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The republics that were formerly part of the Soviet Union embark on a journey full of hazard: sooner or later they will have to transform the structure of science left by Mr Mikhail Gorbachev.
1992's anniversarial celebration encompasses the Old World and the New, by route of Tasmania. The Celsius scale and the revolutionary calendar join other births (Babbage) and deaths (Schrapnel) in this year's cornucopia.
Wishing for better things is an old habit at this time of the year, but wishing for more money is less worthy (and less likely to be worthwhile) than wishing for tangible success.
New products for the new year include a system for rapid separation and membrane transfer without blotting, a range of cell culture flasks for the selection of specific cell phenotypes and a PC-based nuclear structure physics software program.