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The British are a fitfully impulsive lot. Having let their universities and other research institutions moulder for years, they now propose to engineer a revolution in them.
Astronomers hanker after the notion that the density of the Universe is the minimum required to prevent indefinite expansion, but the evidence is not all on their side.
The West German system of Sonderforschungsbereiche—special programme grants—has been in operation for 20 years. The system is unique and has many advantages.
