Commentary in 1990

The business world now sets great store by personality tests when assessing job applicants. But the evidence for their predictive value is frequently overstated and wrongly assessed.

The reasons for Japanese pre-eminence in many areas of technology are widely misunderstood in Western countries, who would do well to take advantage of the opportunities that Japan offers.

Roger Penrose has suggested that when we consider consciousness the usual physical rules for time may not apply. But that notion is based on a false interpretation of physiological observations.

'Appropriate technology' is touted as a solution to many of the energy needs of developing countries. A pi lot project to introduce solar ovens in Central America shows one way forward.

Much useful information can be obtained from a knowledge of people's sexual habits, not least information about AIDS. Such studies should be judged by scientists, not by politicians.

In 1790 the French Assemblée Nationale set in train a process that would result in the metric system. But for quirks of history, the course of metrication might have had an Anglo-French dimension – and a different outcome.

An International climate convention will require a means of measuring relative national emissions of greenhouse gases that is simple, fair and (preferably) empirical.

Proposals for the siting of toxic waste plants often meet local opposition. This hurdle could be overcome if local governments were to place 'compensation' bids for burying waste, while maintaining environmental standards.

The Strategic Defense Initiative has been out of the news recently, but its scientific and political proponents still exist. Should the United States be thinking differently about defence in this era of glasnost ?

Will increasingly bitter patent disputes stifle scientific medical research? A recent Commentary article about a sandwich immunoassay has provoked this exchange.

It is one thing for innovation in agricultural practice to be implemented thoughtlessly; quite another for it to be opposed on principle. The introduction of bovine growth hormone is a case in point.

Japan is considering a huge financial investment in the US Superconducting Super Collider. But other types of contribution, to this and any international project, are equally important.

With the increasing financial squeeze faced by taxonomists, the time may now have come to dispense with massive herbarium collections. Indeed, the clear-out might lead to a better quality of taxonomic research.

Tropical deforestation is frequently decried as a potential cause of future environmental disaster. But is this attitude fair? And does it take into account the reality of life in the developing countries?

Success in the semiconductor industry requires bold investment in new technology and total commitment to quality. US companies will never catch up with their Japanese counterparts until they learn these and other lessons.

Last century there was a sharp difference of opinion between those, such as Koch and Pasteur, who proposed that disease could be caused by invisible microbes, and others who held that epidemics are the result of evil vapours (mal'aria). Arguments that AIDS does not have an infectious basis are as quaint as those of the miasmalists.

The new corporate plan for the British Natural History Museum, which entails loss of scientific posts, has been widely criticized. But tough decisions had to be made to safeguard the museum's future.

One hundred and fifty years ago, life was created by electricity ^– or so it was widely reported. The story illustrates the power of the press, and brings to mind more recent episodes in science.

In proposing a manned mission to Mars, President Bush has allowed Americans to dream again of greatness as a space-faring nation. But dream is more likely to become reality with the help of the Soviet Union.