effective contributions of a researcher and determining his/her future research potential. The lack of an absolute quantification of the author’s scientific contributions by the existing measurement system hampers the decision-making process. In this paper, a new metric system, Absolute index (Ab-index), has been proposed that allows a more objective comparison of the contributions of a researcher. The Ab-index takes into account the impact of research findings while keeping in mind the physical and intellectual contributions of the author(s) in accomplishing the task. The Ab-index and h-index were calculated for 10 highly cited geneticists and molecular biologist and 10 young researchers of biological sciences and compared for their relationship to the researchers input as a primary author. This is the first report of a measuring method clarifying the contributions of the first author, corresponding author, and other co-authors and the sharing of credit in a logical ratio. A java application has been developed for the easy calculation of the Ab-index. It can be used as a yardstick for comparing the credibility of different scientists competing for the same resources while the Productivity index (Pr-index), which is the rate of change in the Ab-index per year, can be used for comparing scientists of different age groups. The Ab-index has clear advantage over other popular metric systems in comparing scientific credibility of young scientists. The sum of the Ab-indices earned by individual researchers of an institute per year can be referred to as Pr-index of the institute. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary  In this short paper I propose a combination of qualitative and quantitative criteria to classify the quality, talent and creative thinking of the scientists of the “hard”, medical and biological sciences. The rationale for the proposed classification is to focus on the impact and overall achievements of each individual scientist and on how he is perceived by his own community. This new method is probably more complete than any other form of traditional judgment of a scientist's achievements and reputation, and may be useful for funding agencies, editors of scientific journals, science academies, universities, and research laboratories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Encyclopedic handbooks have been household names to scientists – Gmelins Handbuch der anorganischen Chemie to chemists, Bergey’s Manual of Determinative Bacteriology to microbiologists. Their heavy tomes were consulted for reference, and their contents taken as authoritative. This paper analyses the development of this genre as well as of ‘handbook science’. Handbooks and their claim to provide comprehensive factual knowledge on a subject should be understood as a reaction to the scattering of knowledge in modern periodical print as discussed by Wilhelm Ostwald or Ludwik Fleck. A comparative analysis of the actors, the institutions and practices of compiling and editing a German and an American handbook project around mid-century reveals commonalities and differences in how twentieth-century sciences have attempted to cope with the acceleration and dispersion of knowledge generation before computing. These attempts have resulted in different conceptions of a book, from compilation to organic whole. Moreover, the handbook’s claim to comprise lasting facts makes it a fitting case in point to reflect on the temporality of knowledge and the relevance of books to the sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment () points out that using the Journal Impact Factor as a proxy measure for the value or quality of specific research and individual scientists leads to biased research assessment. How can we resist misusing metrics? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a link between social capital and the entrepreneurial activity of university scientists in the life sciences. The two main hypotheses are that social capital promotes scientist entrepreneurship and transnational social capital is conducive to scientist entrepreneurship. These hypotheses are tested using a large data base of US scientists in the life sciences. The empirical results support the two main hypotheses. Social capital in general, and transnational social capital in particular, are found to enhance scientist entrepreneurship in the life sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has considerable interest in bringing low/middle-income countries (LMIC) scientists into discussions on Open Data - both as contributors and users. The establishment of in situ data sharing practices within LMIC research institutions is vital for the development of an Open Data landscape in the Global South. Nonetheless, many LMICs have significant challenges - resource provision, research support and extra-laboratory infrastructures. These low-resourced environments shape data sharing activities, but are rarely examined within Open Data discourse. In particular, little attention is given to how these research environments shape scientists' perceptions of data sharing (dis)incentives. This paper expands on these issues of incentivizing data sharing, using data from a quantitative survey disseminated to life scientists in 13 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. This interrogated not only perceptions of data sharing amongst LMIC scientists, but also how these are connected to the research environments and daily challenges experienced by them. The paper offers a series of analysis around commonly cited (dis)incentives such as data sharing as a means of improving research visibility; sharing and funding; and online connectivity. It identifies key areas that the Open Data community need to consider if true openness in research is to be established in the Global South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the infamous case of Hwang Woo Suk, the South-Korean national hero and once celebrated pioneer of stem cell research. After briefly discussing the evolution of his publication and research scandal in Science, I will attempt to outline the main reactions that emerged within scientific and bioethical discourses on the problem of research misconduct in contemporary biosciences. What were the ethical lapses in his research? What kind of research misconduct has been identified? How this kind of misconduct affects scientific integrity? How to avoid it? Focusing on these questions, the paper interprets the Hwang’s case as a case study that might shed light on the worst aspects of highstakes global science. This case presents a group of problems that might endanger scientific integrity and public trust. Regulatory oversight, ethical requirements and institutional safeguards are often viewed by the scientific community as merely decelerating scientific progress and causing delays in the application of treatments. The Hwang’s case represents how unimpeded progress works in contemporary science. Thus, the case might shed light on the often neglected benefits of “the social control of science”. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents news briefs related to the receipt of various awards by members of the American Institute of Biological Sciences as of January 1, 1989. Recipients of honors from the Botanical Society of America; Receipt of the Darbaker Prize by David Garbary of Saint Francis Xavier University; Receipt of the Jesse M. Greenman Award of the Missouri Botanical Garden by John H. Wiersema of the University of Maryland; Others.

