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<jats:p> Wolfgang K. H. Panofsky has recently written (Letters, 3 Jan., <jats:related-article xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" ext-link-type="doi" page="11" related-article-type="in-this-issue" vol="275" xlink:href="10.1126/science.275.5296.11a" xlink:type="simple">p. 11</jats:related-article> ) in support of the decision by the Department of Energy (DOE) to “pursue two technologies for disposing of excess military plutonium.” He describes the technologies as (i) the “throw away” vitrification into glass logs option, and (ii) the “burn-up” in a mixed oxide fuel option. This does not seem to be an accurate or complete description of the Administration's two options. It is correct that one option is to burn up the surplus plutonium as mixed oxide fuel, with subsequent disposal of the spent fuel in a geologic repository. However, the other option is not restricted to vitrification, but includes immobilization of plutonium in “glass or ceramic material” ( <jats:xref ref-type="bibr">1</jats:xref> ). </jats:p> <jats:p> The “ceramic” option includes the possibility of developing durable, crystalline materials for disposing of dangerous, long-lived, fissile materials, particularly if DOE decides to immobilize all of the surplus plutonium. The National Research Council's committee (chaired by Panofsky) which assessed the options for disposing of plutonium gave the ceramic option only cursory consideration ( <jats:xref ref-type="bibr">2</jats:xref> ). However, research on ceramics as waste forms already has a long history ( <jats:xref ref-type="bibr">3</jats:xref> ). The disposal of fissile materials with long half-lives may well benefit from strategies that capitalize on the benefits of using highly durable materials that can retain both the fissile nuclides and the required neutron absorbers for hundreds of millions of years ( <jats:xref ref-type="bibr">4</jats:xref> ). </jats:p>

<jats:p> The grizzlies described in Bernice Weuthrich's article (News &amp; Comment, 25 Oct., <jats:related-article xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" page="493" related-article-type="in-this-issue" vol="275" xlink:type="simple">p 493</jats:related-article> ) are hardly “wayward.” They are exploring their natural habitat. The “grazing land” they have chosen to forage on is national forest— agency-managed land of many uses, including (one hopes) habitat for threatened wild mammals. The biggest threat to survival facing large predators such as grizzlies in the United States today is not hunting or poaching, loss of prey, or habitat fragmentation. It is the politically driven approach to their “conservation” through pressure applied to agencies such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Forest Service. </jats:p> <jats:p>It is high time for biologists to advocate the protection and restoration of endangered species and their habitat using ecological criteria, rather than criteria related to political pressure. Otherwise, these species will go extinct</jats:p>

<jats:p> The idea that climatic cycles such as the El Niño/Southern Oscillation significantly affect infectious disease, raised by Rita R. Colwell (Association Affairs, 20 Dec., p <jats:related-article xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" page="2025" related-article-type="in-this-issue" vol="275" xlink:type="simple">2025</jats:related-article> ) in the context of cholera outbreaks, is supported by recent findings from veterinary, entomological, and botanical epidemiology ( <jats:xref ref-type="bibr">1</jats:xref> , <jats:xref ref-type="bibr">2</jats:xref> ). </jats:p> <jats:p> Botanical epidemiologists have found that plant systems have unique advantages for macro-scale, long-term epidemiological studies. Weather and climate are important driving forces affecting plant disease development. For example, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's annual cereal rust survey, a program started in 1917 to monitor rust outbreaks over North America, accumulates time series of disease intensity, yield loss, and races of rust fungi in cereal crops ( <jats:xref ref-type="bibr">3</jats:xref> ). With these data, consistent and significant coherence patterns between El Niño and wheat rust intensity have been found in both the Eastern and Western hemispheres ( <jats:xref ref-type="bibr">2</jats:xref> ). </jats:p> <jats:p>Studies of El Niño-disease associations and their underlying mechanisms could lead to the development of early warning systems. Colwell advocates the use of satellite surveillance for predicting cholera outbreaks, while others propose using El Niño forecasts for malaria alerts (4). Outbreaks of wheat scab in eastern China can be predicted successfully 4 months in advance by measuring sea surface temperatures in the central Pacific (R2 = 0.86; P &lt; 0.001) (5); the mechanism for this association is thought to be the El Niño-dependent advance of the summer monsoon through East Asia, whereby increased precipitation causes increased infection by the scab pathogen. El Niño-disease studies are important also in the context of climate change research: infectious diseases driven by multiyear climatic cycles are likely to respond to slow, decadal changes in climate as well.</jats:p>

