Opinion in 1997

The European Commission should have more independence in its research programme management.

An ill-considered library cut proposed last week would devastate an irreplaceable resource for the Earth sciences and for related industries, and should be vigorously opposed.

Openness is a virtue, but its imposition from without threatens the independence of the US National Academy of Sciences complex.

Astronomers served by the European Space Agency run the risk of undermining their own future by undue criticism of it, and by underestimating the obstacles to imitating NASA.

Japan's scientists should take note of criticism of the Japan Key Technology Centre.

Whichever political party wins power in the United Kingdom, it will need urgently to ensure that high-technology industry, investors and government develop capacities to act more strategically.

The treatment of contract and postdoctoral researchers by employers is notoriously casual. A year-old initiative to improve matters in Britain may provide an example to others, but has a long way to go.

The timing of celebrations of J. J. Thomson's discovery of the electron is necessarily arbitrary.

Unprecedented media coverage of cloning highlights a genuine need for reflection by society. Research into animal cloning need not be hindered, but a declared moratorium on human cloning is desirable.

Pleas for ethical advice on mammalian cloning reveal a lack of foresight.

China's economic growth and scientific development bear witness to the towering achievements of Deng Xiaoping. But his death highlights grievous shortcomings that his successor should avoid.

Delayed proposals for Europe's fifth Framework programme reflect political infighting. Research is likely to suffer as a result of poor leadership within the European Commission.

Advances in modern science and medicine have introduced unprecedented dilemmas for both courts and legislators. A ruling in a British case on artificial insemination gives hope that good sense can be made to prevail.

President Clinton has accepted that science should not suffer from his efforts to balance the budget.

Open and even scientifically contentious debates about policy issues are, on balance, beneficial. In that context, recent signals from Europe are encouraging, whereas those from the US Congress are dispiriting.

The BSE crisis has concentrated the British government's thinking about Xenotransplantation.

No amount of purely scientific argument seems likely to dispel public concern about Gulf War syndrome.

Nature has been redesigned. It is to be hoped that this development, and others introduced in this issue, will enhance not only the publication's value but also its capacity to divert.

The funding councils of the United Kingdom have achieved high standards in assessing, and thereby raising, the research performance of British universities. But dangers in the process merit further analysis.

Scientists should support a proposal to expand the budget of the National Science Foundation by more than 7 per cent.