Corrections and clarifications

The photograph of Thomas Caskey that accompanied the News & Comment article "DNA fingerprinting: Academy reports" by Leslie Roberts (17 Apr., p. 300) should have been credited to Baylor College of Medicine, not Baylor University.     

Erratum

The article by Marjorie Sun "Virginia OKs rabies vaccine test" (News & Comment, 14 July, p. 126) states that the first outdoor experiment with a genetically engineered virus is expected to be conducted by the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research at Cornell University. The first outdoor test of a genetically modified virus actually took place in 1984, when Saul Kit of Baylor College tested an altered pseudorabies virus on pigs.     

Erratum

In the report "Underexpression of beta cell high K(m), glucose transporters in noninsulin-dependent diabetes" by J. H. Johnson et al. (26 Oct., p. 546), the authors' affiliations were incorrectly given. J. H. Johnson, A. Ogawa, L. Chen, T. Alam, and R. H. Unger are at the Center for Diabetes Research, University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75235 and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75216. L. Orci is at the University of Geneva School of Medicine, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland. C. B. Newgard is at the Center for Diabetes Research, University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX.     

Corrections and clarifications

In the article " Evidence found for a possible ' aggression gene' " by Virginia Morell (Research News, 18 June, p. 1722), the collaborative teams of Peter Seeburg at the University of Heidelberg, Germany; Jean Shih at the University of Southern California; and Creed W. Abell at the University of Texas, Austin, should also have been credited with cloning the human monoamine oxidase (MAO) A and B genes. Seeburg and his colleagues published their research in the July 1988 issue of the Proceedigs of the Nationl Acaderny of Sciences. Xandra Breakefield and her colleagues reported their cloning of the MAO A gene in the October 1988 issue of the Joumal of Neurochemistry. Although Breakefield's group also cloned the MAO B gene, they did not publish this research.     

Telescopes and automation

In stellar astronomy, the future of automation techniques lies in their application to the largest telescopes. In such a case, the cost of automation is small compared to that of the telescope project as a whole, and is well repaid in the savings in observing time. A "stand-alone" capability for manual operation in event of computer breakdown is usually provided for systems like this; an example is the 107-inch (272-cm) telescope under construction at the McDonald Observatory of the University of Texas, which will be associated with an IBM 1800 computer.     

Profits from precious pets

In 1998, an anonymous millionaire, hoping to clone his pet dog Missy, awarded a Texas A&M University animal scientist $2.3 million to develop the necessary techniques. Now several companies are cashing in on the boom in frozen-tissue storage of pets for future cloning.     

The varieties of sustainability

Each of four sections in this paper sketches the philosophical problems associated with a different dimension of sustainability. The untitled introductory section surveys the oft-noted discrepancies between different notions of sustainability, and notes that one element of the ambiguity relates to the different points of view taken by a participant in a system and a detached observer of the system. The second section, Sustainability as a System Describing Concept, examines epistemological puzzles that arise when one attempts to assess the truth or falsity of claims that attribute sustainability or non-sustainability. In particular, such claims generally presume bounded systems, but boundary conditions are value-laden. The third section, Sustainability as a Goal Prescribing Concept, examines puzzles that arise in attempting to define sustainability in normative terms. In particular, the question of whether sustainability is an intrinsic or instrumental value is examined. The final section, Sustainability and Bliss, offers an analysis of the moral responsibilities that human beings have, given the fact that knowledge of conditions for achieving sustainability can never be complete.Paul Thompson was President of the Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society during 1990 and 1991. He now directs the Center for Biotechnology Policy and Ethics, Institute of Biosciences and Technology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX. He is also Professor of Philosophy and of Agricultural Economics at Texas A&M. His bookThe Ethics of Aid and Trade (Cambridge: 1992, Cambridge U. Press) reviews the alleged conflict of interest between U. S. farmers and efforts that would increase the productivity of agriculture in developing countries.     

