And the Winners Are...

Mongolian Frost Rings Image courtesy: Dee Breger, LDEO; sample courtesy of G. Jacoby.

NSF, Science Name Winners of Inaugural International Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge

The National Science Foundation and the journal Science announced on September 11 the winners of the inaugural 2003 Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge. The winning entries are featured in the September 11 issue of Science and in the journal’s electronic edition “Science Online.” Two hundred ninety-seven entries qualified for judging. A panel of distinguished science communicators judged the entries on technical accuracy, creativity, innovation and communication impact.

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Paternal care among baboons includes a father providing refuge to one of his offspring as another juvenile approaches. Photo by Joan Silk, UCLA.

Baboon Fathers Really Do Care About Their Kids

In a finding that surprised researchers, a recent three-year study of five baboon groups at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro in Kenya reveals that baboon fathers overwhelming side with their offspring when intervening in disputes. The study, which appears in the Sept. 11 issue of the journal Nature, was funded by the National Science Foundation, the Chicago Zoological Society, the L.S.B. Leakey Foundation and the National Geographic Society. Not that baboons have a bad-dad reputation, but their links to females and immature baboons are rather loose by primate standards. For example, females and males have multiple mating partners, and they do not form permanent bonds with each other.
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Site remediation with iron nanoparticles. Credit: Lehigh University

Nanoscale Iron Could Help Cleanse the Environment
An ultrafine, "nanoscale" powder made from iron, one of the most abundant metals on Earth, is turning out to be a remarkably effective tool for cleaning up contaminated soil and groundwater--a trillion-dollar problem that encompasses more than 1000 still-untreated Superfund sites in the United States, some 150,000 underground storage tank releases, and a staggering number of landfills, abandoned mines, and industrial sites. The case for nanoscale iron is laid out in the September 3 issue of the Journal of Nanoparticle Research, where Lehigh University environmental engineer Wei-xian Zhang reviews his eight years of pioneering work with the material. Much of Zhang's research has been funded by NSF as a part of the federal government's 16-agency National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI).
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Book cover and CD for New Formulas for America's Workforce/Girls in Science and Engineering

NSF Publishes Unique Learning Resource in Time for New School Year
The National Science Foundation today published a first-of-its-kind resource for educators, parents and professionals seeking examples of unique and creative ways to explore science and technology and examine successful inquiry-based learning. The book, titled "New Formulas for America's Workforce: Girls in Science and Engineering," catalogs the methodology and results of 211 NSF grants issued since 1993. "This is a perfect back-to-school tool for those teachers, parents, homeschoolers, and administrators who want to see how research has identified hands-on learning that works," said Dr. Judith A. Ramaley, who leads NSF's Directorate for Education and Human Resources. "It is full of ideas, contacts, and research that makes it an essential element in the toolkit of every educator between the kindergarten and college undergraduate levels."
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