-------------- Enclosure number 1 ---------------- SCIENCE-WEEK -- ABSTRACTS: November 10, 2000 -- Vol. 4 Number 45 Below are brief abstracts of new reports appearing in the current issue of ScienceWeek. For information about ScienceWeek: http://www.scienceweek.com The current issue of ScienceWeek contains complete summaries, explications, glossaries, background material for the following: ---------------------------------------------------------------- 1. SCIENCE POLICY: A CALL FOR BETTER CONDITIONS FOR POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWS A new report concludes that postdocs need better mentoring, better compensation, more information on employment opportunities, more assistance in planning their careers, and opportunities to learn a number of career skills. (Physics Today November 2000) 2. EARTH SCIENCES: ON THE PERIODICITY OF THE ICE AGES In an extensive review, it is suggested the most viable hypotheses for the cause of glacial/interglacial carbon dioxide change involve the extraction of carbon from the surface ocean by biological production, either at low or high latitudes, necessarily allied with changes in the marine calcium carbonate budget. (Nature 19 Oct 00 407:859) 3. PLANETARY SCIENCE: EVIDENCE SUPPORTING POSSIBILITY OF LOW-TEMPERATURE LIFE-BEARING METEORITES New observations suggest that major impact events are capable of moving rocks from the surface of Mars to the surface of Earth without subjecting them to temperatures high enough to cause thermal sterilization of eukarya or bacteria, and are considered to support the hypothesis that meteorites could transfer life between planets in the Solar System. (Science 27 Oct 00 290:791) 4. ORIGIN OF LIFE: ATMOSPHERIC AEROSOLS AS PREBIOTIC CHEMICAL REACTORS An analysis of the structure of ocean-based aerosols suggests that large populations of aerosol particles may have provided an environment for the concentration of prebiotic molecular species and for their chemical transformation. (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. US 24 Oct 00 97:11864) 5. HISTORY OF SCIENCE: BIOLOGISTS AND PHYSICISTS AND NAZI SCIENCE A new report from Germany indicates that several directors of Kaiser Wilhelm Institutes during the Nazi era advised the Nazis at the highest levels concerning racial policies. The journal article reporting the new report also contains a photograph and caption with an astonishing implication that Max Planck, contrary to established evidence, was an active collaborator with the Nazi regime. (Nature 19 Oct 00 407:823) 6. HISTORY OF BIOLOGY: ON VITALISM A new essay suggests that vitalism's singular place in history rests on its attempt to reconcile two opposing needs -- the need for analytical reasoning and the need to celebrate the mystery of human experience, and that the life of the Swedish chemist Jon Jacob Berzelius traced the tensions between these concerns in dramatic detail. (Nature 12 Oct 00 407:677) 7. IN FOCUS: PHYSICS, MECHANICS, AND PHILOSOPHICAL PREDILECTIONS 8. FROM THE SCIENCEWEEK ARCHIVE: ON THE IMPACT OF SOCIETY ON SCIENCE ------------------------------------ The current issue of ScienceWeek contains complete summaries, explications, glossaries, background material for the above reports. See http://scienceweek.com/subinfo for subscription information. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= NOTICES =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= There is no print edition of ScienceWeek. The first issue of SCIENCE-WEEK appeared online May 1, 1997, and it has been published regularly each week since that date. For subscriptions to the complete edition of ScienceWeek: http://www.scienceweek.com/subinfo.htm Copyright (c) 1997-2000 ScienceWeek All Rights Reserved US Library of Congress ISSN 1529-1472 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= This is the Free Abstracts Edition of ScienceWeek. If you are not already subscribed to this edition and you wish to receive it free by Email each week, transmit "SUBSCRIBE SWX" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe, transmit "REMOVE SWX" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -----end file
