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Science 7 April 2006:
Vol. 312. no. 5770, p. 37
DOI: 10.1126/science.312.5770.37b
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ScienceScope

After a slow start, a U.S. advisory panel set up to prevent the results of federally funded biology research from being used by terrorists has put out two draft proposals. The National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity has aired a report on so-called dual-use experiments and drafted guidelines to help journals screen papers.

India has joined the government steering committee of a U.S. project to build a $1 billion advanced coal plant that sequesters carbon dioxide and produces hydrogen (design below). Meanwhile, 22 sites in nine states have said they plan to compete for the plant, called FutureGen. Proposals are due 4 May.

Figure 1
CREDIT: U.S. DOE
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court heard the second set of arguments in 2 weeks on patents. The cases involve patenting a scientific concept and the power of a patent to halt a competitor (Science, 17 February, p. 946). The biotech community is closely awaiting the decisions, expected by June.

Ending a 2-year battle, France's National Assembly this week gave final passage to a research reform bill. Researchers are disappointed that the bill offers no guarantees that science budgets will be indexed for inflation until 2010 (Science, 24 March, p. 1693).




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