The Blotchier the Face, the Better the Wasp
Putting on airs doesn’t cut it in the wasp world. When wasps sporting the high-quality symbol of a blotchy face turned out to be wimps, they got harassed more than wasps whose abilities were honestly reflected by their faces, report researchers. (Embargo expired on 10-Nov-2004 at 13:00 ET)
Nature, 11-Nov-2004
—University of Arizona

Ancient Creature Fossilized by the Bacteria That Ate It
Geologists found the fossil remains of a 180-million-year-old clam-like creature that was preserved in a very unusual way: by the ancient bacteria that devoured it. And only yards away, they found the first fossil evidence of a completely different kind of bacteria that scientists were unsure even existed as fossils that long ago. (Embargo expired on 10-Nov-2004 at 13:20 ET)
Geological Society of America meeting
—Ohio State University

Old Riverbed Keeps Chemicals from Entering Ohio River
A long-dry riverbed in northeastern Ohio is preventing a pool of chemical waste from infiltrating the Ohio River, geologists have found. The finding may call into question the need to clean up similar chemical waste sites. (Embargo expired on 10-Nov-2004 at 10:00 ET)
Geological Society of America meeting
—Ohio State University

Monitoring Life, One Breath at a Time
Researchers have created a tiny device that can monitor a victim's breathing in emergency situations by effectively shrinking an operating room machine into a small, disposable tool that can be carried to a disaster site.
Advanced Materials, 15-Nov-2004
—National Science Foundation (NSF)

Imagists Overcome Maelstrom Obscuring Z Machine's Drive Force
By inserting a pretty, two-inch-long crystal that reflects at only a single frequency into the hellish center of Sandia's Z machine as it fires, researchers have been able to visually filter out the bedlam of more than 99 percent of the energies generated.
—Sandia National Laboratories

Story Tips from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, November 2004
1) ENERGY EFFICIENCY -- Doing the Texas two-step; 2) COMPUTING -- Seeing is believing; 3) MATERIALS -- Beneath the surface; 4) TRANSPORTATION -- Next-generation sensors; 5) ENVIRONMENT -- Nature's healing hand.
—Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Soybean Rust Experts Available
The USDA confirmed Wednesday that Asian soybean rust has been found in Louisiana, the first known incidence of the disease in North America. Asian soybean rust is an aggressive fungal disease that can reduce soybean yield substantially.
—Iowa State University

Changing Ecosystems
In two separate studies, researchers examine earth's changing ecosystems. The first study shows the effects of exotic species can spread into other ecosystems. The second study shows the importance of the matrix when designing conservation areas.
Ecology, Vol. 85, Issue 10
—Ecological Society of America

National Parks Losing Maintenance-Backlog Battle
New data shows that the backlog of maintenance on our national parks is larger than stated, and at current funding, Bush administration will not eliminate backlog by 2009, as it claims.
Colorado College State of the Rockies Project
—Colorado College

Improving Winter Seasonal Forecasts and Siberia's Autumn Snows
Energy prices are at all-time highs, so winter weather, which significantly affects the U.S. economy, may have an even greater impact this season.
—National Science Foundation (NSF)

Sea Change: Skeletons of Ancient Corals Different from Today's
A Johns Hopkins graduate student may have solved a problem that has been baffling marine biologists and paleontologists: Why do coral reefs disappear from the fossil record during the beginning of the Cretaceous period only to reappear after its end 35 million years ago?
The Geological Society
—Johns Hopkins University

Sandia, Stirling to Build Solar Dish Engine Power Plant
The National Nuclear Security Administration's Sandia National Laboratories is joining forces with Stirling Energy Systems, Inc. of Phoenix to build and test six new solar dish-engine systems for electricity generation that will provide enough grid-ready solar electricity to power more than 40 homes.
—Sandia National Laboratories

Purdue, Japanese Researchers to Create More Human-Like Robots
Purdue University is leading a four-year project to enable humanoid robots to move more like people and adapt quickly to new situations so that they can complete a variety of tasks they weren't specifically programmed to perform.
—Purdue University

Uganda’s Forests Worth $350 Million/Year
A report released by the Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife Conservation Society and Uganda’s National Forest Authority says that Uganda’s forests are worth some $350 million per year, with rural people supplementing up to 36 percent of their income with renewable forest products.
—Wildlife Conservation Society

Genetically Engineered Corn Poses No Immediate Threat to Mexican Crops
Genetically modified corn won't threaten native corn species in Mexico, according to a new report issued by the North American Free Trade Association. Some 30 percent of the corn that Mexico imports from the United States may be genetically modified.
—Ohio State University

Scientist Wins Award For Breakthrough In Coding Theory And Practice
An article that developed an improved decoding algorithm for error-correcting codes that are used today in communication and storage devices ranging from computer hard drives to deep-space probes was selected as the top paper about information theory in the past two years.
—University of California, San Diego

Hospital for Special Surgery Receives More Than $10 Million in Grants
The Hospital for Special Surgery announced today that it has received more than $10 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to fund basic and clinical research activities.
—Hospital for Special Surgery

$8 Million Grant from Flight Attendant Medical Research Institute
The American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science announced today that the Weizmann Institute in Israel has been awarded an $8 million grant from the Flight Attendant Medical Research Institute.
—Weizmann Institute of Science

International Marine Survey of Coral Death
Seeing coral death as one symptom of widespread disease in the oceans' marine organisms, The World Bank and the Global Environment Fund have committed $28 million to the first phase of a 15-year study called the Coral Reef Targeted Research and Capacity Building project.
—Cornell University