Science (Vol. 305, No. 5687, August 2004)

88 Pages·2004·8.853 MB·English

E
DITORIAL
Academic Health I
M
any of the readers of Sciencework in academic institutions, and it’s likely that most
of the others received their scientific training there. Universities also house a large
fraction of basic research in the natural sciences. In the United States, recently
published media critiques of the “competitiveness” of U.S. science have enhanced
national concern about the health of research in the higher education sector. From
time to time, therefore, we ought to stick a thermometer into the patient and see
how our alma mater is faring. Herewith a handful of diagnoses of several indicators, some of which
may be important for other nations as well.
In the 1980s, university administrators usually first examined the state of federal research funding.
That habit is hard to break, so I turn first to next year’s budget. The House of Representatives did well
by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), matching the administration’s request with an increase of
2.6%, although that’s a painful comedown from the 15% annual increases of the past few years. The
House’s first look at the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) budget was less salutory, however, pro-
posing a drop of 2%. In the palmy days of big NIH increases, some bioenthusiasts
were annoyed when I called editorial attention to the unbalanced nature of the sci-
ence portfolio. That problem is more serious now, and that’s unfortunate in view of
the growing dependence of modern biology on the sister disciplines that are sup-
ported mainly by NSF.
The visa problem has only become more tangled. Fewer foreign students are
applying for graduate or postdoctoral positions in U.S. universities, and that disrup-
tion of international exchange hurts science around the world. In a move that sur-
prised many, Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN) introduced a bill (S.2715, “The
International Student and Scholar Access Act of 2004”) that could ease the situation
by establishing a new science visa category, giving consular officers more training
and more latitude to grant waivers, and reducing certain fees and requirements for
students entering to complete a course of study. That’s a promising beginning, and
we hope it will receive serious consideration. Part of the problem, though, lies in
organization and management in the Immigration and Naturalization Service and in
the quality of interagency coordination, and the new law may not cure that.
A third issue has a long and troubled history. During the early 1980s, the Department of Defense
(DOD) and the Department of Commerce attempted to apply various export control regulations, which
were designed to prevent the distribution of military equipment and specifications to other countries,
to basic research data and even to the movement of scientists. Negotiations between universities and
DOD resolved some of the problems, and a National Academy of Sciences committee recommended
that except for the “gray area” of dual-use technology, regulatory controls should not be used as a
proxy for classification. President Reagan affirmed that in an Executive Order signed in 1985,
National Security Decision Directive (NSDD) 189. That directive established classification as the
only appropriate method of control over fundamental research.
Well, they’re at it again, even though National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice reaffirmed
NSDD 189 in November of 2001. The Association of American Universities and the Council on
Governmental Relations created a task force to collect information about troublesome provisions
in research awards that appeared to violate the terms of NSDD 189. These included restrictions on
publication and on distribution to foreign nationals. Especially disturbing was a common require-
ment that “if the Contractor will have access to or generate unclassified information that may be
sensitive or inappropriate,” the contract language must prohibit the contractor from releasing any
of that unclassified information to anyone outside the organization. This clause was reported by 47
institutions; surprisingly, it was accepted without negotiation in 18 cases. Other institutions either
negotiated acceptable language or rejected the award. Restraints on publication were found in 71
other cases in a total sample of 138 instances.
These indicators are not encouraging about the present state of the university/government
relationship. Other important aspects of that partnership, as it was called in the old days, include
ORBIS restrictions on types of research that may be conducted, the upcoming reauthorization of the
M/C Higher Education Act, and the especially trying times imposed on state institutions by budget
MAGES.CO limitations. We’ll have to save those for Part II, so stay tuned. Donald Kennedy
DIT:I Editor-in-Chief
CRE
www.sciencemag.org SCIENCE VOL 305 20 AUGUST 2004 1077
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This Wee k
N
PAGE 1090 1093 1094 1099 1100
EWS
Empty Counted
nests out
time Rapoport has tried to understand how
HUMAN SUBJECTS RESEARCH
stimulants calm down children with ADHD.
