WASHINGTON, DC, January 20, 2000 -- The 2000 Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) will be held February 17 - 22 in Washington, D.C. at the Marriott Wardman Park and the Omni Shoreham Hotels. The newsroom will be located at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel.

Don't miss this opportunity to get the latest research news from more than 600 scientists who are experts in their fields and hear from world leaders. The preliminary program is available online at http://www.aaas.org/meetings/2000/index.htm . Speakers include:

• U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will deliver a special plenary address on February 21.
• J. Craig Venter, Celera Genomics Corporation, will discuss the genomic revolution.
• Carl Djerassi, Stanford University and "father of the birth control pill," will discuss how technological advances today may lead to conception without sex as the norm.
• Kari Stefánsson, de Code Genetics, will describe the project on genetic fingerprinting in Iceland.
• Stephen Jay Gould, Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology, Harvard University, will deliver the AAAS Presidential Address focusing on science, humanities and religion.

More than 140 sessions will highlight emerging issues in science, engineering, and society. A preliminary program is enclosed. Subjects range from:

• nanotechnology and its possibilities for the future
• new studies on chocolate
• clinical trials on homocysteine, the "new cholesterol"
• new techniques to find landmines
• results of early intervention in child development
• implications of the decline in honeybees
• genome strategies for advantageous, rapid evolution
• changes in crime and punishment
• treatment of pain
• the future of space travel
• social behavior among primates and humans
• functional foods: research and marketing
• studies of urban s
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