The article offers information to biologists who wish to submit their papers to the journal "Nature." The journal aspires to publish papers that are not only interesting and thought-provoking, but reproducible and useful. To be published, materials and reagents need to be carefully described and readily available to interested scientists.

An interview with Christoph Johann, global product manager at Wyatt Technologies, is presented. Topics discussed include Wyatt's history with field-flow fractionation (FFF) products and methods, what the technology means for the company, and his expectations for FFF. Also mentioned are the benefits of coupling light scattering online, the role of FFF in the pharmaceutical industry, and its acceptance by regulatory agencies.

This paper considers the role of the Academy of Sciences in the formation and development of space physiology. Academicians M.V. Keldysh, N.M. Sisakian, L.A. Orbeli, V.N. Chernigovsky, A.V. Lebedinsky, V.V. Parin, O.G. Gazenko, A.I. Grigoryev, and other famous Russian scientists made a significant contribution to research in the field of space life sciences. Their active participation in studies allowed manned spaceflights to be carried out. The accumulated experience of traditional physiology made it possible to solve the fundamental problems of new scientific areas related to the presence of man in space. The Institute of Biomedical Problems, which in its activities has always relied on cooperation with many institutes of the Academy of Sciences, has made a significant contribution to the development of space physiology and related sciences, which made our country one of the leaders in manned astronautics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents news briefs related to life sciences. Botanist Henry Marc Cathey has been named director of the U.S. National Arboretum in Washington, D.C. The Eastern Spruce Budworm Research Work Conference invites papers for presentation during its seven sessions scheduled for the week of January 4, 1982, at the University of Maine, Orono. The American Oil Chemists' Society has given its Alton E. Bailey Award to Hans Kaunitz.

Intellectual history still quite commonly distinguishes between the episode we know as the Scientific Revolution, and its successor era, the Enlightenment, in terms of the calculatory and quantifying zeal of the former—the age of mechanics—and the rather scientifically lackadaisical mood of the latter, more concerned with freedom, public space and aesthetics. It is possible to challenge this distinction in a variety of ways, but the approach I examine here, in which the focus on an emerging scientific field or cluster of disciplines—the 'life sciences', particularly natural history, medicine, and physiology (for 'biology' does not make an appearance at least under this name or definition until the late 1790s)—is, not Romantically anti-scientific, but resolutely anti-mathematical. Diderot bluntly states, in his Thoughts on the interpretation of nature (1753), that "We are on the verge of a great revolution in the sciences. Given the taste people seem to have for morals, belles-lettres, the history of nature and experimental physics, I dare say that before a hundred years, there will not be more than three great geometricians remaining in Europe. The science will stop short where the Bernoullis, the Eulers, the Maupertuis, the Clairauts, the Fontaines and the D'Alemberts will have left it.... We will not go beyond." Similarly, Buffon in the first discourse of his Histoire naturelle (1749) speaks of the "over-reliance on mathematical sciences," given that mathematical truths are merely "definitional" and "demonstrative," and thereby "abstract, intellectual and arbitrary." Earlier in the Thoughts, Diderot judges "the thing of the mathematician" to have "as little existence in nature as that of the gambler." Significantly, this attitude—taken by great scientists who also translated Newton (Buffon) or wrote careful papers on probability theory (Diderot), as well as by others such as Mandeville—participates in the effort to conceptualize what we might call a new ontology for the emerging life sciences, very different from both the 'iatromechanism' and the 'animism' of earlier generations, which either failed to account for specifically living, goal-directed features of organisms, or accounted for them in supernaturalistic terms by appealing to an 'anima' as explanatory principle. Anti-mathematicism here is then a key component of a naturalistic, open-ended project to give a successful reductionist model of explanation in 'natural history' (one is tempted to say 'biology'), a model which is no more vitalist than it is materialist—but which is fairly far removed from early modern mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary health challenges (e.g., diabetes, climate change, antimicrobial resistance) are underpinned by complex interrelationships between behavioural, cultural, social, environmental and biological processes. Current experimental systems are only partially relevant to the problems they investigate, but aspirations to embed interdisciplinary working and community engagement