Pediatric Study of ADHD Drug
In 1980, she and her colleagues ran a trial at
NIH that gave children with ADHD and nor-
Draws High-Level Public Review mal children a dose of dextroamphetamine
and examined their responses to cognitive
and psychological tests. She found that the
A trial that would give healthy children an atrician and bioethicist at Children’s Hospital drugs had virtually identical effects on all
amphetamine is prompting heated debate Regional Medical Center in Seattle, Washing- subjects, such as enhancing concentration.
among pediatricians and bioethicists. A di- ton, and chair of the institutional review board Rapoport’s findings prompted others to
vided review board at the National Institutes (IRB) that oversees clinical research at the investigate. Chandan Vaidya and John
of Health (NIH), which is sponsoring the hospital. On the one hand, he says, dextro- Gabrieli of Stanford University added a layer
study, has sent the proposal outside the amphetamine has of complexity in a
agency for additional scrutiny. Early next been used for dec- 1998 study that gave
month, a newly formed Food and Drug Ad- ades for ADHD and a dose of Ritalin (an
ministration (FDA) advisory panel will meet is generally consid- amphetamine-like
in an unprecedented public session to discuss ered safe. On the oth- drug) to 10 boys
the proposal’s safety and ethics—the first er, “you’re actually with ADHD and six
such review of a trial that involves giving a giving [children] a controls. Brain scans
drug to healthy children. psychoactive drug.” showed differences
The NIH study is designed to answer a Rapoport and her in the drug’s effects:
long-standing question: Does a type of colleagues aim to en- In one area of the
medication prescribed for hyperactivity af- roll 76 children, ages brain, the striatum,
fect the brains of children with attention 9 to 18, including 24 Ritalin boosted ac-
deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) dif- sets of twins, only tivity in ADHD chil-
ferently than it does the brains of children one of whom in each dren but suppressed
without the condition? The scientist asking pair has the disorder. it in healthy ones.
this question is Judith Rapoport, chief of Subjects will receive That study sailed
child psychiatry at NIH’s National Institute a dose of dextro- through the local
of Mental Health. Her project “could tell us amphetamine and review board with-
a lot about what’s dysfunctional in ADHD,” undergo functional out any problem,
says F. Xavier Castellanos, director of re- magnetic resonance Lighting up disparities.A controversial NIH says Vaidya, now
search at the New York University Child imaging scans. Par- study hopes to replicate much of this 1998 at Georgetown Uni-
Study Center in New York City. ticipants will receive experiment,in which healthy and ADHD children versity in Washing-
Still, “I can see why people are struggling” up to $570. received brain scans both while on Ritalin (right ton, D.C.
with the study, says Douglas Diekema, a pedi- This isn’t the first column) and off it (left column). However, the (cid:0)
BIOSAFETY
Citizens Sue to Block Montana Biodefense Lab
ARTER
H C
Montanans have gone to federal court in prove safety plans before the lab is built. leases. “The community would feel a whole MIT
Missoula to block construction of a National The new 600-square-meter facility, to be lot better if there was a safety plan in place,” H2A/S
Institutes of Health (NIH) biodefense labora- added to the National Institute of Allergy and says coalition leader Mary Wulff. The groups U
C
tlaaonwrdys tuiwnito , t hfoietlhe cdeir t bygy ro otfhu epH sCa, mosaaiylltisoti noN.n IT Hfho ner ea1e 2Sd saA fteou gLiumasb-t Irwnahtfoeicrcihtei osm,u wse aiDlnli ssb eieta sace osbu’iolRds oabfceekt yyu sMleevdoe ult no4t a s(itnBu dSLyLa -bt4ho)e-, amolrse ond tisss actyhu asttsh waatol tuNelrIdnH ah tedelip dl onthc’eta mtrieo lenevasa slaeun akdtee yhth adeso EncIuoS-t 14494 (1998);
deadliest pathogens, such as the considered the possibility that the lab might 95,
Ebola virus (Science, 7 Febru- study weapons-grade pathogens. PNAS
asprye n2t0 t0h3e, pp.a 8st1 42) .y Oeaffrisc iwalosr hkainvge RocMkya rMshoaulnlt aBinl oLoambs,, daisssmoicsisaetse t hdei rceocntcoerr nosf. ET ALDYA .,
with local groups on plans and The labs already have an emergency plan for VAI
drafting an environmental im- the existing research space, he says, and can’t M) C.J.
