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This Just In . . .
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National
Science Medalists Named
President Clinton on December 8th named nine
of the nation's most renowned scientific researchers
to receive the National Medal of Science, citing them
for "their creativity, resolve, and a restless spirit
of innovation to ensure continued U.S. leadership
across the frontiers of scientific knowledge." The
individuals awarded the nation's highest scientific
honor have had wide-ranging impact on social policy,
cancer research, materials science, and greatly extended
knowledge of our Earth and the solar systems. "These
are superstars in their respective fields," Rita Colwell,
director of the National Science Foundation (NSF),
said.
More...
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High School
Students Discover Distant Asteroid Using NSF Telescope
and Education Program
High school students have discovered a previously
unidentified celestial object in the Kuiper Belt using
images from the National Science Foundation's (NSF)
4-meter Blanco Telescope in Chile. Heather McCurdy,
Miriam Gustafson and George Peterson of Northfield
Mount Hermon School in Northfield, Massachusetts,
one of six Asteroid Search Teams at the school participating
in NSF's innovative Hands-On Universe Program, found
and verified the distant object. "Only about 72 such
objects had been identified in the Kuiper Belt," says
astronomy teacher Hughes Pack. Kuiper Belt Objects,
found beyond Neptune, are generally believed to be
remnants dating to the formation of our solar system.
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Photo courtesy Northfield Mount Hermon
School
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Scientist
Finds Asteroid Fossil that May Have Caused Global
Dinosaur Extinction
The fossilized
remnants of an asteroid that may have caused the global
extinction of dinosaurs and other species more than
65 million years ago has been found by a National
Science Foundation (NSF) funded researcher. Frank
Kyte, a geochemist from University of California at
Los Angeles (UCLA), presents his analysis of the fossil
meteorite in the November 19 issue of the journal
Nature. Some scientists believe that
this particular worldwide extinction, which ended
the Cretaceous period 65 million years ago, was caused
by the destructive impact of a comet or asteroid.
Kyte found the fossil meteorite while studying the
sediment boundary layer between the Cretaceous and
Tertiary eras.
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Photo courtesy Frank Kyte, UCLA
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Drying
Rock Can Cause Repeated Earthquakes
Physical changes
within rocks below fault zones may lead to repeated
earthquakes, according to NSF-funded geologists. Researchers
Jay Ague, Jeffrey Park and Danny Rye of Yale University
in New Haven, Connecticut, analyzed chemical reactions
within Earth's middle crust, about 10-20 kilometers
(6-12 miles) beneath the surface. Their study shows
that rocks subjected to increases in pressure and
temperature, such as those found in faults along boundaries
where tectonic plates slide past each other, may release
water over time. Loss of water and resulting increases
in internal fluid pressures can cause these rocks
to break, and possibly cause an earthquake -- if that
break happens near an active fault line, like the
San Andreas Fault.
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