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The new batch of changes to procedures for selecting competitive grants is one of many recent welcome improvements to Japan's university research system. But it is by no means adequate.
The Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare is again considering legalization of steroid oral contraceptives. Approval could greatly reduce the incidence of abortion in Japan, which is at least twice that officially reported.
Geophysicists have come to believe that the Earth was covered with a thick crust more than four billion years ago. New measurements challenge that theory, indicating the importance of crustal destruction in Earth's early history.
Genome sequencing is leading to the discovery of new genes at a rate 50–100 times greater than that achieved by classical genetics, but the biological function of almost half of these genes is completely unknown. In order fully to exploit genome sequence data, a systematic approach to the discovery of gene function is required. Possible strategies are discussed here in the context of functional analysis in the yeast Saccfiaromyces cerevisiae, a model eukaryote whose genome sequence will soon be completed.
Manufacturers show their true colours with new separation products, such as an HPLC solvent recycler, new HIC columns, a capillary GC injector, a microflow-HPLC system and a selection of Chromatography data control systems.