O
pact statement (EIS). NIH ap- fill in details for the new facility until it is built: OTT
proved the project in June. “We don’t even know the room numbers yet.” O B
But opponents say the analy- The suit asks the judge to require NIH to redo OP T
Safety suit.Montana activists worry that proposed BSL-4 lab sis lacks key elements, such as a the EIS and halt groundbreaking, scheduled DITS:(T
won’t be safe enough. plan for handling accidental re- for September. –JOCELYNKAISER CRE
1088 20 AUGUST 2004 VOL 305 SCIENCE www.sciencemag.org
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Foc us
1090 1093 1094 1099 1100
When data A deadly What makes
aren’t ocean a species
enough current invasive?
world of human-subject research has Ironically, many of the board’s ethicists ber felt giving a child a controlled sub-
changed since then. In 2000, the Depart- supported it, deeming one dose of the drug stance (in the absence of a medical indica-
ment of Health and Human Services created safe and nonaddictive; others familiar with tion) could not be justified,” according to
the Office for Human Research Protections dextroamphetamine compare this dose to a minutes from the IRB’s November meet-
(OHRP) and shut down noncompliant stud- cup of coffee. “Research can’t be risk- ing. Indeed, many ethicists say privately
ies at several prominent universities. The lo- free,” says Ezekiel Emanuel, who heads the that the use of an amphetamine—a drug
cal IRBs that approve clinical projects be- clinical bioethics division at NIH but isn’t a that can be abused—raises more eyebrows
came more cautious. Nearly two dozen member of the IRB that weighed this trial. than would a study involving a different,
flooded OHRP with inquiries about pedi- Although declining to comment on the even riskier, medication, such as an anti-
atric trials that the review boards worried ex- case, Emanuel notes that “IRBs confronted biotic. Others say the study exceeds mini-
ceeded “minimal risk” for children—an is- with unfamiliar things just think they’re mal risk simply because it calls for giving
sue unique to pediatric studies. Before 2000, more risky than they are.” a prescription drug to healthy children.
only two pediatric studies had received addi- In three meetings between last October FDA is involved because prescription
tional scrutiny from OHRP, according to and January, the NIH review board nar- drugs fall under its purview. Now that the
Lainie Friedman Ross, a pediatrician and rowly decided that the study exceeded public has been invited in, it may stay. Julie
bioethicist at the University of Chicago. minimal risk for healthy children and, Kaneshiro of OHRP’s Division of Policy
Since then, the office has ruled on six, ap- therefore, required OHRP’s blessing. Sev- and Assurances says that the agency, after
proving three of them with modifications. eral members were concerned that the pro- coming under pressure from outsiders, has
The NIH board reviewing Rapoport’s posed financial compensation might affect decided to make public all future pediatric
study arrived at a split verdict late last year. parental judgment. In addition, “one mem- trial reviews. –JENNIFERCOUZIN
RESEARCH POLICY
Economist to Guide $22 Billion E.U. Science Programs
BERLIN—A Slovenian economist has been commission will take office on 1 November.
tapped to be Europe’s next commissioner for Potoc∨nikis saying little to the press before
science and research. Janez Potoc∨nik, lead the European Parliament’s confirmation hear-
negotiator for Slovenia’s entry into the Euro- ings, expected next month. But many E.U.
