An astronomer from The University of Arizona in Tucson and four Brazilian amateur astronomers last month observed an event not witnessed from Earth in more than a thousand years, if ever. Erich Karkoschka, a senior research associate with the UA Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, and his colleagues on April 23 photographed the moon as it simultaneously occulted Venus and Jupiter.
Four African meteorologists spent the past nine months at UCAR building a multimedia CD-ROM demonstrating best use of satellite data for improving weather forecasts in the tropics. Better forecasts, including seasonal rainfall predictions, are critical to Africa, where millions depend on the current year's crops.
A panel commissioned by the National Science Foundation's Division of Mathematical Sciences reports that several adverse trends threaten to undermine the United States' dominant position in world mathematics. The panel also notes that NSF policies significantly affect the strength of U.S. mathematics and hence the health of other sciences.
Several specimens of a large predatory dinosaur -- including a nearly complete, exquisitely preserved skull -- were recently recovered on the island of Madagascar and announced in this week's issue of the journal Science by a team of researchers led by paleontologist/anatomist of the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine of the New York Institute of Technology.
Researchers used a "gating mechanism" in the coats of simple viruses to remove the genetic material and turn the remaining protein coat into a delivery system for other organic substances, including drugs. Their loaded viruses can also be altered to target certain types of cells (like cancer cells).
Sea slugs--back-boneless, ocean-dwelling creatures that look like a large snail without a shell--produce a perfume-like chemical, called a pheromone, that makes them almost irresistible to one another and helps these normally solitary animals congregate to breed, scientists at University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston have discovered. The chemical is one of only a handful of known water-borne pheromones.
Prof. Janine N. Caira of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, who has conducted award-winning research on the parasites of sharks and rays, is the most outstanding North American parasitologist for 1998.
Researchers at Boston University and Scriptgen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., have successfully synthesized two compounds that open the door to the development of an entirely new class of antibiotics for use against today's increasingly drug-resistant bacteria as well as emerging forms of bacteria. In a recent issue of the Journal of Organic Chemistry, the research team reported that they have chemically synthesized myxopyronin A and B, two natural compounds known to block replication of drug-resistant strains of bacteria. Before this breakthrough, the compounds could only be isolated from their bacterial source, a process that yielded quantities too small to be usable.
A Laysan albatross tracked by Wake Forest University biologists has flown more than 24,843 miles in flights across the North Pacific to find food for its chick in just 90 days - flights equivalent to circling the globe.
Rensselaer has patented a device that listens to blood flowing in a patientÃs carotid artery and tells a doctor immediately if the artery is blocked by dangerous cholesterol deposits. The device provides an inexpensive, non- invasive screening system that doctors can use in their offices during routine checkups
DECADES-LONG CLIMATE CYCLE--EL NINO'S "COUSIN"--INFLUENCES SALMON FISHERIES SLEEPY ADOLESCENTS? STUDENTS LEARN ABOUT BIOLOGICAL CLOCKS MODERN MAMMALS LIVED BEFORE EXTINCTION OF DINOSAURS
Martian meteorite ALH84001 was evidence for extraterrestrial life because minerals found in it resembled minerals created by unusual earthly bacteria. Now it appears that the bacteria themselves contradict that claim. An article in this week's Science reports that sulfides in the bacteria do not match the meteorite's minerals.
The long-sought goal of turning hydrogen into a metal, it has been predicted, would require pressure comparable to that found at the center of the Earth. Researchers at Cornell University have now dispelled that theory: They submitted hydrogen gas to just such pressure, but the element remained unchanged.
Composting waste from livestock operations can be an efficient way to manage the waste with less cost, Purdue University researchers have found. Composting also virtually eliminates smells and runoff problems.
Welcome to the clone zone. The 9 May issue of New Scientist answers everything you wanted to know about cloning but were afraid to ask. Now that everyone has had time to come to terms with Dolly, the first ever clone of an adult mammal, we're taking a fresh look at the science behind cloning, and what directions the technology is likely to go.