into life scientists' work in response to this partiality have proven difficult in practice. This paper explores one UK university-based life sciences research initiative as it seeks to develop modes of working which respond to this complexity. Drawing on 'liminal hotspots' as a sensitising concept, we explore how participating academics articulate complex problems, knowledge-making, interdisciplinary working and community engagement. Our analysis shows they become recurrently 'trapped' (institutionally and epistemologically) between fixed/universalised cosmologies of biology/disease, and more contemporary cosmologies in which biology and disease are conceptualised as situated and evolving. Adopting approaches to community organising based on 'process pragmatism', we propose ways in which life scientists might radically reorganise their practice and move beyond current limiting enactments of interdisciplinary and community engaged working. In doing so, we claim that the relevance and 'humanness' of life science research will be increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Berichte zur Wissenschafts-Geschichte is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The life sciences are increasingly being called on to produce 'socially robust' knowledge that honors the social contract between science and society. This has resulted in the emergence of a number of 'broad social issues' that reflect the ethical tensions in these social contracts. These issues are framed in a variety of ways around the world, evidenced by differences in regulations addressing them. It is important to question whether these variations are simply regulatory variations or in fact reflect a contextual approach to ethics that brings into question the existence of a system of 'global scientific ethics'. Nonetheless, within ethics education for scientists these broad social issues are often presented using this scheme of global ethics due to legacies of science ethics pedagogy. This paper suggests this may present barriers to fostering international discourse between communities of scientists, and may cause difficulties in harmonizing (and transporting) national regulations for the governance of these issues. Reinterpreting these variations according to how the content of ethical principles is attributed by communities is proposed as crucial for developing a robust international discourse. To illustrate this, the paper offers some empirical fieldwork data that considers how the concept of dual-use (as a broad social issue) was discussed within African and UK laboratories. Demonstrating that African scientists reshaped the concept of dual-use according to their own research environmental pressures and ascribed alternative content to the principles that underpin it, suggests that the limitations of a 'global scientific ethics' system for these issues cannot be ignored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Oltenia, Studii si Comunicari Seria Stiintele Naturii is the property of Museum of Oltenia Craiova and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Data, including information generated from them by processing and analysis, are an asset with measurable value. The assets that biological research funding produces are the data generated, the information derived from these data, and, ultimately, the discoveries and knowledge these lead to. From the time when Henry Oldenburg published the first scientific journal in 1665 (Proceedings of the Royal Society) to the founding of the United States National Library of Medicine in 1879 to the present, there has been a sustained drive to improve how researchers can record and discover what is known. Researchers’ experimental work builds upon years and (collectively) billions of dollars’ worth of earlier work. Today, researchers are generating data at ever-faster rates because of advances in instrumentation and technology, coupled with decreases in production costs. Unfortunately, the ability of researchers to manage and disseminate their results has not kept pace, so their work cannot achieve its maximal impact. Strides have recently been made, but more awareness is needed of the essential role that biological data resources, including biocuration, play in maintaining and linking this ever-growing flood of data and information. The aim of this paper is to describe the nature of data as an asset, the role biocurators play in increasing its value, and consistent, practical means to measure effectiveness that can guide planning and justify costs in biological research information resources’ development and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Provides briefs related to people who are involved in the field of life science and the various places where they study. How Alvin W. Trivelpiece has succeeded William D. Carey as executive officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; Launch of a series of special events by the Pasteur Institute in Paris, France to celebrate its 100th anniversary; Collaboration between the National Geographic Society in Washington, D.C. and the Technical Education Research Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Others.