pean Union, is slated to take the reins of scientists hope that he will back a European
E.U. science policy, including the 5-year, Research Council (ERC), a program to fund
$22 billion Framework 6 program that funds basic research proposals from individual sci-
trans-European research. entists—a shift from the past emphasis on
The appointment surprised many E.U. funding large multinational collaborations. A
∨
watchers, because the 46-year-old Potocnik commission proposal in June (Science, 25
has no background in the natural sciences. June, p. 1885) called for doubling the E.U. re-
(Outgoing commissioner Philippe Busquin search budget to an annual average of $12 bil-
studied physics before entering Belgian poli- lion over the period from 2007 to 2013 and
tics.) However, Potoc∨nik’s political savvy using part of the increase to start an ERC. Brussels-bound.Slovenian Janez Potoc∨nik has
and negotiating experience should be an ad- Busquin, who in recent months has be- been appointed the new E.U.commissioner for
vantage for European science, says Robert come a strong supporter of the idea, will science and research.
Blinc, a physicist at the Joz∨ef Stefan Insti- leave some of the key negotiations with gov-
tute in Ljubljana: “He will certainly do more ernment ministers this fall to a temporary racy, say observers. “He knows the E.U.
than … a Nobel Prize winner in this posi- successor, incoming Belgian commissioner inside and out,” says economist Vladimir
tion. He can sell science.” Louis Michel. Busquin was elected to the Eu- Gligorov of the Vienna Institute for Interna-
E.U. commissioners are chosen more for ropean Parliament this summer and will re- tional Economic Studies. He earned high
their political experience than their field of sign on 10 September to join the Parliament marks, Gligorov says, for leading “what was
expertise. Each of the 25 E.U. member coun- session that begins on 13 September. largely thought to be the best negotiating
tries appoints a commissioner to serve in the Educated at the University of Ljubljana, team of all the new countries.”
2004 E.U.’s executive branch for 5-year terms, and Potoc∨nik has been Slovenia’s minister for In light of that success, Potoc∨nik is ex-
NITY, the commission president then divvies up re- European affairs since 2002. From 1993 to tremely well liked at home, Blinc says. “He
U sponsibilities for specific policy areas. On 12 2001, he was director of the Institute of has one of the highest approval rates of the
M
OM August, the incoming commission president, Macroeconomic Analysis and Development former members of government,” according
OPEAN C Jthoesé p Moratnfouleilo B haerr ohsaod oafs Psoigrtnuegda le, aacnhn ooufn cthede ihne aLdj uobfl jtahnea .t eIanm 1 9n9e8g,o thiea twinags Salpopvoeinnitae’ds twoo Bulldin bc.e “hIfa phpey .b” eEcaumroep eparnim sec imenitniissttse rh, owpee
UR
DIT:E newly nominated commission members. treaty to join the E.U. That experience that his popularity will pay dividends for
CRE Once approved by the parliament, the new should help him work the Brussels bureauc- basic research. –GRETCHENVOGEL
www.sciencemag.org SCIENCE VOL 305 20 AUGUST 2004 1089
Published by AAAS
N E W S O F T H E W E E K
ECOLOGY tion for Ocean Sciences in Plymouth, U.K.
Reproductive Failure Threatens Bird And long-term plankton surveys indicate a
“regime shift” in the North Sea in 1988,
from a cold- to a warm-temperate ecosys-
Colonies on North Sea Coast
tem, explains Edwards. In particular, a cold-
water species of copepod, a tiny crustacean
CAMBRIDGE, U.K.—Warden Deryk Shaw they are now also succumbing is “causing that forms a key part of the North Sea food
can’t believe what he’s not hearing as he everyone consternation,” she says. chain, has migrated 1000 km north, he says.
