Archorpterix

What would you like the Bush Administration to do? Ideally, I would like to see the Administration paint of vision of where we need to be going. I guess that’s what is lacking: the failure of a vision. … It should be similar to what President Kennedy did for sending a man to the moon, and what President Eisenhower did after Sputnik. Everybody knows what is missing. But you need to explain whatthis means to the country. Or do you want all the jobs to leave this country, and have China become the dominant world power? The Chinese government is spying against us, and its government is throwing Catholic priests and Protestant clergy in jail and is plundering Tibet. Is that who you want to lead the world in innovation? I think most people would say no. … This country needs to do something tomake sure that the jobs don’t go abroad, that we do something to improve math and science education. We have to pay teachers more and make sure our youngsters have real math and science teachers. You can’t stop the opposition. You can’t stop a youngster in Romania from wanting to be involved in the American dream. So we have to make sure that we have good students, well-trained teachers, greatuniversities, and the proper tax policy to foster research. Speaking of teachers, do you think that the debate about intelligent design … I’m not going to go there. I don’t think that it’s even part of this process. We’re talking about funding. … But many scientists are worried that it might affect public attitudes toward science. No, I don’t think so. … What’s going to make a difference is improvingscience and math education. I think that ID is a n ew s s t o r y, a n d i t ’s s o m e t h i n g t h a t journalists like to write about. But it’s not the real issue. Why doesn’t the Administration share your vision [on what the U.S.needs to do to remain competitive]? Do they disagree with you, or do other things have a higher priority? I think they are bogged down with other things. The waragainst terrorism is very important. Recovering from Katrina and Rita, too. And I don’t know that up until earlier in the year, that there were quite the facts [available] to describe the problem. … But my sense is that now, I’m hopeful that this will become a priority in the [next] budget that’s submitted. You can’t just do things with words. You need deeds, too. … Most of what has to be done shouldbe relatively noncontroversial. The costs are not large.
–JEFFREY MERVIS AND ELI KINTISCH

Pa l e o n t o l o g y
On show.The new fossil of Archaeopteryx will join this Camarasaurus and other Jurassic dinosaurs in the Wyoming Dinosaur Center.

Best Archaeopteryx Fossil So Far Ruffles a Few Feathers
By acquiring a dream fossil, a privately owned museum hopes to boost its scientificreputation—but some paleontologists remain skeptical When the first Archaeopteryx fossil emerged from Bavaria’s Solnhofen limestone in 1861, the slab of rock electrified the scientific world. Sporting birdlike feathers but the teeth and tail of a dinosaur, the magpie-sized creature shed light on the origin of birds and bolstered defenders of Darwin’s Origin of Species, published just 2 years before. Overthe next century, six more skeletons turned up in the same rocks and won pride of place in some of the most prestigious natural history museums of Europe. Now there is one more in the flock, and it’s causing a flap. On page 1483, paleoornithologist Gerald Mayr of the Senckenberg Natural History Museum in Frankfurt, Germany, and colleagues describe the best preserved Archaeopteryx yet. “By allmeasures, it is a treasure,” says Peter Dodson of the University of Pennsylvania. Unlike its predecessors, however, this one is heading not for a major urban museum but to a small, privately owned museum in Thermopolis, Wyoming (population 2953). And some paleontologists say it deserves better. The new specimen is undeniably worldclass. The skull further links Archaeopteryx to its close dinosaur...