For the Serious-Minded Only

The acting director of the NIH, Raynard Kington, has warned universities to apply for stimulus-package grants only if they plan to hire people straightaway. According to the New York Times, that's not a problem. The University of Pennsylvania has plans drawn up for an 80,000-square-foot nanotechnology center and the University of California, Irvine, says if it had the money, it could start construction projects in the next two months. "We have several buildings where we didn't have the money to finish part of the building," says Susan Bryant, the vice chancellor for research at Irvine.