Genetics Achievement

Earliest Homo Sapiens Fossils Discovered in Ethiopia
Scientists from the University of California at Berkeley along with researchers from Ethiopia and several other countries have uncovered fossils of the earliest modern human, Homo sapiens, estimated at 154,000 to 160,000 years old. According to the scientists, the findings provide strong evidence that Homo sapiens and Neanderthals co-existed, rather than the former descending from the latter. In two articles appearing in the June 12 edition of the journal Nature, the authors describe the fossilized crania of two adults and a child uncovered at the Herto village in the Middle Awash study area of Ethiopia, about 140 miles northeast of its capital, Addis Ababa. The fossils fill a major gap in the human fossil record, the scientists report.
More... (posted June 11, 2003)

Going with the Grain: A Tale of Rice’s Smallest Chromosome
Behold a grain of rice. Inside are thousands of cells; within each cell are 12 chromosomes; and on rice’s smallest chromosome, No. 10, are about 3,500 genes and more than 22 million base pairs, the links in the chain of DNA. So, what’s the big deal about rice’s smallest chromosome? There are several, according to a report in the June 6 issue of the journal Science. Upon close examination, chromosome 10 has about twice as many genes as were predicted when an international consortium announced draft genome sequence in the same journal last December. An organism’s genome consists of the entire genetic code held in its DNA. Of potentially greater significance, a detailed look at chromosome 10 shows that the genome map of rice is similar to other grains, particularly sorghum and maize.
More... (posted June 6, 2003)

New Results Force Scientists to Rethink Single-Molecule Wires
Single-molecule switches have the potential to shrink computing circuits dramatically, but new results from the Arizona State University lab that first described how to wire a single molecule between gold contacts now show that laboratory-standard wired molecules have an unavoidable tendency to "blink" randomly. In the May 30, 2003, Science, Stuart Lindsay and colleagues identify the cause of this blinking behavior as random, temporary breaks in the chemical bond between the wired molecule and the gold contacts, making this particular wired-molecule arrangement unsuitable for electronic circuits. The National Science Foundation supported the research.
More... (posted June 6, 2003)

Draft FY2003-2008 GPRA Strategic Plan Available
The National Science Foundation solicits your comments on its draft strategic plan. The Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 – what we call GPRA - requires all federal agencies to update their strategic plans every three years. NSF submitted its current strategic plan for FY 2001- 2006 in October 2000. Therefore we will submit an updated strategic plan to the Administration and the Congress by September 2003.
(posted June 9, 2003)

NSB Seeks Comments on Draft Report on National Workforce Policies for Science and Engineering

(posted June 6, 2003)