248; 2002). But unlike the PNGV, whichsought to increase the efficiency of existingtechnologies and components, the Bush programme will require an entirely new setof hydrogen-based technologies.

It aims to develop vehicles that will run on battery-like hydrogen fuel cells. Anothercomponent of the programme, the Hydro-gen Fuel Initiative, would develop the infra-structure to transport and sell hydrogen fuelfor the cars.

“The basic science underlying hydrogenfuel cells is very weak,” says Sperling. Major

problems still dog the efficiency and reliabilityof the cells, and their integration into vehicledesign. Over a dozen US universities haveactive fuel-cell research programmes.

“Universities need to be more involved,”agrees Vernon Roan, who directs the fuel-celllab at the University of Florida in Gainesville.His lab is currently testing a small bus thatruns entirely on hydrogen fuel cells.

Similar basic issues surround the Hydro-gen Fuel Initiative, says Malcolm Weiss, atransportation specialist at the Massachu-setts Institute of Technology. Separatinghydrogen from sources such as natural gasproduces nearly as much greenhouse gas as petroleum fuels, he says, and hydrogen gas cannot be moved through conventionalpipelines. That means that it may be neces-sary to produce hydrogen at the pump, perhaps through electrolysis of water. Butthe technologies to do this cheaply do not yet exist.

Nevertheless, the congressional commit-tees were generally positive about the hydrogen-car programme — although somemembers expressed concern that its fundingmight come at the expense of other researchinto renewable energy.

Others, such as Senator Byron Dorgan(Democrat, North Dakota), said that theprogramme needed far more funding to beeffective. “It needs to be an Apollo-type pro-gramme,” Dorgan said, adding that he didn’twant to be overly critical of the administra-tion’s rare foray into research on new energysources. “When elephants fly,” he said, “youought not criticize them for being awkward.”

“The impression I get from FreedomCARis that they set objectives but there’s no indi-cation of how those objectives will be com-pleted,” says Weiss. Nevertheless, Sperlingand Roan remain generally positive aboutthe president’s proposal. “From a long-termplanning perspective it’s an undoubtedlygood programme,” says Roan. ■

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104 NATURE | VOL 422 | 13 MARCH 2003 | www.nature.com/nature

Russia pulls out of Antarctic stationBryon MacWilliams, MoscowThe 13 crew members expected to arrive thisweek at Russia’s Mirny Observatory on theAntarctic coast are likely to be tired andcold, and with good reason. When theVostok research base at which they work ranout of fuel and supplies last month, the teamwas forced to take their Soviet-era trucks ona 1,400-kilometre journey across one of thecoldest regions on Earth.

Vostok, which is near to the southgeomagnetic pole, was abandoned for thewinter on 28 February after bad weatherprevented a convoy carrying fuel andsupplies from reaching it. Valery Lukin ofthe Arctic and Antarctic Research Institutein St Petersburg, says that trips to the basehave been disrupted since a supply shipattempting to reach Mirny became trappedin ice last year.

The crew’s convoy was briefly strandedon 5 March when one of the trucks brokedown, but it is expected to arrive at Mirny by15 March. The same personnel are scheduledto reopen the base in early November, at thestart of Antarctica’s spring.

Lukin says that a proposed internationalproject to drill into Lake Vostok, 4 kmbeneath the ice (see Nature 415, 828–830;2002) will not be affected. Biologists suspectthat the lake, which been isolated formillions of years, could contain life.

The base has shut three times before in its 45-year history, although two of thoseclosures were in the past decade. Lukin deniessuggestions that a lack of government moneyis to blame. “This in no way means that Russiacan’t financially support its base,” he says. “Itis related to the climatic conditions.” ■

Geoff Brumfiel, Washington Experts are questioning the lack of universityinvolvement in President Bush’s initiative toproduce a competitive hydrogen-fuelled carby 2020.

The programme was launched early lastyear and was augmented in January whenBush announced a $1.7-billion, five-yearresearch initiative to develop the technologyand infrastructure to meet the project’s goals.

When both houses of Congress held hearings last week to review the programme,no academic scientist was invited. Instead,committees in the House and the Senateasked technical managers of companies such as Shell and General Motors, togetherwith environmental and industrial lobbyists,to testify.

But experts say that the programme —dubbed FreedomCAR (Cooperative Auto-motive Research) — needs a strong basic-research component if it is to come close to its ambitious goals. “Universities shouldhave a much, much larger role in Freedom-CAR,” says Daniel Sperling, director of theInstitute of Transportation Studies at theUniversity of California, Davis.

FreedomCAR focuses on industrialresearch and development, as did the Part-nership for a New Generation of Vehicles(PNGV) set up under Bill Clinton’s adminis-tration, which it replaces (see Nature 415,

Russia’s Vostok station is closed for the winter.

On the road: President Bush wants to see hydrogen-powered cars become a commercial reality.

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Hydrogen cars fuel debate on basic research

© 2003 Nature Publishing Group