IT WAS the event of the century鈥攁dmittedly it鈥檚 a brand new century and
so the bar is rather low, but it鈥檚 a big deal all the same. I鈥檓 talking, of
course, about this month鈥檚 publication of the complete sequence of the human
genome.
The big shots who run the two competing sequencing ventures, Francis Collins
of the National Institutes of Health and Craig Venter of Celera Genomics, are
talking to each other again. That鈥檚 quite an achievement, since they sent their
respective sequence databases to different publications: Collins鈥檚 public
product went to Nature, while Venter鈥檚 private one went to
Science magazine.
It鈥檚 not a superficial matter of who prefers which magazine. The NIH sequence
ends up in GenBank, the repository open to all inquirers. Venter鈥檚 complete
sequence goes to a special repository, and researchers who wish to enter must
give certain non-disclosure guarantees and other promises. This was part of a
deal brokered with Science magazine, and it raised hackles among those
who advocate unfettered access to scientific data鈥ata that in part came from
taxpayer-supported research.
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Once they get their hands on the real data, biologists may well forget the
squabbles and publicity that marked the last leg of the 鈥渞ace鈥� for the human
sequence. But the astronomy folks at NASA may not. The genome crews announced
their shining moment on the same day NASA successfully landed a probe onto an
asteroid known as Eros. In the quest for the public鈥檚 attention, a rendezvous
with a spinning chunk of interplanetary rock was no match for the mystery of
what makes you and me human.
DURING the recent presidential election, you didn鈥檛 hear a lot from George W.
Bush about science and since he became president we still don鈥檛 hear a lot about
it. Oh, there are threatening noises about banning federally sponsored work on
embryos, and yes, steps have been taken to stop funding international family
planning organisations that whisper the 鈥渁-word鈥濃�攁bortion. Science fantasy
is also getting some attention鈥攚itness the renewed interest in a ballistic
missile shield.
But science? Basic research? Not much. No word from the White House about a
new director for the National Institutes of Health鈥攁lthough the name Jack
Mendelsohn from the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, has been
bandied about. No word from Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy
Thompson about what he plans to do about biomedical research, and no one has
been appointed to head the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
Most scientists don鈥檛 know whether to be pleased the Bush Administration is
ignoring them, or concerned that they鈥檙e being cold-shouldered.
GEORGE 鈥淒UBYA鈥� BUSH hasn鈥檛 been in office but six weeks and already the
executive-suite environmentalists are on the march. Bush and his friends in the
oil business have always been anathema to conservationists. Now, with
Californian power companies going bankrupt trying to get enough electricity, the
drilling enthusiasts have a cause c茅l猫bre to rally support for
projects that were once viewed as unacceptable.
Top of that list is proposed drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
in Alaska, America鈥檚 last great wilderness. There鈥檚 oil there, and Bush is using
the panic in California to justify drilling. Never mind that it鈥檚 mostly coal,
hydro and nuclear that makes electricity in the US, not oil. Enviros also have
another leak to put out: the Californian crisis has spurred new talk about
reviving the moribund business of building nuclear power plants.
There鈥檚 a silver lining here, though. The fear that Republicans will rape the
land will probably spur donors to add a zero or two to their cheques to the
environmental groups, as it did when Ronald Reagan was president.