YEAR IN REVIEW 1996: ENVIRONMENT

BOTANICAL GARDENS In 1995 emphasis was placed on developing networks among botanical gardens and organizations involved in the research and protection of plants. That theme pervaded the fourth International Botanic Gardens Conservation Congress, which was organized by Botanic Gardens Conservation International and held in Perth, Australia. At the Planta Europa meeting in Hyres, France, the principal resolution involved the creation of a Planta Europa Network to coordinate efforts to save Europe's wild plants and their habitats. The Auckland Plant Collection Network was formed to create a structure to improve the effectiveness of botanical gardens in New Zealand. Celebrations were held marking the 50th anniversary of the Main Botanical Garden of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow. It was founded in April 1945 as a methodological and coordinating centre for the country's botanical gardens. In January a large electrical storm inflicted considerable damage on the Mt. Coot-tha Botanic Gardens, Brisbane, Australia; more than 100 mature trees were uprooted or snapped. In July the Montreal Botanic Gardens was the site of the American Association of Botanic Gardens and Arboreta annual conference, which highlighted the progress made in the biodiversity of plants in public gardens and ways in which public gardens could attract larger and more diverse audiences. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, near London, secured 1.5 million from the Ministry of Agriculture to redevelop the deteriorating Jodrell Laboratory and herbaceous greenhouses. Plans were developed to establish a new national botanical garden in Nairobi, Kenya. The centre would focus on education and conservation of native plant taxa outside their natural habitat. The Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, received a grant to support the establishment of a seed-storage and germination laboratory. The National Botanic Gardens in Limb, Cameroon, opened a centre devoted to research and fieldwork based on the larger Mount Cameroon Project. Botanical gardens in Bonn, Germany, and Gteborg, Sweden, returned 150 clones of the extinct tree Sophora toromiro to Easter Island; the last such tree had been seen there in 1958. Worldwide, individual specimens of S. toromiro were identified in a number of botanical gardens, increasing the confirmed number of surviving trees. The Kings Park and Botanic Garden in Perth launched a new A$ 230,000 plan intended to conserve 11 endangered plants in that city and three Eucalyptus species elsewhere in the western part of the country. Botanic Gardens Conservation International, in conjunction with its regional office at Utrecht (Neth.) University Botanic Gardens, launched the Dutch Plant Charter Group as a forum for business and industry to lend support and voice concern for the conservation of plants. (PETER J. ATKINSON) Brent Spar During 1995 an abandoned North Sea oil-storage platform known as Brent Spar was at the centre of an international dispute over the safe disposal of waste material. In the spring, members of the environmental group Greenpeace occupied Brent Spar for 23 days to protest the proposed sinking of the rig by its owner, the Royal Dutch/Shell Group. The British government was criticized at the North Sea Protection Conference, held in June in Esbjerg, Den., for granting permission for the platform to be towed from the North Sea to the Atlantic Ocean and sunk in the 2,000-m (6,560-ft)-deep North Feni Ridge, which is part of the Rockall Trough and well clear of the continental shelf. The row erupted again later in June at the Group of Seven summit in Halifax, Nova Scotia, when German Chancellor Helmut Kohl raised the subject with British Prime Minister John Major, and other German ministers discussed it with their British counterparts. The controversy continued as part of a well-publicized Greenpeace campaign. Its vessel Altair shadowed the platform as it moved north of the Shetland Islands, and on June 16 two activists boarded it by helicopter. Solo, a 66-m (218-ft) Greenpeace tug with a helicopter landing pad was also sent into the area. Environmentalists picketed Shell gasoline stations internationally, and in Germany six shots were fired at a Shell station outside Frankfurt and a Hamburg station was firebombed. Shell sales fell 15-20% in Germany. British, Danish, Dutch, and Swiss Shell stations were also picketed. The British government supported Shell, but the company backed down and said the platform would be dismantled on land. In July the Norwegian government agreed to store it for up to a year while Shell found a way to dispose of it, and the platform was taken to Erfjord, a deep inlet on Norway's west coast. As the year progressed, however, the issue proved to be more complex than first thought. Most scientists actually favoured deep-sea disposal, regarding disposal on land as more difficult and potentially environmentally hazardous. At a parliamentary briefing in July, John Krebs, director of the Natural Environment Research Council, said the platform