Out but not down

his research partner Nico Forraz. He plans to open the world's biggest institute devoted to cord blood and adult stem cells. McGuckin has been a leader of researchers working in the UK on stem cells derived from babies' umbilical cord blood. The method is less controversial than embryo-derived stem cells as no embryo is destroyed in the process. He told the Times Higher Education that France had kept a " much more reasoned balance ". He said that France is very supportive of adult stem cells because " they know that these are the things that are in the clinic right now ". But the government did face some rebellion, including from its own party. Several MPs were still worried about the creation of hybrid embryos — those using an animal egg. One member was worried about the potential of such a development to create 'humanzees' and that a loophole would allow attempts to use human sperm to fertilise animal eggs. Another MP said the bill would exclude this, since it prohibited the mixing of human and animal gametes, except with a licence. But most concern came from the abortion issues — with claims that amendments to allow nurses to carry out abortions, legalisation of abortions in Northern Ireland, and an end to the 'two doctor' rule, which requires two doctors to sanction an abortion, had been deliberately scheduled late to prevent their discussion and ensure the embryology legislation could go ahead. But ministers defended their tactics; Dawn Primarolo, the minister responsible for the bill's passage through parliament, said that it was right that MPs concentrate on the rules governing stem-cell research. She said the bill had 81 hours of debate and there were no plans to allocate more time to it. Richard Dawkins, the renowned science publiciser, retired from his Oxford post as Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science last month, after 12 years, but it was no quiet exit: he is currently supporting an advertising campaign proclaiming atheism that is winning growing public support. His latest book, The God Delusion, has sold a spectacular 1.5 million copies, a very respectable number, even against his bestseller, The Selfish Gene, published in 1976. But Dawkins is less than sanguine overall about the public understanding of science, in spite of the support for the new campaign. He believes there is a battle taking place in Britain, as in many …