Sad but true. Decreasing NASA budgets are forcing NASA to look at completely discontinuing research on the space station. This follows a shift away from basic research that has already happened over the years:

"Rather than researching materials, fluid physics and other basic microgravity phenomena, NASA decided to fund only those programs that had a direct bearing on human spaceflight beyond low-Earth orbit, which is where the space station and the space shuttles fly. Funding for radiation studies, for example, was to be a key part of the U.S. station research program."

"When implementing more than $300 million of station cuts last year, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin told Congress it was more important to get the station built than spend money for research."

Sad, but it does confirm what some of us have been saying about the ISS here in this thread.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/0...eut/index.html