contained 68,000 metric tons of concrete ballast chemically similar to rust, 100 tons of bituminous sludge, 30 tons of low-level radioactive scale, and small amounts of heavy metals and polychlorinated biphenyls, which would pose a negligible threat to marine life. Greenpeace had claimed that the platform contained some 5,000 tons of crude oil mixed with radioactive waste and other contaminants. On September 5, Greenpeace admitted its assessment had been incorrect and issued a public apology to Shell. In October an independent study confirmed Shell's original assessment. By year's end, the fate of Brent Spar remained undecided, but the possibility of deep-sea disposal had not been abandoned. (MICHAEL ALLABY) GARDENING In a rare coup, Salvia farinacea Strata, a newly introduced bedding plant, captured the triple crown of flower breeders in 1995. It won both the All-America Selections gold medal and the Fleuroselect (the European-based seed-testing cooperative) gold medal and was named 1996 Plant of the Year by the British Bedding and Pot Plant Association. This well-proportioned plant was 45-61 cm (18-24 in) tall and almost as broad, with thin, smooth foliage typical of its species. Its sweep of the awards was attributed to its entirely new colour: bicolour flowers, with grayish white calyxes that contained mid-blue corollas just touched with white in the throat. The All-America bedding plant winner was a cultivar: Petunia Fantasy Pink Morn, which represented a new class of petunias called "milliflora." The pink flowers with creamy white throats were small, 2.5-3.8 cm (1-1 1/2 in), but in scale with dwarf plants that naturally grow only 30 cm (12 in) high and up to 45 cm (18 in) across. The natural growth habit of dwarfs was prized by growers, who were able to avoid the use of growth retardants to prevent crowding and stretching during plant production. This easy commercial production--referred to as pack performance--was not considered an indicator of actual garden performance; however, garden maintenance probably would be minimized. Fleuroselect, which would also include pack performance as a criterion for future awards, decided to expand its testing program to North America but in a nonvoting form. The organization also announced that it would hold its 1996 meeting in California, the first time the event would convene outside Europe. Two other Fleuroselect gold medal winners were Ammobium alatum Bikini, rewarded for its compact habit, and Petunia x hybrida Lavender Storm, chosen for its tolerance of rainy weather. The Perennial Plant Association named Perovskia atriplicifolia, commonly known as Russian sage, its Plant of the Year. The specimen had a long growing season and light blue flowers that added a striking ornamental effect to gardens. An Australian study that tracked the worldwide purchase of garden products found that middle-aged married couples with relatively high incomes purchased the largest number of garden products and did their shopping at independent garden centres, while retirees made the highest dollar volume of purchases at mass-market discount stores. In the U.S., where enthusiasm for gardening continued to grow, gardeners "chatted over the fence" by using such on-line services as America Online, Prodigy, and CompuServe. Such new software programs as Key Home Gardener, Design Your Own Home-Landscape, Landscape Design, FLOWERscape, Mum's the Word, and Better Homes and Gardens Complete Guide to Gardening moved gardening into the high-tech world of home computers. While some of the programs concentrated on hardscape aspects of landscape design (fences, patios, and decks), others focused on the plants themselves and included a database of hundreds of ornamentals, vegetables, trees, shrubs, herbs, and grasses. In Central and Eastern Europe the well-established practice of community gardening came into conflict with land privatization. In the Czech Republic many long-established garden communities found that their plots rested on land scheduled to be returned to those who owned the property before communist governments seized it. In Prague, where real estate values were high, those who had had ownership restored to them and wished to sell were not in a position to settle with all of the current occupants. The problem created insecurity for gardeners, who depended on their community plot for food, and headaches for the government, which had to accommodate all interests. (SHEPHERD OGDEN; KAY MELCHISEDECH OLSON) See also Agriculture and Food Supplies; Business and Industry Review: Energy; Life Sciences: Botany. This updates the articles conservation; gardening. WILDLIFE CONSERVATION In the wildlife conservation community, the debate over the sustainable use of wild species became both widespread and intense in 1995 as pressures increased on wild animals and their habitats. Conservationists were divided over the issue; some advocated that the sustainable use of a species can be used to ensure its conservation, while others argued that sustainable use can be a guise for exploiting wild animals with no conservation gain. This