"Why would you test an embryo for a disease that won't develop for 30 or more years?"
--Arthur Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics, arguing why embryos shouldn't be tested for the newly discovered breast-cancer gene ( USA Today, Tuesday, June 11)

"Disney has enormous credibility with the American people. Probably more credibility than city hall."
--Witold Rybcyznski, Martin and Margy Meyerson Professor of Urbanism, commenting on The Walt Disney Co.'s plans to revitalize New York's previously neglected 42nd Street (Fortune, June 24)

"Ignorance and lack of knowledge is always an invitation for false knowledge."
--Albert M. Kligman, emeritus professor of dermatology, criticizing the medical myth that eating chocolate increases one's acne (The New York Times, Sunday, May 12)

"They were clearly a pretty sophisticated people. They built reasonably complex mud-brick buildings, and we have evidence that they grew barley and wheat."
--Patrick E. McGovern, research specialist at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, commenting on Sumerians, the earliest known wine-makers (Time, June 17)

"It suggests you shouldn't be afraid of computers."
--Peter Cappelli, professor of management, explaining a study he co-authored with Kermit Daniel, assistant professor of public policy, that found workers' earnings rose with their managers' use of computers (The New York Times, Sunday, May 12)

"There is no question that there is a very rough road ahead.... But at the same time, they have very clear perceptions of what their problems are. And they are actually more militant and better organized than American feminists seem to be these days."
--Ann Elizabeth Mayer, associate professor of legal studies, discussing the Islamic women's movement (The New York Times, Sunday, May 12)

"It is true that the baby boomers are entering a great accumulation phase, high savings and projected high rates of growth in the prices of financial assets. Then you look at the other side, in 2020, and it's scary."
--Jeremy J. Siegel, professor of finance, discussing the phenomenal growth of the stock market and a possible future consequence when retiring baby boomers sell their stock (The Washington Post, Friday, May 31)

"I do not believe the results of this study suggest that patients or the public should fear or distrust critical-care nurses. On the contrary, I think a central finding of this study is that these nurses struggle to uphold important personal values under extremely challenging circumstances--often with little help from physicians."
--David Asch, assistant professor of medicine, discussing his study on nursing and euthanasia (The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 23)

"We've come a long way. Compared to what we had, these are a great improvement."
--Samuel L. Yankell, researcher professor of periodontics, praising toothbrush developments (The Orlando Sentinel, Wednesday, June 5)

"This is inevitable because nearly 30 percent of our students and faculty members are non-U.S. nationals from over 60 different countries."
--Thomas P. Gerrity, dean of The Wharton School, explaining Wharton's success through global training, cross-functional skills and cross-cultural approach (The Korea Times, Wednesday, May 29)

"Technology is just as complex as politics, and should be understood as such."
--Thomas Hughes, emeritus professor of the history and sociology of science, commenting on the inadvertent effects of technology (Boston Globe, Monday, June 3)

"The housing options for poor, black Americans are probably more limited than they are for any other group in America, and the situation is growing worse."
--Douglas S. Massey, professor of sociology, in an article about a Philadelphia family driven out of a predominantly white neighborhood (The Washington Post, Saturday, May 18)

"When you freeze a sperm, it is an end product, a single entity. But when you freeze a stem cell, it contains the full potential of a male."
--Ralph Brinster, Richard King Mellon Professor of Reproduction, explaining the importance of being able to freeze sperm-producing cells for later use (Daily Telegraph, Thursday, May 30)

"The regulation of indecency would have a tremendous effect on lots of groups, and in particular, it would restrict the expression of those that you might think the First Amendment is most concerned with, protecting the people who are outside the channels of power and who are outside the mainstream."
--Ed Baker, Nicholas F. Gallicchio Professor of Law, commenting on the recently struck-down Communications Decency Act (NPR's Morning Edition, Monday, May 10)

"Cutting nurses should be the last strategy hospitals try. The patients are so sick that once you start substituting nurses' aides for nurses, you start taking away the surveillance system that is the main protection for these very sick patients."
--Linda Aiken, director of the Center for Health Services and Policy Research, explaining the danger of mixing shorter hospitals stays with a decrease in licensed nurses (Newsday, Friday, May 3)

Return to Compass Features for June 18, 1996