The international economic downturn could have a curious by-product: more demand for top scientists - at least in the short term. In the United States, lawmakers are creeping closer to a stimulus package that would provide billions of dollars for the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation (see Nature 457,623; 2009). And in China, the government is offering top Chinese professors who are working overseas relocation packages of 1 million renminbi (US$146,000) per person to lure them back to the mainland (see Nature 457,522; 2009). With college-educated Chinese students struggling with an increasingly tough job market, the timing of this initiative may be more than just a coincidence.
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