important issue was the focus of several articles published in Oryx (the Journal of Fauna and Flora International) during the year. The most dramatic example of this split in the conservation world was the case of the African elephant. Countries with elephant populations generally fall into two groups: those that believe that sales from ivory and other elephant products should be used to raise revenue for conservation and those that argue that any resumption in trade would result in an upsurge in elephant poaching. Since the ban on international trade in elephant products came into force in 1990, a group of the former exporting countries had pressed for a resumption in carefully controlled trade, but this had been resisted at the biennial meetings of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The ninth meeting, held in November 1994, was no exception. South Africa withdrew a proposal that would have allowed it to trade internationally in meat and hides from the hundreds of elephants that had to be culled annually in the Kruger National Park when it became clear that no other elephant range states would support it. Instead, the parties to CITES agreed to set up an intra-African assembly to review the issue of ivory stockpiles with the help of the African Elephant Specialist Group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources Species Survival Commission (IUCN-SSC). On Feb. 9, 1995, Kenya burned 10 metric tons of confiscated ivory in a "reaffirmation of its commitment to save the elephant." Kenya's management policy for elephants did not include culling. To help reduce conflict between people and elephants, the Kenya Wildlife Service established a Problem Animal Management Unit and adopted an early strike policy on marauding elephants to reduce human deaths. The situation did not improve for the tiger in 1995. Poaching accelerated, and there were extensive, well-organized illegal trade networks operating. Seizures by law-enforcement authorities showed that hundreds of tigers were being killed every year in India alone, primarily for use in traditional Chinese medicines. Peter Jackson, chairman of the IUCN-SSC Cat Specialist Group, said that the tiger would be virtually extinct in the wild by 1999 unless India and other range states declared open war on poachers and illegal traders. Illegal wildlife trade continued to affect many other species adversely. In some countries of the former U.S.S.R., poaching escalated, driven by economic problems and made easy by a breakdown in law enforcement and border controls. There were reports of snow leopards and lynx being poached for their skins and of argali (a species of wild sheep) being killed for their horns, as well as an extensive trade in rare amphibians and reptiles. In March poachers killed four mountain gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable Park in Uganda, probably to capture a young animal for the illegal trade. In 1995 only about 600 of these animals were left in the world. Until these deaths, the International Gorilla Conservation Programme (run as a partnership between the African Wildlife Foundation, Fauna and Flora International, and World Wide Fund for Nature) had been pleased to report that during the previous decade not one mountain gorilla was known to have been killed. This was largely due to the efforts of the program and the commitment to the conservation of the gorillas and their habitat by the governments of Rwanda, Uganda, and Zaire. More deaths followed in August, this time in Zaire, where three more mature gorillas were killed in two separate incidents. A baby also was captured, but it was later found abandoned and was restored to its family group. The gorillas that died were in two groups that were regularly visited by tourists, and the killings dealt a blow to gorilla-based tourism, which brought in much-needed foreign earnings. Gorilla protection was stepped up, especially in Zaire, where the national park, home to the gorillas, was being severely damaged because of its proximity to Rwandan refugee camps. In April Oryx carried the results of a survey that found that the saola, or spindlehorn antelope ( Pseudoryx nghetinhensis), which had been discovered in Vietnam in 1992, also lived in Laos. Plans were made to extend conservation areas in its range. On June 16 more than 60 nations signed the Agreement for the Conservation of Migratory Waterbirds under the Bonn Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals. Conservationists welcomed the agreement but expressed concern that it allowed hunting of some birds that had uncertain conservation status. Several new species were described in 1995, including a mountain goat (Pseudonovibos spiralis) from Vietnam, a nightjar (Caprimulgus solala) from Ethiopia, a nighthawk (Chordelies vielliardi) from Brazil, and a pygmy owl (Glaucidum parkeri) from Ecuador. Reported extinctions included the river pipefish from South Africa and the Formosan flying fox (Pteropus dasymallus formosus) in Taiwan. The last Spix's macaw (Cyanopsitta spixii) in the wild--a male in northern Brazil--was given a mate (one of 30 or so in captivity) in the hope that they would breed. The release followed months of research and preparation by the Spix's Macaw Recovery Committee, led by the Brazilian wildlife authorities. A golden conure (Aratinga guarouba) hatched at Sorocaba Zoo in Brazil, the first time that the endangered species had bred in a zoo. The birds continued to be captured illegally, however, with specimens smuggled out of Brazil fetching as much as $1,800 each. The first comprehensive UN report on biodiversity, released on November 14, estimated that there were as many as 15 million animal and plant species in the world, of which only 1,750,000 had been identified. A minimum of 5,400 animal species were considered endangered. (JACQUI M. MORRIS) ZOOS The worst zoo tragedy in U.S. history occurred on Christmas eve when smoke from a fire in the World of Primates building at the Philadelphia Zoo, the nation's oldest, killed 23 primates--six western lowland gorillas (including two infants and an unborn fetus), three Bornean orangutans, four white-handed gibbons, six ring-tailed lemurs, two ruffed lemurs, and two mongoose lemurs. All were considered endangered species, and several were among the few remaining wild-born animals. The personal grief of the zoo staff and the city's zoogoers was overwhelming, but the loss to the primate gene pool was especially catastrophic. In addition, the incident seemed likely to give added momentum to the animal rights activists, who recently had been instrumental in closing the Vancouver, B.C., zoo. In 1995 many "new zoo" programs designed to breed and preserve the various species were in place around the world. The Europisches Erhaltungszucht Programme (EEP) coordinated 112 species programs involving 117 species and 137 taxa. They also identified 26 working Taxon Advisory Groups (TAGs) and 21 studbooks encompassing 29 taxa. The American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA) administered 70 Species Survival Plans (SSPs) covering 117 species. They also coordinated 43 TAGs, 240 studbooks, and a variety of other scientific advisory groups. In 1995 the AZA formed a field conservation committee to focus the attention and energy of North American zoos and aquariums on field conservation efforts. Globally, species management programs based on the EEP and SSP models were being developed to coordinate worldwide efforts to preserve species. In 1995 the Australian Species Management Program developed a zoo-collection-planning software system for international circulation. Despite this emphasis on cooperative species management, there was a shift in the overall planning process. Worldwide, there was a limited amount of space available to house the captive-bred animals, and native habitats were disappearing so rapidly that there was no real "wild" in which animals could be reintroduced. In order to address this, researchers began to develop programs that would encompass a more "holistic" approach to conservation of endangered species. In some areas the holistic approach also called for the designation of a "flagship species" to represent a specific habitat. This concept advocated employing an animal that is well-loved by the general public to represent an entire ecosystem. For example, if a conservation and education program was based upon the preservation of habitat for the giant panda, in theory not only would the panda be saved but so also would the other plants and animals that inhabit the ecosystem. In early October 1995 the World Zoo Organization (officially the International Union of Directors of Zoological Gardens) published Zoo Future 2005, an action plan derived from the 1995 Futures Search Workshop, held in Cologne, Germany. This innovative document outlined the "ideal future" for a world-class zoo, the constraints and opportunities, an ambitious plan of action, and task assignments. (JANE COYLE BALLENTINE) Events of 1995 The major world food developments in 1995 involved declining grain production per capita and increasing meat production. Both developments were continuations of multiyear trends. It was estimated that global grain stocks declined to record low levels in 1995, and they were expected to decline further by the end of the 1995-96 marketing year. In response, world grain prices increased sharply. The world food system continued to be affected by the two major regions that were moving in opposite directions. In China personal incomes were rising rapidly, and the population demanded more meat in its diet. In the republics of the former Soviet Union, however, incomes and meat consumption had dropped dramatically. These longer-run changes had major impacts on world food production (see Table I) and consumption in 1995. As in past years, nature and humans continued to create food emergencies in many countries--notably in Africa. The most important agricultural policy event of the year, however, may have been the creation of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The gap between world food-aid needs and food-aid deliveries from donor nations widened in 1995, and the gap was