Trained as a microbiologist, Ken Nealson pursues many interdisciplinary endeavors. He was a pioneer in the field of geomicro-biology and has worked on astrobiology and microbial fuel cells. He holds posts at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and the J. Craig Venter Institute in San Diego, where he uses genomics to survey microbial diversity in the oceans. He recently spoke with Science News managing editor Eva Emerson. Tell me about “electromicrobiology.” I think in 20 years, this may well be a major field. What we’re learning about is the ability of microbes to ... (p. 32)

Not everyone knows about Science for Peace and Security, a NATO committee with a small budget that focuses on funding civil science projects with applications to countering threats. The committee’s goal is developing high-quality knowledge in various areas relevant to antiterrorism, to other threats to security or to the priorities of the Partner Countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union and of the Mediterranean Dialogue countries. Among current SPS projects is Virtual Silk Highway, or SILK-2, a multi-year NATO computer networking project which began early this millennium t... (p. 36)

Astronomer and author Stephen P. Maran recently retired from 25 years as press officer for the American Astronomical Society. He also worked at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., for more than 35 years. Known for his Einsteinian hair, along with his quips and insightful comments at press briefings that drew record crowds, Maran spoke with Science News writer Ron Cowen about his experiences in astronomy and public outreach. How can NASA and astronomers better communicate discoveries? There should be more conference calls, more use of Skype and webcasting for press bri... (p. 32)

A Harvard Medical School physician and sleep researcher says rules should be changed to make sure physicians-in-training get the sleep they need. (p. 36)

In December, climate scientists, policy makers and other representatives of 192 nations will convene at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. In advance of that meeting, Science News earth sciences writer Sid Perkins spoke with Richard A. Bradley, head of the Energy Efficiency and Environment Division of the International Energy Agency in Paris. An intergovernmental organization that counts 28 industrialized nations as members, the IEA analyzes and facilitates global energy policy. What is the purpose of December’s United Nations meeting? The Kyoto Protocol, which p... (p. 32)

Developmental psychologist Andrew Meltzoff codirects the Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle. In the July 17 Science, Meltzoff and his colleagues published a paper titled “Foundations for a New Science of Learning.” Meltzoff recently spoke with Science News writer Bruce Bower. What does the science of learning tell us about the nature of intelligence? People sometimes think of intelligence as a reflection of individual problem-solving skills. But we’re increasingly realizing that humans have special brain and cognitive mechanisms for s... (p. 32)

Murray Gell-Mann, winner of the 1969 Nobel Prize in physics for his work on elementary particles (see Page 24 in this issue), was one of the originators of the Santa Fe Institute, an interdisciplinary research center in New Mexico that is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. Gell-Mann recently addressed a group of about 150 high school students gathered at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J., for Adventures of the Mind, a biennial summit for academically outstanding 15- to 18-year-olds. Gell-Mann described the origins of and philosophy behind the Santa Fe Institute’s a... (p. 32)

Clyde W. Yancy, a cardiologist and medical director of the Baylor Heart and Vascular Institute in Dallas, became national president of the American Heart Association on July 1. He recently spoke with Science News writer Nathan Seppa. Dramatic gains in cardiovascular care in the United States risk being negated by an epidemic of obesity, diabetes and other conditions. How do you see us navigating these crosscurrents? This is the dichotomy of influences under which we currently exist in the cardiovascular community. Heart disease and stroke continue to be leading causes of death in this cou... (p. 32)

In January, toxicologist Linda S. Birnbaum became director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, home to the National Toxicology Program, in Research Triangle Park, N.C. Birnbaum recently spoke with Science News writer Rachel Ehrenberg. What areas would you like to see the institute zoom in on? One of the things I’ve been really working on is to increase our interaction with various federal partners as well as trying to involve the larger community in our actions and our activities. Scientists need to do a better job of helping the general public understand what we... (p. 32)

Watch your language! It’s a common message from Eugenie Scott, a physical anthropologist and director of the National Center for Science Education (www.ncseweb.org), an organization dedicated to promoting and defending the teaching of evolution in public schools. Scott recently spoke with Science News writer Susan Milius. So you urge scientists not to say that they “believe” in evolution?! Right. What your audience hears is more important than what you say.… What [people] hear is that evolution is a belief, it’s an opinion, it’s not well-substantiated science. And that is somet... (p. 32)

In a 2006 book that garnered much press for its silly attacks on string theory, author and physicist Lee Smolin provides a list of “The Five Great Problems in Theoretical Physics.” There are many offensive things about this list, starting with the use of the definite article in the title, which implies that people not working on these problems (the majority of theoretical physicists) are working on less-than-great problems. But to me the most offensive thing is that only one of the five problems, I believe, could eventually be resolved by experiment. Most physicists don’t consider a... (p. 32)

In a “passing of the torch” ceremony, a panel of prominent scientists answered questions from some of the more than 1,500 high school student finalists at this year’s Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, which was held in Reno, Nev. Society for Science & the Public, publisher of Science News, has administered the fair since its inception in 1950. The May 12 panel addressed issues ranging from renewable energy to intelligent extraterrestrial life and included Nobel Prize winners Dudley Herschbach, Leon M. Lederman, Peter Agre, Douglas Osheroff and Martin Chalfie, among ot... (p. 32)

One hundred years ago (in 1908), a group of higher educators launched a new professional master’s degree called the MBA. Their aim: to meet the anticipated needs of 20th century business, which would be characterized, they thought, not by product specialty but by bigness. Today, MBA programs graduate about 90,000 students per year and are considered to have provided a singular advantage to American business. Will the Professional Science Master’s, the science-based professional degree created nine decades after the MBA, manage to meet the needs of 21st century private and public enterpr... (p. 32)

On April 14, the National Science Board released a draft report called “Building a Sustainable Energy Future,” offering advice on how the United States can transition to renewable and clean sources of energy. Dan Arvizu, the cochairman of the board’s task force on sustainable energy and director of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo., recently talked with staff writer Laura Sanders about U.S. energy policy. Only about 7 percent of the nation’s energy comes from renewable sources. How urgent is it that we increase that? We really need to be moving very quickly... (p. 32)

I was tickled when Rick Fienberg, then editor of Sky & Telescope magazine, stood up at a special session at the August 2006 meeting of the International Astronomical Union in Prague, grabbed the microphone and proclaimed that every person on Earth should look at the night sky through a telescope in 2009, as Galileo did 400 years earlier. Audacious? Yes! Appropriate? Absolutely! Practical? Well ... of course not! But Rick’s enthusiasm soon caught on, and it made good sense. Better sense, I thought, than the mess astronomers got themselves into over the “demotion” of Pluto a few days l... (p. 36)