piner@pur-phy.UUCP (Richard Piner) (12/02/85)
Posted: Wed Nov 27, 1985 4:36 PM EST Msg: YGIF-2125-2228 From: RPARK To: Whatsnew CC: RPark Subj: What's New WHAT'S NEW, Friday, November 29, 1985 Washington, D.C. 1. THE FREEZE ON INDIRECT COST RATES contained in the Senate NIH appropriations bill (What's New, October 18) was rejected in conference with the House. The indirect cost issue is addressed in a report prepared by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy at the request of the House Committee on Appropriations. The principal recommendation in the report is that reimbursements for all administrative cost pools should be a single fixed percentage of modified total direct costs common to all universities. The report contends there is no suitable explanation for two universities with comparable facilities and research personnel to have large variations in administrative cost rates. 2. REMAKING SCIENCE POLICY AND REVITALIZING SCIENCE RESEARCH seems to be Topic A in Washington science circles these days. On November 22, the National Science Board was given a 25-page report by an advisory council to the National Science Foundation. The report identifies some troubling current problems--among these: public anxieties about scientific advances in such areas as biogenetics and arms technologies; the need for more and brighter youngsters in basic research and science teaching; dismal outlook for government funding of academic and industrial R & D in times of fiscal stringencies; and the lack of "collaborative research" following the model invented in Japan. So what's to be done? The recommendations range from developing better public understanding of science to more participation by scientists and engineers in public policymaking. NSF, says the report, should engage in "bridge-building" between science communities and the public, improving elementary and secondary education, expanding adult education in science, ethics and social responsibility, and regularly reminding scientists about "the importance of public imput to and public understanding of science." Thin stuff, some might say. Yet on December 2 most of these matters will be discussed again over dinner at the National Academy of Sciences, where its president, Frank Press, will be host to NSF Director Erich Bloch, Jay Keyworth (the president's science adviser) and an influential sampling of leaders in university science and industrial research. 3. THE PUBLIC'S RIGHT TO KNOW has been challenged by a United States Geological Survey directive to their scientists not to discuss publicly the recent earthquake in Columbia. The intention appears to be to prevent needless public alarm resulting from scientific speculation, but restrictions on public discussion of unclassified information sets a frightening precedent. Robert L. Park (202) 429-1946 American Physical Society THAT'S ALL 11/29/85