The work of the Directorate is divided into four 

 subactivities: Physiology, cellular, and molecular 

 biology; behavioral and neural sciences; environ- 

 mental biology; and social sciences. The research 

 in these fields embraces natural and social pheno- 

 mena ranging from the fundamental components of 

 life, such as biomolecules, to the complex interac- 

 tions of human life in groups as small as families 

 and as large as multinational aggregations. 



Examples of Basic Research 



Given the scope of biological research supported 

 by the Foundation and the extraordinary advances 

 that have occurred during the past decade, a brief 

 account must necessarily fall short of fully stating 

 the significance of the intellectual effort and the 

 interdependence of findings and results from which 

 major advances developed. Areas of the field in 

 which NSF support has contributed to advances of 

 particular significance are: 



• Molecular biology, including substantial 

 refinement of genetic and biochemical me- 

 chanisms of inheritance, regulation of gene 

 activity, and expression of gene products. 

 Successful isolation of a repressor molecule, 

 in vitro replication of biologically active viral 

 DNA, reconstitution of active ribosomal sub- 

 units, isolation of a purified gene, synthetic 

 assembly of a working gene from nucleotide 

 building blocks, and many other advances in 

 the late sixties and early seventies underlie 

 the current use of recombinant DNA tech- 

 niques. 



• Structure and function of macromolecules, in 

 particular enzymes, emphasizing subunit in- 

 teractions and the role of ligand binding in 

 mediating enzyme activity through small 

 changes in the structure of the protein distant 

 from the active site; higher order aggregations 

 of macromolecules comprising cell organelles; 

 deeper insights into the immune reaction and 

 basic studies involving the formation of anti- 

 bodies. 



• Cell membranes and surfaces involving de- 

 tailed studies on chemical composition, dy- 

 namic state, role in transport phenomena, 

 neural transmission, function related to 

 changes in cell shape, and locomotion. 



• Plant sciences, especially primary processes 

 in photosynthesis, CO2 fixation, biological 

 nitrogen fixation, chloroplast structure and 

 function; land-water interactions of forest 

 systems, tropical plants. 



Expansion of basic research support in environ- 

 mental biology. The general stimulation of biologi- 



206 NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 



cal research arising from advances in molecular 

 biology was slower in these fields and funding had 

 not kept pace with the biomedical research areas. 

 Theoretical advances, an increasing awareness of 

 the need to develop quantitative analytic methods 

 for investigations of ecological problems, and the 

 growing concern with environmental degradation 

 and potential loss of renewable resources argued 

 for the timeliness of the decision to strengthen the 

 scientific base of information associated with the 

 biotic world. The consequences are seen most 

 conspicuously in: 



• Selective feeding and ecological dynamics, 

 especially the nature of the co-adaptation — 

 morphological, physiological, and biochemi- 

 cal — of terrestrial plant species and the in- 

 sects that feed upon them; also the ecosys- 

 temwide consequences of selective predation 

 in aquatic habitats. 



• Structure and function of ecosystems area, 

 under which the four biome studies (grass- 

 land, eastern deciduous forest, northwest 

 coniferous forest, and desert) initiated under 

 the international biological program and the 

 earlier Hubbard Brook study have accelerated 

 the development of information in environ- 

 mental biology and stimulated a new ap- 

 proach that relies heavily on collaborative 

 efi"orts and the application of models for in- 

 vestigating ecological problems. 



Behavioral sciences. Research in the behavioral 

 sciences has received growing emphasis during the 

 decade and provided information of substantial 

 significance in a number of areas: 



• Behavioral science research in archaeology, 

 anthropology, and linguistics has led to 

 broadened understanding of the origins of 

 man; studies in experimental psychology and 

 ethology have provided conceptual advances 

 in understanding animal behavior; increased 

 sophistication in the analysis of cognitive 

 processes is yielding major gains in under- 

 standing the human intellect. 



• Neuroscience has been marked by rapid de- 

 velopment of research on the brain and nerv- 

 ous systems which has yielded many exciting 

 developments: Greater understanding of the 

 plasticity of the nervous system, specification 

 of additirnal neurotransmitters, identification 

 of opiate receptors and the associated endog- 

 enous enkephalin peptides, further under- 

 standing of the transduction mechanisms for 

 incoming sensory stimuli. All add to a basic 

 understanding of the nervous system and 

 have future clinical implications. 



Social sciences. An amendment to the NSF Act 

 in 1968 explicitly included the social sciences 

 among the scientific fields the Foundation is man- 



