Basic Research

As manager of active equity investments at John Deere & Co., Jim Hall handles more than $100 million in pension funds for the farm equipment giant. And he's pretty good at it, thanks largely to a "neural network" computer program he wrote that searches for buying opportunities among some 1,200 stocks. What's remarkable about Hall's story, though, is that stock picking wasn't even on his mind when he created the software.

On Aug. 5, I was among those who witnessed the rover Curiosity landing on Mars in real time at NASA 's Caltech-managed Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The excitement was overwhelming: The one-ton Mars Science Laboratory broke through the Red Planet's atmosphere, slowed its speed from 13,000 mph to almost zero and touched down. One glimpse of those first images from more than 100 million miles away demonstrated America's leadership in innovation. Curiosity - the rover and the concept - is what science is all about: the quest to reveal the unknown.

Eight men and one woman--seven Americans and a Canadian--made a clean sweep for North America of this year's Nobel Prizes in physics, chemistry and medicine (and literature), awarded Friday in Stockholm. It would be easy to conclude that American science is not merely healthy, but dominant in the world. It would also be wrong. Basic research, the work that wins Nobel Prizes and ultimately spins off products that improve life and create jobs, is on a steep slide to mediocrity in this country.

Here is a primer on the mechanics of dividend-focused investing, and answers to some common questions investors may have. Are stock dividend yields near historical highs? No. The average dividend yield of the Standard & Poor's 500 index stocks now is 2%. That's up from the record low of 1.1% in early 2000, but well below the average yield of about 5% in the late 1970s. Compared with short-term interest rates near zero and high-quality bond yields in low single digits, however, the yields of 2.5% to 4% on some of the most popular dividend-paying shares look relatively attractive — with the caveat that stocks always carry the risk of principal loss.

According to an article in The Times (May 25), the United States is drifting aimlessly without a definite program for space exploration. Many scientists blame the top managers of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. I would suggest that the real cause is that the United States, in its insane drive toward military supremacy, is more interested in the militarization of space than it is in basic research. SOL LONDE Bel-Air

Bravo on your editorial realistically appraising the state of Star Wars and suggesting a course for future funding, i.e., basic research only. Unfortunately, the aerospace-defense lobby will not permit Congress to cut its allowance that much, so unless we think of an alternate plan. . . . Hey, how about the goal of a manned mission to Mars in 25 years? LEMAR CUSO Santa Monica

Directors of the nation's science agencies have been comforted by recent congressional support--from both Republicans and Democrats--for big boosts in the nation's annual spending on scientific research and development. Only a year ago Congress and the Clinton administration were threatening to slash science funding to trim the federal deficit. Now Washington can be generous because the national deficit has dwindled.

IIn 1945, Vannevar Bush, a pragmatic engineer who had been Franklin Roosevelt's science advisor during World War II, submitted a report to President Truman that was destined to serve as the cornerstone of postwar science policy. In "Science, the Endless Frontier," Bush argued that the national interest demanded federal investment in research performed in universities--basic research that would ultimately lay the groundwork for new products and new processes for industry.

Re "NIH to Ban Deals With Drug Firms," Feb. 1: Although revisiting the concerns about potential ethical conflict caused by allowing NIH's resident scientists to accept outside income from for-profit entities is laudable and long overdue, the absolute forbidding of consulting work may activate the law of unintended consequences. The NIH, the premier biomedical research organization in the world, has some of the most knowledgeable and productive scientists in specific areas of basic research that lead to improvements for all of us. As governmental employees, they accept remuneration far below that which can be achieved in the private sector.

Ben Horowitz, who guided the City of Hope from a relatively small tuberculosis hospital to a world-renowned cancer and medical research center, has died. He was 96. Horowitz died Saturday of natural causes at his Los Angeles home, the center announced. He was a young New York City lawyer dedicated to helping the disenfranchised when he decided to join what became known as the City of Hope, based in Duarte, in 1945. Instead of reshaping the world, Horowitz told The Times in 1986, he realized he could make a bigger contribution by taking on "just the pasture right behind me. " From 1953 through 1985, Horowitz was chief executive of the City of Hope, shepherding the institution through a dynamic era of growth.

Re "Targeted shots," editorial, April 1 As The Times points out, the best future for HIV vaccine research lies "in the laboratory and in narrower trials." But we should look beyond large vaccine candidate studies and ensure that human trials remain an integral part of the search for a safe and effective HIV vaccine. To date, HIV vaccine science has been hampered by our inability to accurately gauge a candidate's potential until it enters large-scale trials. After 25 years of research, we still know far too little about the complexities of the AIDS virus and the human immune system.

Francoise Barre-Sinoussi was a research associate at the Pasteur Institute in Paris when she was the first to detect the human immunodeficiency virus in 1983. She has studied the virus ever since. Barre-Sinoussi, 58, is now head of one of the institute's retroviral research groups. * PARIS -- The retroviral group begins gathering at 10 a.m. for its usual Friday meeting. Up on the screen is a picture of a spiky AIDS virus surrounded by immune cells.

UC Irvine has been awarded a $40-million federal grant to research infectious diseases and bioterrorism. The grant, to be distributed over four years by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is the largest in UCI's 40-year history and will fund the establishment of the Pacific-Southwest Center for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research, university officials said.

Re "NIH to Ban Deals With Drug Firms," Feb. 1: Although revisiting the concerns about potential ethical conflict caused by allowing NIH's resident scientists to accept outside income from for-profit entities is laudable and long overdue, the absolute forbidding of consulting work may activate the law of unintended consequences. The NIH, the premier biomedical research organization in the world, has some of the most knowledgeable and productive scientists in specific areas of basic research that lead to improvements for all of us. As governmental employees, they accept remuneration far below that which can be achieved in the private sector.

Stop. Back away from the test tube, slowly. Turn off the DNA sequencer and come out of the lab with your hands up. Get back in the classroom, where you belong. Public enthusiasm for university professors conducting research in addition to teaching undergraduates seems to have hit a new low. Articles appear every week assailing "pork" projects, spendthrift boondoggles that are generally defined as such because a writer thinks the research topic sounds ridiculous.

When science Nobelists make public-policy pronouncements, they are likely to be scientifically sophisticated and politically naive. But 25 American winners of the prize in physics have bravely entered the political fray in Washington over Republican efforts to abolish the Department of Commerce.

If President George Bush's science budget proposal for the coming fiscal year survives congressional scrutiny intact, taxpayers will be supporting basic science to the tune of $8.5 billion, inarguably a lot of money. The National Science Foundation, the agency financing much of the basic research performed in this country, will see its first major real-dollar increase in several years. Still, these are not fat times for basic science.

Drug company funding is corrupting medical research. The proportion of research and development financed by the biomedical industry has almost doubled in the last two decades. Several recent studies show that the industry's increasing clout is turning once-independent-minded university scientists into mere marketing tools for new drugs.

Troubled Xerox Corp. said Tuesday that it will turn its famed Palo Alto Research Center into an independent company Jan. 1 in an effort to keep the lab afloat while the copier maker focuses on its core growth areas. But analysts are pessimistic about PARC's prospects under the nebulous plan. With an annual budget of $70 million and a historical focus on blue-sky research, PARC has become a luxury that money-losing Xerox can no longer afford on its own.