expected to grow in 1996. Global food-aid needs increased, while aid shipments from donor nations declined. Aid needs existed in Africa, Asia, the former Soviet republics, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Latin America. Chronic food shortages and emergencies were caused by a combination of natural and man-made disasters in 1995. Conditions were made worse by higher prices for grain imports and lower grain export subsidies from the United States and the European Union (EU). The decline in food-aid shipments was caused by smaller aid budgets, mainly in the United States, and higher grain prices. Fashions Conservative chic--the new look for women in 1995--was a pretty, elegant, and feminine style that featured simply tailored yet luxurious clothes. The dressed-up glamour look of 1994 was still popular but with a significant change--a new emphasis on refinement. At the Paris spring/summer haute couture shows, models parading down nearly every catwalk appeared in clothes reminiscent of those worn by such style icons of the 1950s and early '60s as actress Audrey Hepburn, model Suzy Parker, Princess Grace Kelly, and U.S. first lady Jacqueline Kennedy. Models Kristen McMenamy and Kate Moss, former grunge torchbearers, looked groomed and metamorphosed in the ubiquitous look--a fitted, figure-hugging suit matched with such accessories as satin gloves, small earrings, a cabochon brooch, and a clutch purse. The deep red lipstick of 1994 was replaced by a shade of coral. Though some viewed conservative chic as a reaction to a political shift to the right in the West, the new mood was more a reflection of a change within the industry. For the first time in three decades, haute couture (the very costly custom-made designs shown twice yearly in Paris) became the barometer of fashion change. Traditionally, styles worn on the street were the work of ready-to-wear designers. A renewed interest in the craft of couture accompanied the big news of the year--Hubert de Givenchy's retirement after 43 years as designer in chief of his eponymous Paris fashion house. Givenchy's replacement, announced in July, was the 35-year-old Paris-based British designer John Galliano. His designs, mainly favoured by young women, would presumably attract a younger clientele to haute couture, traditionally patronized by older women. Even before Galliano's appointment, haute couture fashions were worn by young high-profile women. At the Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles, actress Uma Thurman wore a long lavender gown fashioned by Prada, the Milanese design house. Viscountess Linley appeared at Ascot in a lace dress made by French designer Herv Lger. In New York City, British actress Elizabeth Hurley wore a simple yellow Gianni Versace fitted couture suit to the ceremony at which she accepted the contract to represent Este Lauder cosmetics. For the July 1 wedding in London of Marie-Chantal Miller and Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece, Valentino made 62 outfits for the wedding party, including the bridal gown. At the international shows it was clear that many designers had run out of original ideas after they delivered a chaotic series of ready-to-wear designs for spring/summer 1995. Though sharply tailored clothes could be found on runways in every fashion capital, refined, feminine looks were overpowered by gimmicky fads--not fashion. The glamour of the '70s, an inspiration for autumn/winter 1994, was still a popular theme in Milan, where Bianca Jagger-style tuxedo suits, tube tops, and tight trousers appeared. Mariuccia Mandelli, the designer behind the Krizia line, celebrated 40 years in fashion by reviving the hot pants (short shorts) that she had made fashionable in the early '70s. Giorgio Armani in Milan and Valentino in Paris also reinvented them. Other retro influences included knee-length skirts and flimsy floral mid-calf-length tea dresses from the '40s. The design duo Dolce & Gabbana revived underwear as outerwear, pairing pencil skirts with bustiers. Also prominent was the corset, which appeared underneath sheer organza blouses as an evening look. Its structured shape also provided the basis for jackets and evening dresses. In Paris a record 81 international designers unveiled spring/summer collections, which resulted in fashion confusion. Retro styles--borrowed from every decade of the 20th century--mixed with elements of '70s glamour and bizarre manifestations of classic tailoring. Jean-Paul Gaultier mixed denim with early 20th-century tailoring, producing a Pygmalion-styled full-length frilled skirt and fitted jacket. Rifat Ozbek designed a neck corset in rhinestones. Underneath Vivienne Westwood's knee-length wool and piqu cotton skirts were metal "bum cages," her reinterpretation of the Victorian bustle. A number of designers in New York and Paris experimented with futuristic themes. Prada delivered such accessories as a clear-plastic purse in the shape of a shopping bag and shoes with high heels made from Perspex, both reminiscent of the space-age styles introduced by Andr Courrges in the late '60s. The