February 3, 2003

ETC group, led by Pat Roy Mooney, releases report about hazards of nanotechnology that generates global alarm among social, labor and environmental groups; nanotechnology refers to manipulation of matter at the scale of atoms and molecules to create novel forms of common materials; ETC manifesto warns of risks of allowing big business to pursue and promote technologies whose health and environmental consequences are not fully understood while public interest groups and governments assume scant control; Mooney calls for moratorium on nanotechnology research and commercialization until international agreements are reached on ways to assess and monitor potential risks; photo; drawing (M)

Analysts agree that tragic destruction of space shuttle Columbia is unlikely to have significant impact on consumer confidence, financial markets or United States economy (M)

Clifton Brown On Golf column implores female golfer Annika Sorenstam to accept invitation to play against men at PGA Tour's Chrysler Classic, despite some criticism that she should qualify for event instead of taking exemption offer; photo (M)

Influence of New York City black political figures known as Harlem Clubhouse, elite fraternity composed of such notable figures as former Mayor David Dinkins, Percy Sutton, Basil Paterson and Rep Charles Rangel, wanes as moment appears to have passed and power is scattered geographically and politically; they were each others' confidants and supporters and were involved in each other's political careers, from fund-raiser to adviser; now, baton is passed to new generation of black leaders at time when Harlem is no longer centerpiece of black political life; new vanguard includes City Comptroller William Thompson and State Sen David Paterson; history of Harlem Clubhouse discussed; photos (L)

Hundreds of officials, volunteers and homeowners comb countryside of East Texas and western Louisiana, turning up remains of some of astronauts aboard space shuttle Columbia; gargantuan recovery effort turns increasingly grim as searchers and even small children stumble across human remains in backyards, in hayfields and on roadsides; ambulance crews are dispatched to collect and preserve human remains, which will be transferred to Barksdale Air Force Base in Bossier City, La, before being sent to Dover Air Force Base; recovery effort sweeps up virtually everyone in uniform of any kind, in addition to volunteers; at Barksdale, board of inquiry is being convened, and investigators from NASA, FBI, National Transportation Safety Board and other agencies are setting up staging area for shipments of recovered debris; NASA official says agency is in contact with Israeli government to permit remains if Israeli astronaut Col Ilan Ramon to be identified quickly; photos of searchers in Nacogdoches, San Augustine and Jasper, Tex; map (L)