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Hollywood's absent-minded professor, always a cliché, is now more unrealistic than ever before. Just how can biological research move forward in the modern era?
This survey of science in Central Europe, the first of two, raises questions about the degree to which the planners of the new regimes should be constrained by the habits of the old. More radicalism would be welcome.
The academies of sciences in the countries of the former Soviet Union, Eastern and Central Europe no longer have a decorative role in national affairs, but are remarkably confident that the worst is now over.
The belief that the Sun will eventually mechanically engulf the orbit of the Earth may be misplaced, but even the coming billion years could bring discomfort to the Earth's inhabitants.
