This Just In ....

The President today announced his intent to nominate Dr. Neal F. Lane as Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Dr. Rita R. Colwell as Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF). [More: White House Announcements and Related Statements.]

Good News for U.S. Research & Education

NSF Director Neal Lane on the
Fiscal Year 1999 Budget Request
"The good news for NSF begins at the bottom line. The total budget comes to just under $3.8 billion. This represents a substantial increase -- 10% overall -- over $340 million. If enacted, this would be the largest dollar increase the Foundation has ever received -- as the President noted in his State of the Union address. When we think about numbers like these, it's only natural to ask what this increased investment allows us to do.   More...

Oceanographers Study Toxic
Organism that Contaminates Shellfish
Oceanographers at the University of Rhode Island in Narragansett are studying blooms of toxic "red tide" organisms with a grant from NSF. The microscopic organisms, dinoflagellates in the genus Alexandrium, create neurotoxins responsible for paralytic shellfish poisoning, which in turn often leads to closure of shellfish beds. The neurotoxins produced by the dinoflagellates are accumulated by filter-feeding shellfish, then passed on to humans consuming such "tainted" shellfish.    More...

Minerals Behave
Differently at High Pressures
Geologists are quite certain about iron. They know, for example, that it is a versatile magnetic metal with many uses, and that in most of the minerals on the Earth's surface iron oxidizes into ions. Iron ions that are missing two electrons are called ferrous iron, and those missing three electrons are called ferric iron. However, geologists' certainty about iron is only as deep as the Earth's surface. Closer to Earth's center, the pressure becomes intense, causing iron, along with other minerals, to lose its familiar characteristics.    More...

Newly Declassified Submarine
Data Will Help Study of Arctic Ice
A treasure-trove of formerly classified data on the thickness of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean, gathered by U.S. Navy submarines over several decades, is now being opened. Data from the first of approximately 20 cruise tracks -- an April, 1992 trans-Arctic Ocean track -- has just been released, and information from the rest of these tracks, or maps of a submarine's route, will be analyzed and released over the next year-and-a-half.    More...