Webs, Wires, Waves: The Science of Communication
National Science & Technology Week 1997
Focusing on the benefits of communications and newly developed technologies such as the Internet, the theme of NSF's National Science and Technology Week, celebrated throughout the U.S. from April 20-26, was Webs, Wires, Waves: The Science and Technology of Communications.   More...

Are Environments on Other Planets and Earth One and the Same?
What do boiling-hot fissures in the earth's crust, the insides of airplane fuel tanks, vast expanses of ice in Antarctica and the parched sands of baking deserts have in common with environments on other planets? Scientists taking part in a new National Science Foundation (NSF) funding initiative, Life in Extreme Environments (LExEn), hope soon to discover answers.   More...

Evolution of Fish Antifreeze Gene Sheds Light on Climate History
New research shows that fish in the Antarctic and Arctic oceans, at opposite ends of the earth, independently evolved nearly identical antifreeze glycoproteins. Millions of years ago, fish in both northern and southern polar waters adapted to a cooling climate by evolving antifreeze proteins that kept them from freezing in frigid oceans.   More...

A Safer Way to Monitor Volcanoes
Volcano expert Stanley Williams of Arizona State University in Tempe barely survived an eruption that killed several of his colleagues while taking gas samples on the side of a Colombian volcano named Galeras. That was four years ago. Since then, Williams has been working on instruments that monitor changes in a volcano's gas output.   More...