Spring 1999 Newleter

NCSWA SPRING MEETING: HYENAS? IN BERKELEY?

"Hyenas and the physiological substrates of behavior."  That was the topic that drew some 60 NCSWAns to our March 30 dinner. Our speaker was Professor Stephen E. Glickman of the University of California at Berkeley's Integrative Biology Department.

Glickman is the co-leader of a study that looks at the influence of hormones on behavior and morphology, particularly with regards to sexual differentiation. At the Field Station for Behavioral Research in the hills above the UC Berkeley campus, Glickman and his colleague, Paul Licht, maintain a colony of spotted hyenas. Female spotted hyenas are the most highly "masculinized" of all female mammals in terms of genital development and aggressive behavior. Within spotted hyena society, adult females totally dominate adult males in all social interactions. Through the study of the Berkeley hills hyena colony, Glickman and his colleagues are answering questions concerning the roles of androgen and other hormonal and neural substrates on the behavioral nature of female and male mammals.

NEWS ABOUT NCSWANS

Bruni Kobbe, long-time NCSWAn and former NCSWA secretary, is moving to greener pastures -- those of Mendocino County. She intends to immerse herself in the wine industry there. Thanks to cyberspace, she'll keep in touch and can still be reached at her old e-mail address.

Kim Loos, dentist wife of NCSWAn Brad Loos, has developed a free educational multimedia dental software for children as well as an extensive library of dental questions and answers in collaboration with ParentsPlace.com and iVillage.com. She hosts live dental chats every Monday at 7-8 pm PST in ParentsForum2 on http://www.parentsplace.com/expert/dentist/. . The software was recently featured on KNTV and BayTV.

JOBS: Editor for Healthcare Web Site A well-funded Internet start-up company that will provide pharmaceutical and healthcare information to consumers, seeks an editor to be the "voice" of the web site. The content is being produced by expert physicians and pharmacists, and will link to a fully active on-line pharmacy. The ideal candidate would have experience as an editor with a significant medical background. Minimum requirements include a college degree, four years of professional writing experience with at least one year of editorial responsibility and an ability to work well as part of an energetic team. Positions available for freelance or full time work. EOE. S. Steber, Express Scripts-ValueRx. 3801 Ultra Comp Dr., Earth City, MO 63045. Fax (314)770-9149. ssteber@express-scripts.com

SPECIAL EVENT:  For those of you interested in more information about SLAC's B-factory (which some 25 NCSWAns were to have toured on February 27th), take a look at Rob Irion's article in New Scientist, online at http://www.newscientist.com/ns/19990206/thelopside.html

MEETINGS: The American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society, will hold its spring national meeting Sunday, March 21 through Thursday, March 25, at the Anaheim convention center and nearby hotels.

Findings to be discussed range from the latest research on how to treat obesity to the use of geochemicals in detecting extraterrestrial life. An estimated 5,000 scientific papers will be presented to the approximately 10,000 attendees.

The meeting is open to the media and a full service press room will be located in the Anaheim Hilton. A more complete schedule will be available from the ACS web site after January 25 and can be accessed at http://www.acs.org/meetings/anaheim.   Reporters seeking to make arrangements to cover the meeting should contact Sally Pecor at the ACS Office of Communications at s_pecor@acs.org.

The topics include:

	Is beer better in a cold, wet glass bottle or in a shiny plastic container?
	Frontiers in color chemistry. Are the primary colors really red, yellow and blue?
	The color behind the color in televisions, video monitors and printing.
	Environmental chemistry and its applications to household and industrial waste products
	Obesity and diet; new findings on how fat is treated in the body that could help dieters as well as heart disease patients
	Engineering plants for pest resistance
	New drinking water research on what comes out of the tap from natural organic matter to disinfectants by-products

SCIENCE SPEAKS: City Arts and Lectures and the California Academy of Sciences is hosting a continuing series of Conversations at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco. Next up is biologist Richard Dawkins (The Selfish Gene) on March 11. The series continues with guests Peter Matthiessen, Donald & Lillian Stokes, and Diane Ackerman. For ticket information contact City Box Office at (415) 392-4400.

YOUR NCSWA NEWS: If you have any suggestions for the newsletter, for upcoming meetings, or any news, please email Jane Stevens at jesteven@dcn.davis.ca.us.

SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE SPEAKERS: Any suggestions for our future speakers? If so send them to Lynn Yarris, our program chair at lcyarris@lbl.gov.