Opinion in 1987

European members of the European Space Agency are preparing for yet another crisis meeting. What they and their agency need is a proper sense of what can usefully be done in this novel field.

Those seeking a scapegoat for the past week's stock market crash had better blame the President.

The US Congress is locked in its annual struggle over the budget. Although the outcome is not yet clear, there are good reasons why researchers should take a closer interest.

Mr. Amadou M'bow as director-general for a third term is a recipe to put UNESCO out of business.

Can advertising companies, which are so adept at changing consumer behaviour, persuade people to alter their lifestyles to thwart the spread of the AIDS virus?

Peter Medawar should be remembered as much as a writer as for his contributions to immunology

Dealing with scientific fraud is likely to be an unpleasant process for accused and accuser alike. The only solution lies in well conceived methods of procedure.

Britain is learning again that private monopolies can be as unlikeable as nationalized industries.

The International Commission on Radiological Protection has been the unaccustomed target of public criticism for several months. The critics are wrong, but the commission needs to mend its ways.

For those with a sense of history, last week's report on US engineering is a chilling read.

This week's continuation of last year's protests at the presence of South African archaeologists at an international conference should remind the rest of us of unfinished business.

The British Association talked bravely last week about saving British science. What might it do?

The US Congress, making heavy weather of rules to outlaw insider trading, can learn from science.

The British research community appears to be awakening to the radicalism of its government's new plans. Prudence requires that the outlines should be accepted, but the details cry out for argument.

Rich and poor countries seem nearer to an under-standing on mutual assistance, but will it stick?

The continuing dispute in the United States about licences for two completed nuclear plants points to a failure to reconcile local and national interests — and to the need for federal leadership.

Britain's National Space Centre should be put on the back burner for a few decades.