Antagonistic Synergy: Process and Paradox in the Development of New Agricultural Antimicrobial Regulations

There is currently great controversy over the contribution antimicrobial use in animal agriculture has made to antimicrobial resistance in pathogenic bacteria with negative consequences for human health. In light of this, the approval process for antimicrobials used in US animal agriculture, known as New Animal Drug Application or NADA, is currently being revised by the federal government. We explore the public deliberations over the development of these new policies focusing our attention on the interaction between pharmaceutical companies and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. What appears to be an antagonistic public discourse is examined in terms of its ability to simultaneously legitimate the roles of the Food and Drug Administration as the official arbiter of policy on antimicrobial use in animal agriculture and as a protector of the public welfare, as well as the role of pharmaceutical companies as the producers of safe and effective products necessary for the protection of public well-being. Wesley R. Dean is an Assistant Research Scientist in the Institute for Science, Technology and Public Policy at Texas A & M University. His PhD is in Sociology from the University of Alberta where he wrote a dissertation on the Canadian HIV-tainted blood scandal. He is currently engaged in research on USDA-CSREES National Integrated Food Safety Initiative, a project to systematically characterize antimicrobial decision-making in US animal agriculture. H. Morgan Scott earned a DVM from the University of Saskatchewan and a Ph.D. in Epidemiology from the University of Guelph. He is an assistant professor at Texas A&M University in the Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences. He is currently conducting epidemiological research on the transference of resistant genes from swine to human host populations and he is the principal investigator on the USDA-CSREES National Integrated Food Safety Initiative.     

Book reviews

Paul Thompson is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Agricultural Economics at Texas A&M University. He is currently conducting research under a grant from the National Science Foundation, Ethics and Value Studies program on the role of ethics and values in the planning of agricultural research activities, and completing a textbook entitledEthics, Public Policy and Agiculture with Eileen Olsen VanRavenswaay and Robert Matthews slated for publication by Macmillan in 1990.     

Agrarianism and the American philosophical tradition

Paul Thompson is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Agricultural Economics at Texas A&M University. His textbookEthics, Public Policy and Agriculture, written with Eileen Olsen VanRavenswaay and Robert Matthews, will be published by Macmillan in 1991. He is currently co-editing a book with Bill Stout on agricultural research policy entitledBeyond the Large Farm. He is guest editor of this issue.     

Research misconduct. Texas scientist admits falsifying results

A University of Texas (UT) immunologist has admitted to federal officials that he falsified research results over at least a 5-year period, leaving a trail of retracted papers and disgruntled collaborators. The scientist, who resigned and has been barred from receiving federal research grants, was found to have repeatedly duped colleagues by spiking test tubes with doses of a radioactive marker that produced positive results, according to detailed reports by UT and federal investigators.     

Communal nursing in mexican free-tailed bat maternity colonies

Examination of genotypes of female-pup nursing pairs taken from large maternity colonies of the Mexican free-tailed bat in Texas demonstrates that nursing is nonrandom and selective along genetic (kinship) lines. This is contrary to previous reports that nursing in these colonies is indiscriminate. Although nursing is nonrandom, an estimated 17 percent of the females sampled were nursing pups that could not be their offspring. This "nonparental" nursing is an apparent result of the difficulties females face in consistently relocating and selectively nursing their own pups within these enormous colonies.     

Corrections and clarifications

In the Random Sample "Venuses reappear" (18 Feb., p. 923), Patricia Rice of West Virginia University is incorrectly identified as "Patricia White." Randall White of New York University is the source of quotes attributed to "White."     

Corrections and clarifications

In Elizabeth Culotta's article "Entrepreneurs say: "It's better to be the boss" (Special Section, Women in Science '93, 16 Apr., p. 406), Henry Etzkowitz was incorrectly described as a sociologist "at Rutgers University." Dr. Etzkowitz is at the State University of New York at Purchase.     

