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[email protected] C&EN home page: http://pubs.acs.org/cen EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Madeleine Jacobs MANAGING EDITOR: Rudy M. Baum ART DIRECTOR: Phillip Payette SENIOR CORRESPONDENTS: Lois R. Ember, Wilbert C. Lepkowski NEWS EDITOR: Janice R. Long EDITOR-AT-LARGE: Michael Heylin ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT: Patricia Oates PROGRAM ASSISTANT: Rebecca Walther BUSINESS William J. Storck, Assistant Managing Editor Northeast: (732) 9066300. Michael McCoy (Senior Editor), Marc S. Reisch (Senior Editor), Rachel Eskenazi (Administrative Assistant). Houston: (281) 486-3900, Ann M. Thayer (Bureau Head), (281) 496-6382, Paige Marie Morse (Associate Editor). Hong Kong: 852-2984-9072. Jean-François Tremblay (Associate Editor). London: 44 181 8706884. Patricia Layman (Senior Editor) GOVERNMENT David J. Hanson, Assistant Managing Editor Washington: (202) 872-4495. Bette Hileman (Senior Editor), Jeffrey W. Johnson (Senior Editor), Linda R. Raber (Associate Editor) SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY/EDUCATION Pamela S. Zurer, Assistant Managing Editor Washington: (202) 872-4505. Rebecca L. Rawls (Senior Correspondent), Stuart A. Borman (Senior Editor), Mairin B. Brennan (Senior Editor), Doron Dagani (Senior Editor), A. Maureen Rouhi (Senior Editor), Sophie L. Wilkinson (Associate Editor). Northeast: (732) 9CK>8301. Stephen C. Stinson (Senior Editor). Chicago: 073) 463-2371. Mitch Jacoby (Assistant Editor). West Coast· (510) 8490575. Elizabeth K. Wilson (Associate Editor). London: 44 1256β11052. Michael Freemantle (Senior Editor) ACS NEWS William G. Schulz (ACS News Editor), Diana L. Slade (Editorial Assistant) EDITING & PRODUCTION Ernest L. Carpenter, Assistant Managing Editor Robin M. Giroux (Senior Editor), Janet S. Dodd (Associate Editor), Arlene Goldberg-Gist (Associ ate Editor), Julie L. Grisham (Associate Editor), Ste phen K. Ritter (Associate Editor), Rita E. Johnson (Assistant Editor) GRAPHICS & PRODUCTION Linda Mattingly (Staff Artist), Composition Sys tems: Vincent L. Parker (Manager), Robin L. Braverman (Assistant) CIRCULATION Circulation Manager: Scott Nathan ADVISORY BOARD Jeannene Ackerman, Steven W. Baldwin, Ronald Breslow, Vincent A. Calarco, Marvin Cassman, Mar garet A. Cavanaugh, Debbie C. Crans, Frank L. Doug las, John G. Ekerdt, Slayton A. Evans Jr., J. Michael Fitzpatrick, Renée G. Ford, Mary L. Good, Carlos G. Gutierrez, Dudley R. Herschbach, J. Roger Hirl, Robert J. Huggett, Robert S. Langer, Robert L. Lichter, Stephen J. Lippard, Leo E. Manzer, Gary L. Mossman, Hans C. Noetzli, Jane Margaret O'Brien, Gregory A. Petsko, Douglas J. Raber, Alan Schriesheim, Ian Shott, Richard E. Smalley, Gabor A. Somorjai, Enrique J. Sosa, Kathleen C. Taylor Published by AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY (202) 872-4600; TDD (202) 872-4432 John Kistler Crum, Executive Director Robert D. Bovenschulte, Director, Publications Division EDITORIAL BOARD Michael P. Doyle (Chair); ACS Board of Directors Chair: Joan E. Shields; ACS President: Paul H. L. Walter; Paul S. Anderson, Lura J. Powell, Eisa Reichmanis, Ed Wasserman © Copyright 1998, American Chemical Society Canadian GST Reg. No. R127571347
EDITOR'S PAGE
The Birds & The Bees & The Frogs early two decades ago, I spent several days each year on Barro Colorado Island, a 4,000-acre oasis of tropical rain forest formed in 1913 when the Panama Canal was built. The first time I stepped into this teeming rain forest I was overwhelmed by the variety and interdependence of living things. How could there be so many different species of trees and shrubs, birds and bees, frogs and ants living on this tiny is land? Just consider two statistics: Barro Colorado Island has 1,369 species of plants—more than those in all of Eu rope—and 200 species of ants. Eventual ly, such abundance would be given a la bel—biodiversity. These memories camefloodingback when I had a sneak preview of a stun ning new permanent exhibition hall de voted to biodiversity opening this week at the American Museum of Natural His tory in New York City. There, one of the world's largest museum dioramas re-cre ates in meticulous detail, down to the ubiquitous beetles and leaf-cutter ants, part of an African rain forest. The exhibi tion is well worth a visit. In conjunction with the new hall, the museum and Louis Harris & Associates surveyed biologists, teachers, and the gen eral public. The survey reveals that 70% of the biologists believe that we are in the midst of a mass extinction of living things and that this loss of species will pose a major threat to human existence in the next century. They say the rate and scope of this mass extinction is the greatest in Earth's 4.5 billion-year history and, un like nearly all prior extinctions, is the result of human activity and not natural phenomena. They also rated biodiversity loss as a more serious environmental problem than global warming, pollution, or depletion of the ozone layer. On page 40 of this issue, Senior Edi tor Bette Hileman writes about an alarm ing sign of biodiversity loss: the in creased occurrence of deformities in frog populations around the world. In the past few years, some species of frogs have disappeared completely from some areas, including locations considered as protected and pristine. Scientists are not sure what is causing the deformities and population declines, but they know the deformities are hideous—extra hind legs, legs with extra parts, legs with miss
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ing parts, missing legs, bizarre skin web bings, missing eyes. If they make it past the tadpole stage, deformed frogs— because they can't escape predatorsare unlikely to live long enough to breed and replenish their populations. As Hileman reports, much research now focuses on the hypothesis that chem icals, either synthetic or natural, are induc ing the deformities by perturbingfrogde velopment. Several groups are investigat ing the theory that chemicals attach to retinoid receptors and disrupt the retinoid signaling pathway, which regulates limb development in all vertebrates, including humans. Others think organophosphate insecticides or increased ultraviolet light from ozone depletion are responsible. The matter is sufficiently unsettling that the National Science Foundation is hosting a "Workshop on Amphibian Pop ulation Declines" this week in an at tempt to "answer the question of wheth er there's any hope of rescuing the frogs, toads, and salamanders of the world be fore it's too late." Have frogs become today's canaries in the mine—early warning signals that something is seriously amiss? Scientists have long known that animals are ex tremely sensitive monitors of chemicals. For a fascinating example, turn to Senior Editor Maureen Rouhi's story on how hon eybees are helping the Army monitor a hazardous site for heavy metals and vola tile organic contaminants (see page 43). Chemistry and chemists should be in the vanguard of monitoring and under standing environmental stress and degra dation. The chemical industry also needs to do more thorough testing before in troducing new chemicals. We all must work proactively to preserve the world we inhabit. On aesthetic grounds alone, I want to live in a worldfilledwith birds and bees and frogs. On more pragmatic grounds, we never know which species will be potentially beneficial—as food sources, as valuable resources in forestry and medicine, or even as environmental monitors to help us preserve our planet. Ultimately, what happens to the animals and plants on Earth happens to us.
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Editor-in-chief
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MAY 25, 1998 C&EN 5
