It's National Science & Technology Week '98!

Exploring Polar Connections
National Science & Technology Week (NSTW) 1998 starts on April 26th. This year's theme -- Polar Connections -- highlights the fact that both the North and South Poles are "natural laboratories" -- unique in the matchless opportunities they offer scientists and engineers to conduct research in pristine, natural environments. Now in its 14th year, NSTW is designed to engage the American public in the spirit of learning and adventure that is the hallmark of science and engineering.    More...

Infant Dependency Drives Menopause, NSF-Supported Researcher Reports
Why is there menopause? Writing in the April 23rd issue of Nature, University of Minnesota ecology professor Craig Packer says evidence from lions and baboons points to menopause as a simple result of aging. The timing of menopause, however, is set by how long a species needs to raise last-born infants to the age of independence, he says. Packer's research is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).    More...

Scientists Find Further Global Warming Evidence in Temperature Reconstruction Study; Years 1997, 1995, 1990 are the Warmest Since 1400 A.D.
NSF-funded climatologists at the University of Massachusetts (U. Mass.) at Amherst have reconstructed global temperature over the past 600 years and determined that 1997, 1995 and 1990 were the warmest years since at least 1400 A.D. The study, conducted by Michael Mann and Raymond Bradley of U. Mass., along with University of Arizona colleague Malcolm Hughes, is detailed in the current issue of the journal Nature.    More...

Shuttle Mission's "Neulolab" Studies Nervous System; Science in Space Features Snails, Fish
This April, dozens of snails and fish are going where only a few men and women have gone before: into outer space. The snails and fish are traveling aboard NASA's Space Shuttle Columbia, as part of a research project funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to study the development of gravity sensors in space by animals in the early stages of life. The snails and fish are aboard Neurolab, a shuttle research mission dedicated to the study of the life sciences.    More...