A professor of epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh tracks the fiscal fortunes of the National Institutes of Health. Any tightening of the NIH budget might starve out talented young researchers at Pittsburgh. Support from the agency amounts to about half of all government support. (MLW)

Researchers and college administrators say fraud by researchers is rare and that continuing Congressional hearings and widespread publicity have seriously damaged the political influence of academic research. They fear increased regulation of federally supported work, loss of support for federal financing, and Congressional attempts to validate…

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)

The Center for the Study of Southern Culture of the University of Mississippi offers undergraduate and graduate programs in southern studies; builds teaching and research collections; sponsors research and publications; and produces films, television shows, art exhibitions, and conferences. (MLW)

The National Collegiate Athletic Association's three-person research staff conducts several projects each year and coordinates others by university researchers, but without the publicity from the new rule on academic standards for freshman eligibility. Most research addresses a variety of topics such as athlete academic achievements, injuries, and…

The excitement and intense competition surrounding the search for new applications of superconductors resembles the entrepreneurial atmosphere of the early 1970s, when faculty were launching profitable companies based on developments in biotechnology and semiconductors. (MSE)

One of the reasons women's history no longer seems as cohesive is that scholars no longer focus only on the importance of gender in shaping women's lives, but also on race and class. Scholars also use competing methodologies, and many are abandoning theories that once helped define the field. (MLW)

Legal experts doubt that special contract clauses will be able to protect institutions in negligence cases. (MSE)

Computational science is defined as science done on a computer. A computer can serve as a laboratory for researchers who cannot experiment with their subjects, and as a calculator for those who otherwise might need centuries to solve some problems mathematically. The National Science Foundation's support of supercomputers is discussed. (MLW)

The Department of Health and Human Services has proposed new regulations on scientific misconduct and requested ideas on what the government should do about the problem. Guidelines proposed by eight university groups and two science organizations are intended to help institutions draw up their own research-fraud procedures. (MLW)

Reports presented at the Sixth International Conference on Aids are summarized including efforts to develop a vaccine, expansion of the epidemic into new areas, the high rate of infection among Romanian children, the crisis in Africa, and evidence of relapsing behaviors among homosexual men in the United States. (MLW)

Increasingly, papers in scholarly journals are listing over 100 researchers as coauthors. In 40 years, the average number of authors of scientific papers has doubled. Some say the problem reflects the growing complexity of the research process in many disciplines. Journal reviewers find these papers generally of high quality. (MSE)

Conflict over the authorship of scientific research into schizophrenia in an international collaboration is discussed. Issues of access to research data and laboratory samples, competition for research results, and attribution of scholarship are considered. (MSE)

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)

As research equipment becomes more sophisticated and expensive, and as the number of scientists and engineers choosing academic careers shrinks, the start-up costs for recruiting researchers are skyrocketing. The cost typically includes money to provide equipment, facilities, and support needed to set up laboratories and begin research. (MLW)