patrols the cliffs of Fair Isle. The usual Experts say that the most likely causes Recent modeling by CEH scientists indi-
cacophony of 250,000 sea birds has been for the decline in sand eels are past overfish- cates that rising sea temperatures and sand
replaced by an eerie silence. That’s because ing and rising sea temperatures. Previous re- eel harvesting strongly affect kittiwakes,
the kittiwakes, arctic terns, guillemots, search has linked rising temperatures to de- whose North Sea populations have declined
razorbills, arctic skuas, and by about 30% since 1988. “In terms of the
great skuas that usually North Sea, we’re talking about a system that
breed on this southernmost had almost the severest fishing pressure of
Shetland Isle have failed to any sea in the world,” says Wanless. “Now it
do their job this season. “It’s looks as if it’s going to be subjected to se-
the worst year ever here, by a vere pressure from climate change,” too.
long way,” says Shaw. Furness, however, doubts that sea warm-
As the sea-bird breeding ing explains the pattern. He notes that the
season draws to a close on breeding crisis is worst in the northern
Britain’s North Sea coast, sci- North Sea, where sea temperatures are cool-
entists report that many er. Instead, he suspects that adult herring,
colonies are failing to rear which have increased in numbers around
any young. The situation is Shetland, may be depleting the sand eel pop-
“unprecedented in terms of ulation. What’s needed, he and others say,
its scale and the range of are studies linking oceanographic data with
species it’s affecting,” says information on plankton, fisheries, and top
ornithologist Eric Meek of Hard hit. Surface-feeding kittiwakes have experienced a 30% marine predators such as sea birds.
the Royal Society for the decline in North Sea colonies since 1988. Interdisciplinary research is just begin-
Protection of Birds (RSPB) ning. “We’ve got all the bits of the jigsaw” in
on the Orkney Islands. Many fear that rising clines in the number of sand eels surviving long-term data sets, says Wanless, but people
sea temperatures and changing currents may to catchable size and to changes in their zoo- need to begin to “put all of them together fair-
be affecting the birds’food supplies, de- plankton prey. Sea temperatures have risen ly rapidly.” The decline in kittiwake breeding
pressing reproduction. by about 1°C in the North Sea over the last populations, she fears, is “a sign that things
Although data on food supplies haven’t 40-odd years, says marine ecologist Martin have got into a serious state and may be very
yet been collated, anecdotal evidence Edwards of the Sir Alistair Hardy Founda- difficult to turn around.” –FIONAPROFFITT
suggests that the problem stems from a short-
age of a key food source: sand eels, a small
CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
bottom-dwelling fish. Sea birds and humans
Report Suggests NIH Weigh Consulting Ban
alike appear to be having trouble finding them.
The Danish fishing fleet, which catches 90%
of the North Sea sand eel quota, caught only A new report from the federal Office of prohibition on consulting with drug compa-
36% of its 826,000-ton quota last year and has Government Ethics (OGE) hints that the Na- nies is that some NIH officials actually are
“undershot its quota quite substantially tional Institutes of Health (NIH) should con- involved in making clinical decisions affect-
this year,” says Euan Dunn, head of marine sider a blanket ban on drug company con- ing the health and safety of patients.” Even
policy at the RSPB. Sea-bird biologist Martin sulting by intramural scientists. That sugges- bench researchers studying drug products
Heubeck of Aberdeen University adds, tion runs counter to a proposal from NIH “could affect” the interests of companies,
“Anything that’s dependent on sand eels last Director Elias Zerhouni that would concen- the report says.
