The University of California-Berkeley and Stanford University are taking a pass on some federally-funded research opportunities because of restrictions on how results might be shared with the broader research community, according to a report in the Mercury News.

Such restrictions are typically invoked in the interest of national security.

The newspaper also reports that a new study of 20 top schools identified "180 examples of 'troublesome clauses' attached by the federal government to research contracts -- up from 138 in 2004."