For the past five years, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has supported an international and interagency team of researchers, led by investigators at the University of Washington, who are studying the physical properties of the Arctic Ocean and the potential effects of changes in the Arctic on global climate. Among the various tools they use are a suite of instruments attached to a mooring cable. The cable is as long as Mt. Rainier is tall. The mooring, deployed from a temporary camp at the Pole, keeps the instruments in place and collecting temperature, ice-thickness and other data for a full year. Credit: Trent Schindler/National Science Foundation

NSF'S North Pole Researchers Study Climate Change in the Arctic
Long before a Hollywood blockbuster about catastrophic climate change packed cinema multiplexes this spring, researchers at the top of the world, supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), were using an array of scientific tools to build a comprehensive scientific picture of environmental change in the Arctic and what it may mean for the rest of the globe. Led by oceanographer James Morison, of the University of Washington, NSF- supported scientists from Oregon State University, as well as others supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Naval Post-graduate School, and the Japan Marine Science and Technology Center, are conducting an array of experiments at the North Pole to understand this little-known, but extremely important region.
More... (posted July 2, 2004)

Tapered chiral optical fiber created by Chiral Photonics. Fiber is less than 100 millionths of a meter in diameter. Credit: Chiral Photonics, Inc.; National Science Foundation

A New Twist on Fiber Optics—Spiraling Glass Fibers Provide New Way to Control Behavior of Light

By twisting fiber optic strands into helical shapes, researchers have created unique structures that can precisely filter, polarize or scatter light. Compatible with standard fiber optic lines, these hair-like structures may replace bulky components in sensors, gyroscopes and other devices. While researchers are still probing the unusual properties of the new fibers, tests show the strands impart a chiral, or "handed," character to light by polarizing photons according to certain physical properties. Victor Kopp of Chiral Photonics in Clifton, N.J., and his colleagues describe the new fibers in the July 2 issue of Science. More... (posted July 2, 2004)

Boston Microsystems, each consisting of a central plate surrounded by curved tethers. The largest is less than 100 microns (millionths of a meter) across. Credit: Boston Microsystems, Inc.; National Science Foundation

Searing Heat, Little Package—High-Temperature Lab-On-a-Chip Can Get Hotter than Surface of Venus

Engineers have created a miniature hotplate that can reach temperatures above 1100°C (2012°F), self-contained within a "laboratory" no bigger than a child's shoe. The micro-hotplates are only a few dozen microns across (roughly the width of a human hair), yet are capable of serving as substrates, heaters and conductors for thin-film experiments ranging from material analyses to the development of advanced sensors. Researchers at Boston MicroSystems, Inc. craft the hotplates out of silicon carbide, a robust material that can tolerate extreme heat and reach peak temperature in less than one-thousandth of a second.
More... (posted July 2, 2004)

Courtesy of the Ocean Drilling Program

Inaugural Voyage of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Now Under Way

Scientists affiliated with the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP), an international scientific research program designed to contribute fundamental knowledge to the topics of climate change, geologic hazards, energy resources, and Earth's environment, departed Astoria, Ore., June 28, for the first leg of six planned expeditions. At the Juan de Fuca Ridge, off the coast of British Columbia, the first IODP expedition will undertake hydrologic, microbiological, seismic and tracer studies to evaluate fluid flow within the oceanic crust. Andrew Fisher, co-chief scientist and geologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, along with Tetsuro Urabe of the University of Tokyo, will lead some 50 scientists and technicians aboard the JOIDES Resolution, a "floating university," (http://iodp.tamu.edu/publicinfo/drillship.html) in this leg of IODP's quest to provide information about Earth's history.
More... (posted July 2, 2004)