News of the Week
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News of the Week

CLIMATE RESEARCH:
Right Direction, But a Long Way to Go for Bush's Plan

Richard A. Kerr

A committee of the National Research Council last week called for substantial revisions in the Bush Administration's draft plan for climate research, declaring that the "draft plan lacks most of the basic elements of a strategic plan ... neither an explicitly stated vision nor a coherent set of goals are consistently presented."

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HIV/AIDS:
Vaccine Results Lose Significance Under Scrutiny

Jon Cohen

Confusion ensued when VaxGen of Brisbane, California, released its long-awaited findings on the first test of an AIDS vaccine on 24 February. Over the next few days, VaxGen officials contradicted each other about how the data were analyzed and reported and whether some of the conclusions are statistically significant.

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PLANETARY SCIENCE:
Researchers Watch Solar Eruption Sideswipe Bright Comet

Robert Irion

A storm from the sun has struck a glancing blow on the tail of a passing comet, thrilling astronomers and solar physicists alike. The encounter with comet NEAT, captured by a solar satellite, should yield new insights about the twisted magnetic churnings of the sun's outbursts.

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FORMER SOVIET UNION:
Fears Grow of Nuclear Brain Drain to Iran

Richard Stone

CAMBRIDGE, U.K.--At a press conference last month, Eduard Shevardnadze, president of the Republic of Georgia, claimed that several nuclear physicists from a breakaway region in the Caucasus are working in Iran. Western experts are also worried about the security of nuclear materials in the region.

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CANCER RISK:
Review Rules Out Abortion-Cancer Link

Jennifer Couzin

Last June, complaints from abortion opponents in Congress caused the National Cancer Institute to yank a fact sheet on its Web site that reported no association between abortion and an increased risk of breast cancer. Now 100 cancer experts have reviewed the evidence.

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INFECTIOUS DISEASE:
Shortage of Meningitis Vaccine Forces Triage in Burkina Faso

Gretchen Vogel

Public health officials are scrambling to halt a mounting epidemic of bacterial meningitis in Burkina Faso, caused in part by an uncommon and hard-to-fight strain of the Neisseria meningitidis bacterium known as W135. They are now being forced to ration the limited supply in a way that saves as many lives as possible.

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY:
Access to Proposals Triggers Sharp Debate

Rebecca Renner

The Environmental Protection Agency's decision to grant requests for copies of unfunded grant proposals under the Freedom of Information Act not only puts the agency at odds with other federal research agencies, it's also sparked internecine warfare.

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News Focus

INFECTIOUS DISEASE:
Chasing the Fickle Swine Flu

Bernice Wuethrich

After years of stability, the North American swine flu virus has jumped onto an evolutionary fast track, churning out variants every year. Changes in animal husbandry, including increased vaccination, may be spurring this evolutionary surge. And if one of this slew of swine strains gains the ability to spread among people--as has apparently happened at least twice before--the consequences could be deadly.

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INFECTIOUS DISEASE:
An Avian Flu Jumps to People

Bernice Wuethrich

While researchers monitor U.S. pigs for potentially dangerous changes in swine influenza virus (see main text), recent events on the other side of the world have sounded an even more urgent alarm. Last month in Hong Kong, a 33-year-old man died and his 9-year-old son fell seriously ill after contracting an avian influenza virus from a source that remains mysterious.

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HIV:
Escape Artist Par Excellence

Jon Cohen

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS--Researchers have known for nearly 20 years that the AIDS virus gains a huge evolutionary advantage by targeting immune system cells that the body sends out to defeat it. Now new studies presented here last month during the largest annual U.S. AIDS conference provide fresh insights into how the virus has deftly adapted to humans, hijacking, mimicking, and dodging defenses that otherwise might keep it at bay.

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JAMES BATTEY PROFILE:
NIH's Man in the Middle of the Stem Cell Debate

Constance Holden

James Battey knows that he works in a fishbowl. As head of a National Institutes of Health panel managing stem cell research within the bounds established by the Bush Administration, Battey hopes to satisfy researchers who want to extend the scientific frontier without incurring the wrath of politicians who raise the specter of "human embryo farms."

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