year and this year is pretty well knackered.” trate on officials overseeing the extramural Some observers warn against banning all
The northern Shetland and Orkney sea- program and senior administrators. consulting by intramural scientists. “That GY
O
bird colonies, which are the most dependent The 26 July OGE report, addressed to would just be unfair,” says Paul Kincade, OL
DR
on sand eels, are the worst affected; every- Department of Health and Human Services president of the Federation of American So- HY
D
wkihtteiwrea,k seus rhfaacvee fbeeeedne hrsa rsduecsht haist. tMeronrse arnod- (mHaHnSy ) laetphsiecss oaftf NiciIaHl E(Sdcgiaern Scwe,i n1d3e lAl, ufgouunstd, caisektsie Hs HfoSr tEox rpeesrpiomnedn wtailt hBiino 6lo0g dy.a yTsh.e report OGY AN
bdiuvset sdpeeecpieers isnu cphu rassu cito mofm fiosnh gaunidll ewmeorets acbalne pvi. e9w2e9d),. O39f 1w5e5re o auptspidroev aecdt iavfitteiers t hthea ts tOarGt Eda rtee-, HarIoroldn iVcaarllmy,u isn e 1as9e9d5 ,u tph eonn– cNoInHsu Dltiinregc troer- OR ECOL
to cope when sand eel stocks crashed in the and 35 apparently weren’t approved at all. The strictions after the OGE said NIH’s practices NTRE F
late 1980s, says sea-bird biologist Robert problems, OGE acting director Marilyn Glynn needed to be codified or made consistent CE
N,
F“Guruniellsesm ooft st haer eU nnoivt ear ssiptye coief sG tlhaastg nowor,m Ua.lKly. cino na cclausdee-sb,y h-cigahseli gahptp rtohvea l“ dmifeftihcoudlt.i”e s inherent wreivthie wlax seirn gcoev tehrnemn efnotu-wndid ere rluatleivs.e lAyn m OinGoEr DERIKSE
shows year-to-year variation in breeding In recommending that NIH craft supple- problems with NIH’s consulting policies, N FRE
success,” explains sea-bird biologist Sarah mental regulations for its employees, the leading one biomedical research advocate to ORTE
Wanless of the Centre for Ecology and OGE report notes that “the most compelling characterize the new report as an exercise in DIT:M
Hydrology (CEH) in Banchory, U.K. That argument that can be made for any absolute “CYA”: covering your ass. –JOCELYNKAISER CRE
1090 20 AUGUST 2004 VOL 305 SCIENCE www.sciencemag.org
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MEXICO ScienceScope
Government Uses Carrot, Stick to
Retain Graduate Students German Panel Reportedly
Supports Cloning Research
The Mexican government has cut back “We lack a critical mass of experts in many BERLIN—Support for human cloning ex-
periments in Germany came from an un-
scholarships for graduate studies abroad advanced disciplines such as genome sci-
expected corner this week.A slim majori-
while encouraging students to attend domes- ences and nanotechnology,” says biotechnol-
ty of the German National Ethics Council
tic programs. Officials say that the policy, ogist Octavio Paredes-López, president of
may favor letting such experiments go
which has been gathering steam over the the Mexican Academy of Sciences. “It’s
forward in spite of the country’s strict
past 5 years, is based not on the need to save good to attract more students into domestic
embryo protection laws,according to
money but on the ability of domestic institu- programs, but we also need to send more
press reports.
tions to offer graduate programs comparable students for training overseas.”
The 25-member council,charged with
to the best in the world. But critics say the The new policy is penny-wise and advising Chancellor Gerhard Schröder on
move is depriving Mexican students of the pound-foolish, says Mario Molina, the bioethics issues,was set to meet on 18
best training in many fields and could hurt Nobel Prize–winning atmospheric chemist and 19 August in closed session.Before
the country’s scientific future. who was born and raised in Mexico. Moli- the meeting,members privately told re-
Since 2000, Mexico’s National Council na says the real problem is making the porters that the group is deeply divided
of Science and Technology (CONACYT) country more attractive for young scien- on so-called research cloning—trying to
has slashed by more than half the number of tists, regardless of where they were trained. create embryonic stem cells from cloned
international scholarships it grants every “It would be a very good investment for human embryos—but that a small major-
year, from 1469 to 691 this year. The num- Mexico to continue sending good students ity seemed to favor allowing the practice.