Once and future farming: Some meditations on the historical and cultural roots of sustainable agriculture in the United States

American agricultural history, literature, and thought reveal historical circumstances that have often been unfavorable to the development of a sustainable agriculture in the United States. Further critical examination of these historical and cultural roots reveals that sustainable agriculture is an evolving concept that can be traced to the tradition of agrarian idealism, scientific and organic agriculture, and the recent history of ecological ideas, beginning with the Dust Bowl and extending to the present.Carl D. Esbjornson received his Ph. D. in English, with an emphasis in American literature and culture, from the University of Iowa. He taught at the University of Iowa, Oklahoma State University, the University of South Dakota, and, for the last four years, as an assistant professor in the Department of American Thought and Language at Michigan State University. He has published articles on Wendell Berry and on recent American poetry. He is now engaged in a more extended interdisciplinary study of sustainable agriculture. He now lives in Minnesota, working as an independent scholar, free-lance writer, and an advocate for sustainable agriculture.     

Correction

In the 24 April "Inside AAAS" article "AAAS organizes more meetings of the mind" (p. 548), it is stated incorrectly that Paul Berg of Stanford University will be giving the keynote address and that Helen Donis-Keller of Washington University will be presenting a paper at the Science Innovation '92 meeting in San Francisco (21 to 25 July 1992). The Science Innovation '92 program was tentative at the time the article was written. Joseph Martin of the University of California, San Francisco, will deliver the keynote address on one of the major themes of the meeting, "Mapping the Human Brain." Helen Donis-Keller and Paul Berg were invited to speak but will not be on the program this year.     

Erratum

In the article "Park is sought to save Indian tribe in Brazil" (News and Comment, 7 Dec. 1979, p. 1160), the University of Pennsylvania is given as the affiliation of Napoleon Chagnon. This is not correct. Chagnon is a member of the faculty of Pennsylvania State University.     

Issues of academic disciplines in agricultural research

This essay examines the growing concerns about disciplinary narrowing occurring in agricultural research and the prospects of ameliorating the detrimental effects of disciplinary compartmentalization while capitalizing on its positive effects. The general model for agricultural science is that disciplinary groupings set the logic and standards for research; the disciplinary sciences are set in a hierarchical arrangement which allows communication from the relevant basic sciences through applied research into technology development and use and problem-solving. But agricultural research throughout most of its history has been goal-oriented and, therefore, is subject to ethical judgements of its worth and consequences. Also, strategic aspects of agricultural research have been subject to the evaluations and criticisms of both scientists and critics with differing interests at stake. Goals can change and organizations can be set to enable multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research, but both goals and organizations come up against values associated with the disciplinary quality of the research, the social setting of academic science, the competition for resources, and the scientific reward system. However, there are changes underway in the agricultural scientific community which may recast the impacts of disciplinary structuring: (1) changes in the disciplinary components of subject areas and departments, (2) evolution and introductions of integrative and systems sciences into the system, (3) infusion of the same new powerful tools into most of the sciences, and (4) increased networking among scientists of different disciplines. Given that scientists' values and personalities intrude in agricultural science and research strategies, the future of agricultural research may rest on the scientists' intellectual vision and philosophical awareness that go beyond the expected disciplinary limits.H. O. Kunkel is Professor of Life Sciences at the Departments of Animal Science and of Biochemistry and Biophysics of Texas A&M University. He has served as Associate Director and Director of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station and from 1967 to 1988 was Dean of Agriculture. He was jointly responsible for establishing the program in agricultural ethics at Texas A&M and has been a member of the task force on ethics in agricultural and natural resource policy of the National Agriculture and Natural Resources Curriculum Project. Professor Kunkel teaches a graduate course in issues in animal agriculture.     

Erratum

In William Booth's short article on women in science, "Oh, I thought you were a man" (News & Comment, 27 Jan., p. 475), Sallie Watkins' affiliation was incorrectly given as the University of Southern California. Her correct affiliation is the University of Southern Colorado.