Hundreds of researchers around the world are rushing to produce new ceramic materials that lose all resistance to electricity, causing a volume of publications that is pressing the limits of communication, causing innovation in the procedures of scientific publication, and creating concern about credit for discoveries. (MSE)

With a decision on an oyster developed at the University of Washington, the federal Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences has opened the way to granting patents for animals and animal improvements developed through genetic engineering and other scientific methods. (MSE)

A civil engineering professor would like to see civil engineers spend less time looking at broken structures and more time testing construction materials, and has founded a research center for that purpose. (MSE)

Increasingly, institutions are seeking money directly from Congress for new research facilities and other science projects, stirring criticism of "pork-barrel science" and special advantages given to land-grant colleges. (MSE)

Questionnaires were distributed to 1,100 behavioral, biological, physical and social scientists at a major research university. Those surveyed said they suspected a colleague of falsifying data and 54% of them had failed to check out the suspicions or to take action to remedy the situation. (MLW)

University administrators are expected by federal agencies to detect, investigate, and judge scientific fraud and misconduct on their campuses. Both National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health place primary responsibility on universities for spotting cases of scientific misconduct. (MLW)

The National Security Council has barred the National Science Foundation from providing a grant to help finance American participation in East-West research because the federal government cannot control the research, causing the institute's supporters to seek money directly from Congress. (MSE)

Intense competition for federal research funds in some areas of science is generating more narrow research training, conflict between research and teaching responsibilities, and alienation and frustration among young scientists, who must scramble for tenuous research positions that lead nowhere. (MSE)

President Reagan abandoned his seven-year effort to make drastic reductions in federal spending on education, recommending record high amounts for programs aiding colleges and students. However, the administration suggested curtailments in some programs, including college construction and renovation. (MSE)

The uses the University of Michigan makes of its federal aid dollars, and the sources of that support, are outlined and a general comparison to the situations of other institutions is made. (MSE)

Soviet and American scientists met at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, discussed recent research developments in a variety of disciplines and some controversial issues in science, and showed new willingness to exchange scientific information with the United States and other countries. (MSE)