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Squeamishness has too often in the recent past inhibited sensible inquiries into the mechanisms by which AIDS is spread through human populations but now there may be proof that these attitudes are changing.
The results of a massive telephone survey of sexual lifestyles in France should provide a basis for prevention strategies for AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases.
Britain's first large, national survey of sexual attitudes and lifestyles will allow improved estimates of the magnitude of the HIV epidemic in Britain and should lead to better strategies for prevention.
The discovery of a supernova at a redshift of one-half holds the promise of a new determination of the cosmic density parameter. But promise and practice are some way apart.
Microscopic objects, including biological material, can be remotely manipulated with tightly focused beams of infrared laser light. The use of optical traps, or 'optical tweezers', holds great promise for noninvasive micromanipulation and mechanical measurement in cell biology. Optical tweezers are the 'tractor beams' of today's technology.
In the picture this week - a one-step photographic copier, new microplates for the radioisotopic and luminescent analysis of adherent cells and an inverted confocal microscope that provides simultaneous imaging of three fluorochromes.
