Programmes for Euro science

The European Science Foundation is to launch eight new scientific programmes in the physical, life, medical and social sciences and the humanities. The new programmes run for four to five years from January. They are: the assessment of the impacts of genetically modified plants; linking community and ecosystem ecology; challenges in molecular simulations; bridging the length and time-scale gap; experimental and theoretical investigation of complex polymer structures; quantum information theory and quantum computation; vortex matter in superconductors at extreme scales and conditions; social variations in health expectancy in Europe; and cultural exchange in Europe, circa1400 - circa 1700. The new networks supplement eight announced earlier in November. ESF supports them by helping with workshops, exchange visits and information dissemination.