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Concern about the growing interest of foreign companies and research institutes in China's wealth of genetic resources has helped the country's geneticists to cement political support for their own research efforts. In the process of doing so, the country appears to have successfully cast off the anti-Mendelian beliefs of its early communist era.
In recent years, ecologists and economists have learned the importance of working together. But the alliance has at times been rocky, particularly as there is no consensus on how cooperation is most effectively achieved.
The growing interest of pharmaceutical and agri-business companies in genes from natural products is generating a complex set of conflicts with Third World nations, where most of the world's genetic diversity is to be found.
Although much has been made of the value of the international space station to science, many researchers remain deeply sceptical. But useful science may still emerge, even though various obstacles remain to be overcome.