London-based Canadian-born shoe designer Patrick Cox reintroduced jellies--inexpensive, clear-plastic sandals popular in the early '80s--adding high heels and glitter effects. Expanding on this theme, designers shaped traditional styles such as pantsuits and evening dresses from such high-tech and synthetic fabrics as plastic, laminates, Lurex, and vinyl. Donna Karan made a prom dress from olefin-treated paper (the same material used for FedEx envelopes), and Jil Sander used silk as lining for an iridescent nylon pantsuit. The international men's wear spring/summer collections delivered a range of upbeat but unorthodox clothes, with an emphasis on colour and texture. Casual looks such as trousers, sweaters, and jean jackets were made from satin, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and terry cloth. Pastel shades--powder blue, candy floss pink, and light yellow--appeared alongside stronger colours--red, blue, and lemon yellow. Slim suits were cut from an iridescent fabric known as two-tone. Such designers as Armani, Sonia Rykiel, Gaultier, and Dries van Noten produced the boxer-style zoot suit, which complemented the '40s revival in women's wear, with its six-button double-breasted jacket. A general lack of consumer confidence in the West combined with news that women were losing all interest in fashion, especially European women who disliked such elements of glamour as high heels and accessories, cast a scare throughout the industry. Though Clueless, a film about a crew of clothes-crazy Beverly Hills, Calif., teenage girls, was viewed as a sign that young people cared about high-fashion designs, Women's Wear Daily reported that U.S. teenagers were buying basics: overalls, flannel shirts, and backpacks. Shops selling such items--the Gap, Urban Outfitters, and Eddie Bauer--were quite popular among young people. As spring arrived, U.S. department stores reported a slump in the sale of dresses, due to both the cool weather and the new knee-length skirt, which was unpopular. Fortune claimed that a lack of strong, saleable fashion ideas had hurt retailers such as the Limited and Broadway. Department stores Bloomingdale's and Bergdorf Goodman reported that the sartorial elements of glamour--satin clothes, knee-length slip skirts, corset jackets, and patent leather accessories--intimidated female customers. Prada, controlled by Miuccia Prada and known as "the Gap for the superrich," was the choice for high-spending customers, both men and women. Prada was the first designer to use Pocono nylon (the material of military tents) to make such fashion items as handbags, trench coats, and knee-length skirts. Designers Donna Karan and Calvin Klein also used nylon. Prada, proclaiming that "dressing truly bad is an exclusive art," presented a collection that flew in the face of high-fashion glamour. Idiosyncratic elements of style--that could be labeled "bad taste"--were prominent on Prada's seasonal runways: plastic handbags, white leather shoes for winter, and colour combinations of orange and brown. Her look proved popular; fashion magazines depicted high-profile actors, models, fashion editors, and photographers wearing the company's sharply tailored, stark styles adorned with Prada accessories. Prada's expansion throughout the year also reflected its popularity. The company reported a net worth of $210 million. At the autumn/winter men's collection, fashion's mood of frivolity showed no sign of abating. Decadent styles, deemed downright camp by many fashion critics, dominated runways in Milan, Florence, and Paris. Billowing shirts, big dark "Jackie O." sunglasses, floral silk head scarves knotted at the neck, and frilly shirts were the feminine influences designers felt were right for the '90s man. The focus changed during the international women's ready-to-wear shows for autumn/winter '95. Model Claudia Schiffer appeared on the cover of Time magazine in a fitted off-white Versace skirt suit, displaying the "simply beautiful classics" designers had produced. Fashion's autumn/winter ready-to-wear designs were sensible and uncomplicated and followed the sober mood of the haute couture shows. The fitted skirt suit reappeared alongside the "boxy suit," an equally slim but squarely tailored style. Both were more popular than pantsuits. Winter coats and suits appeared in strong shades of camel, red, and navy, as well as tones of lavender and burnt orange. The designers that had experimented with high-tech fabrics just a season before opted for the pure, classic materials couturiers favoured--cashmere, taffeta, gazar, radzimir, and Harris Tweed. The stiletto, the shoe of 1994, was replaced by a demure low, slim heel--a copy of the look Audrey Hepburn wore in the 1954 film Sabrina. A Breakfast at Tiffany's-style cocktail dress, made in light shades of satin and basic black, was the option for evening. In Milan and New York, mod was the inspiration for designers who copied the neat, clean style of dressing popularized by British middle-class youth during the '60s. Authentic mod looks such as hipster belts, mid-calf go-go boots, checkerboard