Report of the Science and Engineering Research Council for the year 1986-87

The report covers the year to March 31 1987. The expenditure of the Council over the year is given. Highlights of the year are summarized -these include laser holography, supercomputers and aerodynamic design, achievements in the Alvey programme, the compact synchrotron X-ray source, observation of the w-boson decay, results form Giotto, fish farming and genetic fingerprinting. Reports of the four boards -astronomy and planetary science, engineering, nuclear physics and science -are presented. Twelve articles then review major advances in recent years. These include the UK at CERN, scanning tunnelling microscopy, recent research using synchrotron x radiation, the European X-ray observatory EXOSAT and global solar oscillations. (U.K.)