DATA.

(From Canberra Times)

FELLOWS FIVE: Canberrans make up a quarter of the 20 new Fellows elected by the Australian Academy of Science.

The locals to win the esteem of their peers are Professors Martin Banwell and Christopher Easton, of the ANU's Research School of Chemistry, Professor Robert Bartnik, of the School of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Canberra, Dr T.J.Higgins, deputy chief of CSIRO Plant Industry, and Professor Malcolm McCulloch, of the ANU's Research School of Earth Sciences.

The academy normally elects 16 new fellows a year but it decided to mark its its 50th year with an extra four. It also elected two eminent Australians - Professor Nancy Mill- is, the Chancellor of La Trobe University, and businessman John Ralph - for conspicuous service to the cause of science.

www.science.org.au GENE TEAM: Australia's Office of the Gene Technology Regulator is inviting nominations for positions on the Gene Technology Technical Advisory Committee, Gene Technology Ethics Committee and the Gene Technology Community Consultative Committee.

Appointments to these committees will be for terms of up to three years.

www.ogtr.gov.au GOING TO TOWN: More people will be living in the world's cities than in rural areas by 2007, according to a new UN Population Division report.