Sharing research tools is a tradition worth defending: Increasingly tough conditions being attached to the transfer of experimental tools between researchers are threatening science's tradition of open communication. Agreement on optimal terms would help all side.s

Article Abstract:

Research tools in the physical science arena that have undergone painstaking development cannot be reproduced easily, but in biology tools that are difficult to produce can be easy to replicate, due to methods such as cloning and the polymerase chain reaction. This is the case with the plasmid bacterial DNA molecules. Sharing materials is now the norm amongst biologists, but there is concern that some researchers will only share their materials when their competitive advantage is not threatened. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recommends the widespread adoption of uniform materials transfer agreements.

Usage, Research

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Limits on growth rates

Article Abstract:

The quantity of carbon dioxide (CO2) available for photosynthesis acts as a natural constraint on the rate of primary production by marine phytoplankton. U. Riebesell and colleagues combined experimental work with computer models to determine that the rate at which CO2 enters the oceans from the atmosphere limits the growth of phytoplankton and the generation of inorganic compounds that are by-products of CO2 fixation in the oceans.

Models, Primary productivity (Biology), Growth, Marine phytoplankton

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The limits of sharing

Article Abstract:

Issues concerning President Bill Clinton's offer to share US missile defence technology with other countries are discussed. The differences between perceptions of the missile defence issue in the US and Europe are considered.

International aspects, Defense programs, Ballistic missile defenses

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