Using Mendel's laws as a case in point, the purpose of this paper is to bring historical and philosophical perspectives together to help students understand science as a human endeavor. Three questions as addressed: (1) how did the Mendelian scheme, principles, or facts become labeled as laws, (2) to what extent do Mendel's laws exhibit characteristics of scientific laws, and (3) what are the implications for biology education. This paper argues that adding historical details about Mendel's successors and their actions at the time, coupled with explicit consideration of the particular nature of biological laws can provide educators and learners a more comprehensive account for understanding Mendel's laws, their explanatory and predictive functions, as well as the social context that facilitated their appropriation by the wider scientific community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Their Own Words chronicles the stories of scientists who have made great contributions to their fields, particularly within the biological sciences. These short oral histories provide our readers a way to learn from and share their experiences. Each month, we will publish in the pages of BioScience and on our podcast, BioScience Talks (http://bioscienceaibs.libsyn.com), the results of these conversations. This oral history is with Dr. Gene E. Likens, emeritus president of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies and a distinguished professor at the University of Connecticut. He also served as president of the American Institute of Biological Sciences. Note: Both the text and audio versions have been edited for clarity and length. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2011, for the first time ever, two scientific journals were asked not to publish research papers in full detail. The research in question was on the H5N1 influenza virus (bird flu), and the concern was that the expected public health benefits of disseminating the findings did not outweigh the potential harm should the knowledge be misused for malicious purposes. This constraint raises important ethical concerns as it collides with scientific freedom and openness. In this article, we argue that constraining the dissemination of dual-use knowledge can in certain cases be justified because, for example: scientists have a responsibility for potentially harmful consequences of their research; the public need not always know of all scientific discoveries; uncertainty about the risks of harm may warrant precaution; and expected benefits do not always outweigh potential harm. However, the constraints in question are not absolute but can be both temporary and partial. We propose three core aspects for an ethics of dual-use dissemination: dual-use awareness, precaution, and acknowledgment of conflicting values. Additionally, to help scientists understand when constraints on dissemination may be justified we suggest three corresponding conditions that prompt scientists to recognize dual-use material or research, consider the potential impact of dual-use knowledge dissemination, and acknowledge and respond to external dissemination concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper explores scientists' perspectives on the possible 'unintended effects' of university patenting on the definition of academic research agendas, and the norms of open science. Based on a survey of life science researchers in Denmark, we found that a substantial proportion of scientists were skeptical about the impact of university patenting. The most skeptical respondents were scientists oriented towards basic research (particularly the less productive ones), recipients of research council grants, scientists with close relations to industry, and full professors. Highly productive scientists were less concerned. Our results have implications for understanding the ultimate success or failure of academic patenting policies, including how increased university patenting may be affecting how scientists conduct academic research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the novel Racists by Kunal Basu (2006), two competing scientists initiate an experiment that they believe will prove which race is superior. The research subjects, one white and one black infant, are sequestered on an isolated island in the care of a mute nurse. The contest must be waged in a ‘natural laboratory’ with no artificial interventions and with the prospect that one will die at the hands of the other. The politics of empire, the slave trade and the advent of a new scientific way of viewing life, Darwinism, set the stage for the fictional experiment, but the ramifications of such thinking extend into the present. Coming from the disciplines of nursing, philosophy and science, we discuss how a novel can illuminate the moral dimensions of science and healthcare. The critical distance afforded by the novel provides a rich terrain for the examination of issues such as race, care and the purity of science. Despite the recent dominance of social explanations of race, science requires the examination of the differences between human beings at the biological level. The view that biology is destiny is a powerful one with dangerous consequences, especially since the belief that certain human beings' destinies are far worthier than others is a corollary of such a view. In this paper, we present the cross-disciplinary conversation, which has been facilitated by this novel. We hope this will inform ethics educators of the rich potential of using fiction as a pedagogical tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper provides some empirical evidence of the effectiveness of the “open innovation” model in the life science cluster of Emilia Romagna (a region of Italy), comparing the network of R&D collaborative activities in public research organizations (PROs) and the network linked to R&D collaborative activities in private firms. By presenting the main results of a field research in the life science sector in Emilia Romagna, we are contributing to the recent debate focused on the crises of the old “closed innovation” model and the rise of the “open innovation” model. Our survey consists of both primary data deriving from face-to-face interviews with researchers and entrepreneurs, and secondary data extracted from the Internet, the PubMed database, and from the European Patent Office. Our work is based on the analysis of a representative sample of 30 research groups in PROs, 2173 scientific articles published by the interviewed scientists, and a representative sample of 78 private firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding potential genetic factors in disease or development of personalised e-Health solutions require scientists to access a multitude of data and compute resources across the Internet from functional genomics resources through to epidemiological studies. The Grid paradigm provides a compelling model whereby seamless access to these resources can be achieved. However, the acceptance of Grid technologies in this domain by researchers and resource owners must satisfy particular constraints from this community — two of the most critical of these constraints being advanced security and usability. In this paper we show how the Internet2 Shibboleth technology combined with advanced authorisation infrastructures can help address these constraints. We demonstrate the viability of this approach through a selection of case studies across the complete life science spectrum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A sound epistemological foundation for biological inquiry comes, in part, from application of valid statistical procedures. This tenet is widely appreciated by scientists studying the new realm of high-dimensional biology, or 'omic' research, which involves multiplicity at unprecedented scales. Many papers aimed at the high-dimensional biology community describe the development or application of statistical techniques. The validity of many of these is questionable, and a shared understanding about the epistemological foundations of the statistical methods themselves seems to be lacking. Here we offer a framework in which the epistemological foundation of proposed statistical methods can be evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The misuse of scientific names for species of organisms is a widespread and long-standing academic phenomenon; however, its negative impacts to scientific community and the public have been largely overlooked all along. Here we exemplified two research cases in seaweeds to highlight the extent and dimension of misused scientific names of species in bioscience, and present a few feasible measurements to rectify such a situation. Our ultimate goal is to create a discussion platform and to draw deserved attention of scientific name to taxonomy-related scientists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This publication details the workplan of the Science Project (SP) “COVID-19 metadata findability and interoperability in EOSC” (short: META-COVID) that is part of the Horizon Europe funded project EOSC Future. The COVID-19 pandemic has generated a huge variety of research activities, studies, and policies across both the life sciences (LS) and the social sciences and humanities (SSH). Useful insights from combining the data and conclusions from these different forms of research are, however, hampered by the lack of a common metadata framework with which to describe them. This is because different scientific disciplines have different ways of organising research activities. For example, the type of the research (e.g., hypothesis testing versus hypothesis generating) and the methodology chosen (e.g., experimental, survey, cohort, case study) are key elements in understanding the data generated and in supporting its secondary use. Another issue to be tackled is the integration of various sources of metadata related to parliamentary and social media metadata. In META-COVID, scientists from the LS and SSH domains gathered to discuss ways in which metadata could go beyond the description of the data itself to include the basic elements of the research process (“contextual metadata”) within the frame of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC). The main outcomes of the SP will be: i) An inventory of metadata schemas applied across infrastructures and domains; ii) The development of a framework for a metadata model characterising the research approach and workflow across research infrastructures; iii) The application of the framework to selected COVID-19 use cases; iv) The development of an ontology of COVID-19 related topics from parliamentary data and social media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers tips for students to complete a graduate degree in biological sciences in Latin America. Topics discussed include the features that underlie the performance of graduate programs around the world, the importance of investigating the graduate program and the adviser, scholarship programs for graduate students, and the need to follow administrative procedures from admission to graduation.

