The U.S. National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences have designated for start-up four non-federal Centers for Oceans and Human Health, which they plan to fund at a total of $5 million annually for five years, the agencies announced on 22 April. Don Rice, director of the chemical oceanography program at NSF, said the centers link up experts in oceanographic and biomedical sciences. The centers help to bridge a decades-long artificial disciplinary division that exists in the scientific research community is reflected in the federal funding community, he said. Rice added that from the pool of grant applications, the agencies selected those that offered the biggest advances in science that would most quickly benefit human health.