News in Brief

PROFESSOR Lev Tumerman, who played a leading role in the fight against Lysenkoism, emigrated from the Soviet Union to Israel in 1972. Since then, he has been prominent in the press discussion of the Kyshtym nuclear "disaster" of the 1950s. Vera Rich talked to him recently at the Weizmann Institute, where he now teaches.

China is bent on a great leap forward in science and technology—but it should not be at the expense of its peasants or workers

Pamela Smith and David Wield recently spent two years in Maputo at the Ministry of Health and the University Eduardo Mondlane. Here they assess the state of science in Mozambique

On 1 July this year, Dr Ken Duncan became the third member of the triumvirate that runs the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Duncan will be the principal person at HSE concerned with matters of biomedical research. He will combine his new work with his job of the past four years as Director of Medical Services on the staff of the HSE secretariat. Here he talks to ALASTAIR HAY.

The UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) last week published its research report for 1977—the most comprehensive yet to be published on the executive's research activities. Alastair Hay here looks at the research labs run by the HSE.

How does a water tap work ? Michael Moravcsik and R. H. B. Exell explain why knowing the answer can be a breakthrough for an African village.

• When the third International Conference on the Unity of Sciences (ICUS) was held in London in November 1974, scientists were made aware of the link between the International Cultural Foundation, the conference organisers, and Mr Sun Myung Moon, the head of the much criticised Unification Church (Nature 251, 661; 1974). Since then, scientists have been divided over whether to attend subsequent sessions of ICUS. Here, Professor N. Kurti of the Department of Engineering Science, Oxford University explains why he feels justified in attending them.