prints, collarless coats, and narrow-tailored pantsuits were introduced by Gucci, Prada, and Marc Jacobs, as well as by Istante and CK, the diffusion lines produced by Versace and Calvin Klein, respectively. The hairdresser Garren cut Linda Evangelista's hair into a shape similar to the five-point geometric bob, a haircut originated in 1964 by Vidal Sassoon. Leather, once reserved for hard-edged clothes worn by motorcyclists, became a mainstay of the new mod wardrobe. Leather appeared in gentle colours--snow white and matte black--and soft cuts. Anna Sui made black leather cocktail dresses and white leather collarless coats. Helmut Lang created sexy belted trench coats from leather, and Karan produced them for her DKNY line. Early reports on the sale of refined clothes were positive. Bloomingdale's and Saks Fifth Avenue both reported that sales of designer fashions were up from the previous year. The conservative mood stymied Calvin Klein's ad campaign for his signature line of jeans. He and photographer Steven Meisel had devised a print and television ad campaign that featured young male and female models (some nonprofessional) posing in suggestive positions. In August--under pressure from retailers, TV stations, and watchdog groups--Klein withdrew the campaign. Maurizio Gucci--grandnephew of Guccio Gucci, the founder of the Italian fashion house of that name--was assassinated in Milan by an unknown gunman. He was the last family member to work for Gucci before Investcorp, a Bahrain-based investment group, purchased it in 1993. Maurizio's cousin Paolo died in October, leaving a tangled estate. He had left the family firm in 1987 and declared bankruptcy. The deaths underscored the financial difficulties this once family-run business had faced. (BRONWYN COSGRAVE) See also Business and Industry Review: Apparel. This updates the article dress. Health and Disease Genetics. The Human Genome Project, an international effort to identify and analyze the 100,000 or so genes that make up the entire human genetic complement, was progressing faster than expected. Laboratories in the U.S., France, and Britain reported that detailed mapping efforts already had determined the approximate location of about 75% of the human genes, and more than 50% had been sequenced (i.e., broken down into their constituent parts). Experts predicted that 99% of the genome may be sequenced by the year 2002. The first-ever sequencing of the full genome of a free-living organism, the infectious bacterium Hemophilus influenzae, was reported by J. Craig Venter (see BIOGRAPHIES) and co-workers. Efforts to isolate specific disease-related genes also raced ahead. Researchers at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio reported that the BRCA1 gene, isolated in 1994 in women with a family history of breast cancer, also plays a role in the more common nonfamilial form of the disease. Another study found that a significant proportion of Ashkenazi, or Eastern European, Jews carry a particular mutation of BRCA1 that puts them at a much greater than average risk of breast and ovarian cancer. British scientists announced in December the discovery of a second gene linked to breast cancer, BRCA2. Still another piece of the breast cancer puzzle may have been supplied by the discovery of the gene defect responsible for ataxia telangiectasia (AT), a progressive, fatal neurological disorder. AT first becomes apparent as an unsteady gait in toddlers. Affected individuals, who have two copies of the mutated gene, usually die in their teens or 20s. Carriers--those who inherit only one copy of the mutated gene--have three to five times the normal risk of cancer, and women who carry the mutated gene may have as much as six times the normal risk of breast cancer. About 1% of the U.S. population--2.5 million people--may be carriers. Back-to-back reports identified two genes responsible for early-onset forms of Alzheimer's disease, which tend to run in families. A University of Toronto team announced in June that a gene on chromosome 14 appears to be responsible for as many as 80% of familial cases. In August investigators from Seattle, Wash., and Boston simultaneously reported that a similar gene on chromosome 1 may account for most other such cases. Scientists hoped these findings would speed the understanding of all forms of Alzheimer's disease. In New York City, Rockefeller University investigators, who cloned an obesity gene in 1994, reported in July 1995 that the protein product of the gene dramatically reduced body weight in mice after only two weeks of treatment. Additional research published in October suggested that the protein, dubbed leptin (from the Greek root leptos, "thin"), plays a role in regulating fat storage in the body. The first clear evidence that a gene plays a role in non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM), a disorder that usually develops in later life, was announced by researchers in France. Scientists in Sweden, France, and the U.S. reported in August that they had pinpointed another gene that was associated with both obesity and earlier-than-usual