-
The Golden Fleece Award: Love’s Labours Almost Lost
In 1975, I and two of my colleagues at the University of Wisconsin, Mary Utne O’Brien and Jane Traupmann Pillemer, were collaborating on a major research program. We were attempting to determine the extent to
-
What We Can Do
The Golden Fleece is a thing of the past, but the threat to our field that his Award represented is very much alive. Many in the executive and legislative branches of the federal government have
-
A Miser, Not an Ideologue
On the sullied rolls of science bashers, the late William Proxmire is firmly established as a master by virtue of his Golden Fleece Awards, for government support of research projects deemed loony and wasteful by
-
Basic Behavioral Science at NIH: A Chronology
This is a long and complicated story, so we thought a chronology of major milestones might help. Remember that what you have here is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the hours
-
NIMH Might Be (Partly) Right
Tom Insel has a point. As director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), he is charged with developing effective treatments for severe mental illnesses like schizophrenia and major depression. Insel knows that basic
-
Basic Behavioral Research in Flux at NIH
Basic behavioral research — which in the case of health means the study of fundamental psychological and social processes not aimed at a specific illness or condition — may be about to enter a new