The author reflects on the 11th European Conference on Computational Biology that was held from 9 to 12 September, 2012 in Switzerland. They discuss the highlights of the conference that features scientists from various disciplines including bioinformatics, computational biology and systems biology. An overview of the workshops, tutorials and meetings that covers computational methods for analysis of data in the life sciences is also included.

In order to address this subject further and to assess progress in the examination of animal origins and transitions, an international group of scientists was convened at the Society for Comparative Biology meeting in January 2007. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The viability of modern open science norms and practices depends on public disclosure of new knowledge, methods, and materials. However, increasing industry funding of research can restrict the dissemination of results and materials. We show, through a survey sample of 837 German scientists in life sciences, natural sciences, engineering, and social sciences, that scientists who receive industry funding are twice as likely to deny requests for research inputs as those who do not. Receiving external funding in general does not affect denying others access. Scientists who receive external funding of any kind are, however, 50 % more likely to be denied access to research materials by others, but this is not affected by being funded specifically by industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrative systems biology (ISB) is among the most innovative fields of contemporary science, bringing together scientists from a range of diverse backgrounds and disciplines to tackle biological complexity through computational and mathematical modeling. The result is a plethora of problem-solving techniques, theoretical perspectives, lab-structures and organizations, and identity labels that have made it difficult for commentators to pin down precisely what systems biology is, philosophically or sociologically. In this paper, through the ethnographic investigation of two ISB laboratories, we explore the particular structural features of ISB thinking and organization and its relations to other disciplines that necessitate cognitive innovation at all levels from lab PI's to individual researchers. We find that systems biologists face numerous constraints that make the production of models far from straight-forward, while at the same time they inhabit largely unstructured task environments in comparison to other fields. We refer to these environments as adaptive problem spaces. These environments they handle by relying substantially on the flexibility and affordances of model-based reasoning to integrate these various constraints and find novel adaptive solutions. Ultimately what is driving this innovation is a determination to construct new cognitive niches in the form of functional model building frameworks that integrate systems biology within the biological sciences. The result is an industry of diverse and different innovative practices and solutions to the problem of modeling complex, large-scale biological systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the impact of information technology (IT) on productivity and collaboration patterns in academe. Our data combine information on the diffusion of two noteworthy innovations in IT—BITNET and the Domain Name System (DNS)—with career-history data on research-active life scientists. We analyzed a random sample of 3,114 research-active life scientists from 314 U.S. institutions over a 25-year period and find that the availability of BITNET on a scientist’s campus has a positive effect on his or her productivity and collaborative network. Our findings also support the hypothesis of a differential effect of IT across subgroups of the scientific labor force. Women scientists and those working at nonelite institutions benefit more from the availability of IT in terms of overall research output and an increase in the number of new coauthors they work with than do men or individuals at elite institutions. These results suggest that IT is an equalizing force, providing a greater boost to productivity and more collaboration opportunities for scientists who are more marginally positioned in academe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We estimate the magnitude of spillovers generated by 112 academic "superstars" who died prematurely and unexpectedly, thus providing an exogenous source of variation in the structure of their collaborators' coauthorship networks. Following the death of a superstar, we find that collaborators experience, on average, a lasting 5% to 8% decline in their quality-adjusted publication rates. By exploring interactions of the treatment effect with a variety of star, coauthor, and star/coauthor dyad characteristics, we seek to adjudicate between plausible mechanisms that might explain this finding. Taken together, our results suggest that spillovers are circumscribed in idea space, but less so in physical or social space. In particular, superstar extinction reveals the boundaries of the scientific field to which the star contributes--the "invisible college." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the importance of publishing research papers. Challenges faced by the researcher in publishing the research; Need to convince peer reviewers of the contribution of the research to the collective knowledge; Achievement of a researcher if his or her work get published.