<jats:p>Methods for “disposing of excess military plutonium” are advocated. A writer from Chile suggests how his nation might better “channel the scientific creativity of talented scientists.” Researchers find that “weather and climate” are important forces “driving” plant disease. Interactions “between carbon dioxide and nitrogen enrichment” in grassland ecosystems are discussed. And are “wayward” grizzlies facing a threat from politics?</jats:p>

<jats:p> Science is essential for developing countries. It contributes to their cultural growth and quality of life and permits the transfer of creative applications of knowledge to solve major problems that prevent the global development of these countries. Indicators reveal that Chile is in a leading position in terms of scientific productivity per capita in Latin America (Science in Latin America, 10 Feb. 1995, <jats:related-article xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" page="819" related-article-type="in-this-issue" vol="275" xlink:type="simple">p. 819</jats:related-article> ). Part of this growth can be explained by an 8.7% increase in gross industrial product invested in science and the effects of the National Fund for Scientific and Technological Development established in the early 1980s by the National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research (CONICYT). This system guarantees the maintenance of basic research activity. However, several outstanding laboratories have research programs that generate most of the Chilean research contribution recognized worldwide, and they require additional stimulus if they are to have any impact on Chile's development. </jats:p> <jats:p>The main problem has been how to channel the scientific creativity of talented scientists so they can express their full potential. A ray of hope emerged 2 years ago when CONICYT proposed a plan to add renewed energy to the gradually growing process to open up possibilities for a more significant participation of Chilean scientists in the world. Unfortunately, this plan did not succeed because the interests of particular groups prevailed. The idea of stimulating the strongest research teams was transformed into a “presidential chair” system emanating from the presidential office instead of CONICYT.</jats:p> <jats:p>CONICYT is the only national agency for science in Chile, with a structure and organization that have led to a long-standing record of peer-reviewing proposals and tracking investigators' accomplishments. But with decisions in the hands of a study section made up of members of a presidential advisory committee (with the help of a panel of one representative foreign scientist per area), the “presidential chairs” in most cases were not awarded to Chile's most talented scientists.</jats:p> <jats:p>An obvious strategy to foster scientific growth in countries like Chile is to stimulate those groups of investigators and laboratories that have demonstrated that they are highly competitive in their fields and that they have surmounted the difficulties of carrying out science in Latin America. The “presidential chairs” system, however, is an example of how a significant investment in science can fail to reach its objective when inappropriate evaluation systems are in place and scientific quality is not considered a major goal.</jats:p>

<jats:p> In a Random Samples item “More private funding for Alzheimer's” (3 Jan., p <jats:related-article xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" ext-link-type="doi" page="35" related-article-type="in-this-issue" vol="275" xlink:href="10.1126/science.275.5296.35a" xlink:type="simple">35</jats:related-article> ), Marcelle Morrison-Bogorad's affiliation was incorrectly stated. She is at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. </jats:p> <jats:p> Wade Roush's Research News article “Fly sex drive traced to fru gene” (13 Dec., <jats:related-article xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" page="1836" related-article-type="in-this-issue" vol="275" xlink:type="simple">p. 1836</jats:related-article> ) should have noted that Don Gailey led a 1991 study on the role of the <jats:italic>fru</jats:italic> gene in regulating a fruit fly muscle. </jats:p> <jats:p> The Perspective “High anxiety” by David Goldman (29 Nov., <jats:related-article xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" page="1483" related-article-type="in-this-issue" vol="275" xlink:type="simple">p. 1483</jats:related-article> ) contained two errors. The last sentence of the first paragraph should have been deleted. In the next sentence, the long allele should have been described as containing a 44-base pair (not amino acid) insertion. </jats:p> <jats:p> In Jocelyn Kaiser's 8 November News &amp; Comment article “Panel finds EMFs pose no threat” ( <jats:related-article xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" page="910" related-article-type="in-this-issue" vol="275" xlink:type="simple">p. 910</jats:related-article> ), Richard Luben should have been identified as a biochemist. </jats:p> <jats:p> In column two of the first page of the report “Promotion of mitochondrial membrane complex assembly by a proteolytically inactive yeast Lon” by M. Rep et al., (4 Oct., <jats:related-article xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" page="103" related-article-type="in-this-issue" vol="275" xlink:type="simple">p. 103</jats:related-article> ), the numbering of the mutagenized serine residue “Ser <jats:sup>1040</jats:sup> ” was incorrect. It should have been “Ser <jats:sup>1015</jats:sup> .” Throughout the same report, the numbering of the mutated gene “LON S1040A” should have been “LON S1015A.” </jats:p>