Parents nationwide can keep their 4th through 8th graders busy this summer pondering such brain teasers as how best to swamp a bedroom or split the profits from a sale of Beanie Babies--thanks to the University of Delaware's "mail-order math" program, "Solve It."
New methods and technologies for immersing people in virtual reality environments will be explored at Iowa State, May 11-12, at the Second International Immersive Projection Technology Conference. Reports on VR applications from research to entertainment will be included.
The American Petroleum Institute, on behalf of big oil companies and an assortment of right-wing and industry front groups, has laid out a secret $5 million plan to block the global warming treaty by such means as ìrecruiting and trainingî scientists and teachers to spread junk science to the public.
As the wave of brilliantly colored songbirds sweeps northward across the United States and Canada from South and Central America, scientists at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society recruit thousands of citizen birdwatchers to log-on to http://birdsource.cornell.edu/ and tell them where the warblers are.
May 1998 science tips include: 1.) New method makes sure meat is safe from contamination 2.) Astronomers observe what they think is a star made of diamond 3.) Conference updates virtual reality 4.) Casting tool helps find defects
The exhibition will include a 12th-century herbal manuscript from the first European school of medicine in Italy, multi-hued books documenting the flora of the "New World," garden design books showing the extravagant splendors of the princely gardens of 18th- and 19th- century Europe, and Pierre Joseph Redoute's illustrations of the exotic plants introduced in the gardens of 19th-century French nobility. In addition to featuring sumptuous illustrations of plants and accounts of exploration and discovery the exhibition chronicles the development of the publication of botanical science over the centuries.
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The partial ban on a compound used to keep barnacles off of boat hulls doesn't seem to be enough to save the lives of California sea otters, according to a recently published Michigan State University study.
As part of its participation in the world's largest technical conference on lasers and electro-optics, in San Francisco this week, Lucent Technologies is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the publication of the scientific paper that described the concept and design for one of the century's greatest inventions -- the laser.
A genetic method for identifying individuals who get the most benefit from exercise, a device that makes it possible to get more information from fiber optic sensors more quickly, and a system for increasing the speed at which large knowledge-based computer systems can answer complex queries are the University of Maryland, College Park's inventions of the year for 1997.
Experts generally agree that increased concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere will result in changes in the Earth's climate. However, there is much less agreement about how such climate change could affect the world's forests. In their new essay, Resources for the Future's Roger Sedjo and Ohio State's Brent Sohngen identify potential sources of forest damage from climate change and evaluate the possible socioeconomic consequences.
Though the recent Carnegie Foundation report found fault with many U.S. research universities--arguing that undergraduates are too often simply "receiving what is served out to them," mainly by untrained graduate assistants--the University of Delaware was one of only five institutions cited for "making research-based learning the standard."
Shattering a record established just 6 weeks ago, astronomers have discovered the most distant object ever seen, an infant galaxy that lies some 12.3 billion light-years from Earth. That immense distance means that the light now reaching Earth left the galaxy when it less than 800 million years old. Details about the finding appear in the May 2 Science News.
Christopher C. Cummins, 32, chemistry professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will receive the Alan T. Waterman Award for 1998, which is the National Science Foundation's most prestigious prize for young researchers.
Researchers at Michigan State University have found that DDE, a by-product of DDT, the now-banned pesticide that continues to have a presence within the Earth's soils and sediments, is degrading naturally in the environment.
1) Deformed Frogs Might Be Due to Natural Degradation of Pesticides, 2) Chlorinated Dioxins Found in Century-old Soil Sample
Just as humans may use naphthalene "moth balls" to fumigate their closets, termites may use naphthalene to protect their nests, according to a research group led by urban entomologist Gregg Henderson, Ph.D., at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.