onset of NIDDM in some populations. Dean Hamer and his colleagues at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) confirmed and extended their 1993 work suggesting that a particular region of the X chromosome influences the development of homosexuality in males. Other "finds" included the gene believed responsible for Batten disease, the most common neurodegenerative disorder afflicting children; a mutation that increases susceptibility to venous thrombosis (blood clots in the veins); and two genes that cause the heart disorder known as long QT syndrome. Pioneering gene therapy protocols were evaluated and found to have produced mixed results. Treatment of a rare condition called adenosine deaminase deficiency was beneficial, while no therapeutic improvements were seen in patients with cystic fibrosis or Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Cardiovascular Disease. Although heart transplantation is an accepted procedure, its success is compromised in some recipients by the development of high blood cholesterol levels. Elevated cholesterol, in turn, may cause fatty deposits, blocking the coronary arteries and producing the symptoms that necessitated the operation in the first place. Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Medicine and Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, showed that the cholesterol-lowering drug pravastatin markedly reduces the risk of restenosis (i.e., renarrowing of the arteries) after heart transplantation. Patients given pravastatin had much lower cholesterol levels a year after transplantation than those not receiving the drug. They were also much less likely to reject their new hearts, and their survival rate was significantly higher. Several studies raised concerns about the safety of calcium channel blocking drugs used in treating millions of patients in the U.S. and elsewhere with hypertension (high blood pressure) and certain heart disorders. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute issued a warning in September that one of these drugs, short-acting nifedipine, should be used with great caution, if at all, but declared that more research was needed on other calcium channel blockers. Evidence of the role of diet in cardiovascular disease continued to accumulate. A University of Washington study showed that eating as little as one serving per week of "fatty" fish, such as salmon, tuna, or mackerel, can reduce the risk of cardiac arrest. These kinds of fish are rich in omega-3 fatty acids. Another report from the same institution concluded that folic acid, a B vitamin already known to play a part in preventing birth defects, also helps prevent coronary heart disease. Paralleling an earlier finding in women, a report by investigators at Harvard Medical School demonstrated that men who eat a diet high in fruits and vegetables have a significantly reduced risk of stroke compared with men who consume less of these antioxidant-rich foods. GEOLOGY AND GEOCHEMISTRY In 1995 significant developments took place in the realm of geologic mapping, which provides the foundation for the presentation and comparison of data in the Earth sciences. The most important observational development of the past decade was the appearance of a new map of the topography of the world's ocean floors based in part on formerly classified satellite data. In the late 1980s the U.S. Navy's Geosat satellite measured the heights of the ocean surface with a radar altimeter for the purpose of aiding submarine navigation and missile guidance. The measurements yielded maps of gravity anomalies at sea level that mimic the topography of the ocean floor below. With the declassification of the data between 1990 and 1995, researchers were able to combine the Geosat data with those from the European Space Agency's ERS-1 remote-sensing satellite to produce the new topographic map. David Sandwell of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, Calif., and Walter Smith of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration employed a complex modeling algorithm to resolve the topography to a precision 30 times better than that in previous maps. Their map revealed in detail the enormous transform fracture zones that record the history of plate motions over millions of years, new underwater volcanoes and faults, and even structures buried under sediments. (See Oceanography.) Improved maps of the continents were promised during the year in a report from Tom Farr of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., and seven coauthors. The many scientific applications of high-resolution topographic data have been severely limited by the relatively poor quality of the global digital topographic database for continents. According to the report, a Joint Topographic Science Working Group appointed by NASA and the Italian Space Agency was developing a strategy for improving data quality, the most promising approach being a combination of satellite radar interferometry and laser altimetry. A proposed Global Topographic Mission (TOPAC) would improve the best available global digital coverage b