Abstract: New technologies are rapidly changing the way we collect, archive, analyze, and share scientific data. For example, over the next several years it is estimated that more than one billion autonomous sensors will be deployed over large spatial and temporal scales, and will gather vast quantities of data. Networks of human observers play a major role in gathering scientific data, and whether in astronomy, meteorology, or observations of nature, they continue to contribute significantly. In this paper we present an innovative use of the Internet and information technologies that better enhances the opportunity for citizens to contribute their observations to science and the conservation of bird populations. eBird is building a web-enabled community of bird watchers who collect, manage, and store their observations in a globally accessible unified database. Through its development as a tool that addresses the needs of the birding community, eBird sustains and grows participation. Birders, scientists, and conservationists are using eBird data worldwide to better understand avian biological patterns and the environmental and anthropogenic factors that influence them. Developing and shaping this network over time, eBird has created a near real-time avian data resource producing millions of observations per year. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A biography of David Dexter Perkins, senior research scientist, is presented. He was born on May 2, 1919. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Biology in 1941 at the University of Rochester in New York. He is married to Dorothy Newmeyer Perkins. Perkins pioneered the use of Neurospora as a model experimental organism for a variety of genetic, cytogenetic, and developmental studies. He died on January 2, 2007.

Scientists may seek to report a single definable body of research in more than one publication, that is, in repeated reports of the same work or in fractional reports, in order to disseminate their research as widely as possible in the scientific community. Up to now, however, it has not been examined whether this strategy of “multiple publication” in fact leads to greater reception of the research. In the present study, we investigate the influence of number of articles reporting the results of a single study on reception in the scientific community (total citation counts of an article on a single study). Our data set consists of 96 applicants for a research fellowship from the Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds (BIF), an international foundation for the promotion of basic research in biomedicine. The applicants reported to us all articles that they had published within the framework of their doctoral research projects. On this single project, the applicants had published from 1 to 16 articles (M = 4; Mdn = 3). The results of a regression model with an interaction term show that the practice of multiple publication of research study results does in fact lead to greater reception of the research (higher total citation counts) in the scientific community. However, reception is dependent upon length of article: the longer the article, the more total citation counts increase with the number of articles. Thus, it pays for scientists to practice multiple publication of study results in the form of sizable reports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports on a work which found that foreign postdoctoral programs on temporary visas were the fastest growing segment of postdoctoral fellows in life sciences. Comparison between foreign and U.S. postdoctoral programs; Increase in the number of foreign postdoctoral programs in life science between 1998 and 2002; Comments from several scientists on the shift in postdoctoral programs.

During the first years of the post-war era, many French scientists travelled in the United States. As they looked for a reference to be used in rebuilding their own scientific landscape, their diaries say as much about the rise of the American biomedical complex as they do about their perception of research in the country. In order to illustrate how the French biologists adopted, competed with, or challenged the American model and how transatlantic exchanges played a critical role in the molecularization of the life sciences, this paper presents three trajectories of laboratories. These include the services respectively led by P. Le´pine and J. Monod at the Pasteur Institute, and G. Schapira’s biochemical research unit at the Hoˆpital des Enfants Malades. The three studies document the massive transatlantic circulation of materials, techniques, instruments, and people during the scientific reconstruction. The reconstruction however produced highly differentiated characters each operating in his own niche: the biotechnological inventor, the neo-clinician, and the fundamental biologist. The comparison situates the rise of molecular biology within the context of a rapidly expanding biomedical research system. It will help in understanding how, in contrast to the American situation, a logic of “demedicalization” became in France a means for developing biology at the molecular level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a Comment on Greg Myers' paper on the writing and rewriting of patent applications by two biological scientists. It draws on data from our own study of patenting in UK public sector biosciences. While agreeing with much that Myers says, we place the issues in a wider context of developing relationships between industry and academe. The emergence of new networks blurs boundaries, and makes apparently separate arenas less distinct. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents news briefs related to people in the fields of life science as of July 1987. How Eugene P. Odum was presented with the 1987 Crafoord Prize from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences; Consideration of how Theodor O. Diener was presented with the Wofl Prize in Agriculture for 1987; Launch of a Program in BioDiversity by the National Research Council; Others.

Presents news briefs related to people and events in the bioscience field. Announcement that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has named Cletus P. Kurtzman as Scientist of the Year for its midwest region; Presentation to Charles A. Black, principal founder and executive chairman of the board of the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology, of the first Charles A. Black Award; Contract that the Conservation Foundation and the U.S. Agency for International Development have signed under which the foundation will begin operating an environmental information service for developing countries; Other news.