ber of domestic scholarships has risen from overseas,” says Molina, a professor at the That would put the panel at odds with
4806 in 2001 to an expected 8100 this year. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “But leading German scientists,who have
CONACYT officials argue been more cautious.For instance,Ernst-
that the quality of graduate- Number of Scholarships 2001–04 Ludwig Winnacker,president of the DFG,
10,000 the national research funding agency,has
level scientific training has
Domestic said that there is no pressing reason to
improved, making it less
International allow therapeutic cloning in Germany.
necessary for students to go
overseas than was the case a 8,000 * Expected number by year end. The chair of the ethics council,Spiros
Simitis,has said that the German legisla-
generation ago. As evi-
ture should revisit the issue in light of
dence, Luis Gil, director of
Britain’s recent decision to allow similar
the CONACYT scholarship
6,000 experiments (see p.1102).
program, cites a jump in the –GRETCHENVOGEL
number of “quality post-
graduate programs,” from Royal Society Launches
4,000
431 in 2000 to 654 in 2002
Ocean Acidification Study
(the most recent year for
which figures are available). LONDON—Call it the acid test.The U.K.
The list is compiled by 2,000 4806 6081 7369 8131* Royal Society this week launched an in-
vestigation into how rising acidity may
CONACYT based on the
judgments of scientists us- 1327 affect life in the world’s oceans.
964 892 Recent studies conclude that Earth’s
ing factors that include 691
numbers of faculty publica- 0 2001 2002 2003 2004 oceans have absorbed almost half of the
carbon dioxide (CO ) produced by fossil
tions and foreign colla- Homebound.Mexico has increased the total number of graduate 2
fuel burning and cement production over
borations. In addition, say scholarships while sending fewer students abroad.
the last 200 years (Science,16 July,
CONACYT officials, a rise
p.367).The resulting chemical changes
in graduate enrollments in science and engi- it should be part of a larger strategy to build
could produce a 0.4 drop in the pH of sur-
neering—from 43,700 in 2000 to 47,300 in up scientific infrastructure so that these stu- face waters by the end of the century,sci-
2002—shows that domestic programs have dents can return to find satisfying career entists predict,possibly affecting corals
become more attractive to Mexican students. opportunities.” and plankton that rely on calcium carbon-
René Drucker Colín, a physiologist and That’s the problem facing José Álvarez- ate to form their skeletons.The increasing
coordinator of scientific research at the Na- Chávez, a CONACYT fellow who recently acidity could also reduce the ocean’s fu-
tional Autonomous University of Mexico, finished his Ph.D. in fiber optics at the Uni- ture ability to absorb more CO .
2
agrees. “Overseas graduate training is a nec- versity of Southampton in the U.K. “I’ve ap- Dundee University biologist John
essary option only in a few fields, such as plied for an academic job in Mexico, but all Raven,who will lead the study,says the
space science, where Mexico can’t afford the the institutions I’ve talked to say they don’t oceans could be “doubly besieged”by ris-
infrastructure,” he says. “Mexican universi- have any positions available because of ing temperatures and changing chem-
ties can take care of everything else.” budget cuts,” he says. “And even if I did get istry.The Royal Society is expected to
But although there is consensus between a job at a university, I doubt that I’d have the publish its report early next year.
ONACYT Mtieesx tihcaot’s thscei ecnotuifnitcr ya nhda sa cmadaedme igcr ecaotm smtriudneis- rÁelsvoaurrecze-sC thoá dvoez e xpplaenrism teon ptaul rwsuoer ka.” r Ienssetaeracdh, –FIONAPROFFITT
C
SOURCE: ignu eim thparto vniontg agllr afdieuladtse aerdeu wcaetlilo rne, pmreasneyn teadr-. career in Europe or in– tYhUeD UHInJIiTteBdH SATtaTtAeCsH.ARJEE
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