Dr Mary Ellen Avery has been appointed president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), effective February 19. Avery is a renowned scientist best known for her discovery in the 1950s of respiratory stress in the lungs of newborn babies caused by a lack of subsurface agents. Her AAAS agenda includes studies on the increase of pollutants, multilateral reduction in nuclear and microbial weapons, and increasing global socio-economic disparity....