Presented are reports on trends and probable future developments in eight selected areas of basic science and engineering. These reports are: "The Genetic Program of Complex Organisms" (Maxine F. Singer); "The Molecular and Genetic Technology of Plants" (Joseph E. Varner); "Cell Receptors for Hormones and Neurotransmitters" (H. Guy Williams-Ashman); "Psychobiology" (Steven Hillyard); "Surface Science and Its Applications" (Homer S. Hagstrum); "Turbulence in Fluids" (Willem V. R. Malkus); "Lasers" (C. Kumar N. Patel); and "The Next Generation of Robots" (Jacob T. Schwartz). Also presented is an introductory chapter which outlines overarching themes that become apparent when the eight fields are considered as a whole. These themes include changing perspectives on health care, faster pace of technological innovation, importance to scientific and engineering progress of the effective use of new communications technologies, emergence of research-based technologies, need to examine federal policies regarding research and development considered as a whole, and the quickening dissolution of the traditional boundaries between the fields of science and between science and technology. In addition, this chapter discusses the relation of work in the eight areas to the congressional aim of drawing more fully the relation of science and technology to the large and kaleidoscopic agenda with which the nation must deal. (JN)