Table of Contents - March 1, 2004

NEWS OF THE WEEK
			HOMELAND SECURITY DHS Secretary Tom Ridge assesses department as it turns age one.
			AKZO DOWNSIZES Citing declining demand, Diosynth unit is scaling back its pharmaceutical ingredients capacity.
			NANORING SLINKY Georgia Tech team coaxes zinc oxide nanoribbons into single crystal rings.
			VISA ISSUES Federal officials promise to improve process for foreign science students and scholars.
			BIOTECH FIRM DONATED Rohm and Haas gives RheoGene to University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
			SHINY SURFACES Fluorescent labels allow detection of tiny amounts of surface bound molecules.
			SEED CONTAMINATION Transgenic DNA is found in seeds of many nonengineered varieties of corn, soybeans, and canola.
			EU TOXICS REGISTER New European pollution database is analogous to U.S. Toxics Release Inventory.
			CLIMATE CRISIS SCENARIO Rapid global change could challenge U.S. national security Pentagon report warns.

COVER STORY

DRUG DELIVERY
Companies emphasize products over platforms and are positioning their technologies earlier in the drug development timeline.

COVER: Courtesy of TransForm Pharmaceuticals

BUSINESS

BUSINESS CONCENTRATES

BUYER BEWARE
Concerns over worker safety and environmental protection force questionable producers in China and India to clean up their act.

CEFIC FINE CHEMICALS
Specialty chemicals is now an official product sector of the European Chemical Industry Council.

ISOCHEM'S GOAL
Firm has cut costs and shifted operations downstream to become one of the top 10 global fine chemicals firms.

GOVERNMENT & POLICY

GOVERNMENT CONCENTRATES

BUSH'S SPACE PLAN
President announces new vision for NASA's mission to the moon and beyond.

ANNISTON ARSENAL
Facility struggles to dispose of aging rockets filled with the nerve agent GB.

SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY

SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY CONCENTRATES

BORON: ANYTHING BUT BORING
Chemists and physicists explore planar all-boron clusters.

DISCODERMOLIDE
Marine natural product that inhibits tumor cell growth is synthesized industrially.

NANOSTRUCTURED RESINS
Researchers have prepared catalysts that outperform their amorphous resin counterparts.