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Assesses the way Caltech handled two apparently unrelated cases of alleged scientific research fraud in the lab of biologist Leroy Hood. Comparisons to how the so-called Baltimore scientific fraud case was handled; Apparently falsified research paper figure of two research postdocs, Vipin Kumar and James Urban; Kumar's defense of his actions; Hood's decision to notify various agencies and universities involved with Kumar; Lingering concerns about Caltech's handling of cases.

The reports that the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science's (AAAS) Pacific Division would be held from June 10 to 15, 1984 at the San Francisco State University in San Francisco, California. Among the symposia to be featured at the June meeting will be those on El Nino, Sexual Differentiation in the Brain, Chinese Medicine, Human Origins, and Biotechnology. Contributed papers are welcome on topics in any of the diverse sciences represented in the Division. AAAS members living in the area served by the Division should have received a copy of the preliminary announcement with the call for papers, housing information, and registration forms.

A husband-wife ecologist team of David and Deborah Clark's 20-year study of tropical rainforests yielded a wealth of insights that suggests that global warming could be worse than expected.In a paper published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the Clarks and atmospheric scientists Charles D. Keeling and Stephen Piper of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California, report that in hot years, the trees at La Selva grow less and the world's tropics emit lots of carbon dioxide. The Clarks were absolutely essential to making La Selva one of the world's top tropical forest research and education sites, says botanist Donald Stone, a longtime OTS director and professor emeritus at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. The Clarks focused their research on the demographics of La Selva's more than 300 tree species, only three of which had been studied in detail.

Describes the work of three US Geological Survey seismologists in California, who have recently published a paper forecasting an earthquake of magnitude 5.5 to 6 on the Calaveras fault near San Jose, California in the next few years. Fault's past behavior.

This article profiles Nick Cozzarelli, who served the U.S. National Academies for more than a decade as editor in chief of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. During that time he turned the journal around and it was not an easy task. When Nick came aboard in 1995, members of the Academy were fond of their ability to sponsor papers for colleagues or to get their own published and some objected to the institution of more formal and rigorous peer review. Nick came to his editorial job during a distinguished scientific career in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California, Berkeley, California. He managed to combine those commitments in a way that was continuously productive on both fronts, a source of admiration for those who try these things only one at a time.

The article reports that as electronic devices shrink toward paper-thinness, researchers and companies around the globe are scrambling to come up with novel materials and designs for two-dimensional batteries to power them. Like their 3D cousins, so-called flat batteries convert chemical energy to electricity by making an electrical connection between a negative electrode, or anode, and a positively charged electrode, called the cathode. To get around this problem, Larry Dubois, a chemist at SRI International Corp. in Menlo Park, California, and colleagues are working on a couple of possible fixes. The setup uses a device resembling a computer-controlled ink-jet printer to lay down successive layers of liquid precursors for the electrodes and electrolytes of a rechargeable lithium-ion battery.

Reveals that two researchers in the lab of Caltech biologist Leroy Hood are under investigation for two apparently unrelated instances of possible research fraud. Two recent papers have had to be retracted from journals.

Described is the proposed implementation of Scope, Sequence and Coordination into California and Houston schools. The rationale behind this project is discussed. The curriculum, arranged developmentally, merges different scientific subjects via discipline-bridging themes. (KR)

Reviews events in the California courts surrounding a five-day trial concerning the teaching of biblical creation in the public schools. (CS)