Cornell astronomer Philip Nicholson and his colleagues have proposed to name the two recently discovered moons of the planet Uranus Caliban and Sycorax, both characters in Shakespeare's play "The Tempest." The astronomers confirm that the two moons, whose discovery was announced on Oct. 31, are the faintest planetary satellites yet imaged by ground-based telescopes.
Traditional support groups clearly help cancer survivors cope with their experiences, and Internet-based networks can offer many of the same benefits, says a University of Delaware professor who examined the content, advantages and pitfalls of "cyber solace" in a new study published in the January-February issue of Computers in Nursing.
1) NSF Releases Study on Weather and Climate, 2) New Insight Into Protein Structure May Lead to 'Designer Drugs', 3) NSF Reaches 40 States with Excess Equipment
Purdue University researchers are leading a national effort to ensure the safety and efficiency of the next generation of nuclear power plants. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has established the Institute of Thermal-Hydraulics at Purdue's School of Nuclear Engineering.
Satellite communications and spread-spectrum digital radios operating in no-license areas of the spectrum will be the focus of a National Science Foundation-(NSF) sponsored Emerging Wireless Communications Workshop May 4-5.
Physical evidence of the existence of extremely acid lakes 270 million years ago over a huge area of the North American midcontinent has been documented by a team of researchers headed by a Central Michigan University geologist. The discovery, featured in the April 30 edition of the scientific journal Nature, could lead to new information useful for the clean-up of modern-day contaminated waters.
Sandia research may make electricity derived from geothermal energy more economically feasible with new electronic instrument systems that can operate more than 100 degrees hotter than systems presently available.
The National Science Board (NSB) will meet on Wednesday, May 6 through Friday, May 8, 1998 at the National Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, Va. Sessions are open to the public on Thursday.
Grazing by herbivorous mammals like bison increases biodiversity in North American grasslands, says National Science Foundation (NSF) ecologist Scott Collins, even during periods of frequent burning and other stresses. In fact, loss of species diversity in these grasslands due to frequent burning was reversed by bison grazing, according to Collins.
Researchers at Lucent Technologies have built microscopic "trampolines" to help measure a material's magnetic properties when placed in a strong magnetic field. The novel technique will provide researchers with a very powerful method to study new materials.
High-temperature superconducting materials have almost limitless potential but are often less "super" in real performance, since they lose as much as 95 percent of the current running through them. A University of Wisconsin-Madison experiment has found a surprising contributor to this energy sink, by pinpointing tiny defects that clog electrical flow through the wires.
This month, scientists with the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) will install one of many planned Geophysical Ocean Bottom Observatories (GOBO), in which a permanent seismograph station will be established on the sea floor for monitoring earthquake activity. ODP is funded in large part by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
Researchers at Ohio State University have developed a new model of atomic forces that may solve a long-standing problem in particle physics.
The first census in 40 years of Grauer's gorillas has revealed a surprisingly stable population despite human pressures, according to a study by the Wildlife Conservation Society, and published in the recent issue of Oryx.
1) Technology Transfer -- the Wonder Hinge, 2) Genetics -- Angelman Syndrome Model Developed, 3) Energy -- Popeye Power, 4) Physics -- Quantum Growth of Thin Films and Magic Numbers
Researchers at Ohio State University are helping NASA scientists develop computer systems that communicate important information as flexibly and efficiently as people do.
The "nose on a chip" is being developed at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Microsensors will be able to sniff out mercury, natural gas, carbon monoxide and other chemicals.
New Computer Technology Provides Interface Based On Eye Movement; Consumer Interactive Music Product Delivers Creative Expression
Neal Lane, director of the National Science Foundation and Clinton nominee to the White House Science Adviser post, will deliver a lecture, "Science, Technology and Human Interest: Our Greatest Challenge," April 29 in conjunction with the dedication ceremonies of the new E. Dell Butcher Hall, home to Rice's Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology. The formal dedication of the new building will be held April 30.
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