This article calls for a more intimate relation between industry and academia. It discusses the essential features of the U.S. research and development system, looking at characteristics of industrial research and of academic research as they might affect a partnership. (author/BB)

Although Congress did not implement an 1849 plan similar to President Nixon's recent proposal for rewards to stimulate innovations in areas of public concern, all of the inventions thought necessary at that time have now been made. (AL)

Energy storage, considered by some scientists to be the best technological and economic advancement after advanced nuclear power, still rates only modest funding for research concerning the development of advanced technologies. (PEB)

Describes the main import of Senate Bill 32 which includes measures to assist the retraining and employment of scientists and engineers and broadens the purposes of the National Science Foundation by creating the Civil Science Systems Administration. (AL)

Public interest in health is very high in 1978. This situation provides a powerful stimulus for the life sciences. A wide spectrum of research is needed to meet long-range health problems. (Author/BB)

Discusses the need to provide a set of indices of environmental quality that aggregate and summarize available data, indicates the deficiencies in the data base that could be rectified by alternate data collection techniques, and describes progress toward the goal. (AL)

An account is given of the latest developments in the attempt by the California state government to exercise greater control over allocation of research funds within the University of California system. (MP)

Discusses existing and possible models for the promotion of cooperative research between industry and universities, some of which also involve state and federal funding of basic research. Urges experiementation to determine the effectiveness of the models as large scale industrial laboratories are eliminated. (AL)

Data from the Third Annual Report of the United States Council of Environmental Quality are used in an editorial advocating the use of some of the money committed to cleaning air and water to create a more adequate knowledge base for action. (AL)

Reviews the proposed 1979 federal budget for basic research for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Department of Defense, and Department of Energy. (SL)