Photo courtesy: Michigan State University

Dispatches and Images Available: Research Team Studies Human Impact on Giant Panda Habitat
A team of researchers from Michigan State University left the United States for China on June 14 to continue a long-term study of how human population trends affect giant panda habitat in the Wolong Nature Reserve in Sichuan Province, southwestern China. Jianguo (Jack) Liu, an associate professor of fisheries and wildlife at Michigan State is leading the research team, which is partially funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
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(posted June 26, 2002)

A single Colbalt atom controlling the flow of electrons between two gold electrodes. Credit: Cornell University Center for Materials Research.

Two Breakthroughs Achieved in Single-Molecule Transistor Research
How small can electronic devices get? Nano-small! Two teams of scientists have fashioned transistors from single molecules, and report their results in the June 13 issue of Nature. The ability to use individual molecules for electronics is a coveted breakthrough for science at the nanometer scale and for electronics industries because of the potential to shrink the size of components well beyond what is possible using conventional lithography techniques.
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(posted June 18, 2002)

Graphic depiction comparing our solar system with a newfound planetary system, 55 Cancri, showing a planet in an orbit similar to that of our Jupiter. Credit: JPL

Newfound Planetary System Has "Hometown" Look
After 15 years of observation and a lot of patience, the world's premier planet-hunting team has found a planetary system that reminds them of our home solar system. Geoffrey Marcy, astronomy professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and astronomer Paul Butler of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, Pasadena, Calif., announced on June 13 the discovery of a Jupiter-like planet orbiting a Sun-like star at nearly the same distance as the Jovian system orbits our sun. "All other extrasolar planets discovered up to now orbit closer to the parent star, and most of them have had elongated, eccentric orbits. This new planet orbits as far from its star as our own Jupiter orbits the sun,'' said Marcy. The National Science Foundation (NSF) and NASA fund the planet-hunting team.
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A marine iguana on San Cristóbal Island and the grounded tanker. Photo credit: Heidi Snell

Galápagos Iguana Deaths Reveal Surprising Damage From Low-Level Oil Spills
The ecological effects of low-level oil spills may be more serious than previously thought, according to a study documenting the widespread death of marine iguanas on a Galápagos island. In research funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), Princeton University biologist Martin Wikelski and colleagues reported that more than half the marine iguanas on the Galápagos island of Santa Fe died with a year after a grounded tanker dumped nearly 800,000 gallons of oil into nearby waters.
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Graphic developed (evolved) from original graphic by J.J.Sepkoski, Jr.

In Evolution Game, Survival Doesn't Equal Success; Finding Has Implications for Future of Biodiversity
A significant number of organisms that survived the five greatest mass extinctions in Earth's history subsequently failed to achieve evolutionary success, according to a new study funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and conducted by University of Chicago scientist David Jablonski. "It's clear that there is a lot of evolutionary action in the aftermath of mass extinctions," said Jablonski. "The shape of the post-extinction world comes not only from who goes extinct, but from which survivors are successful -- or, instead, become extinct or marginalized in the aftermath." Jablonski lays out his evidence in the June 11 issue of the journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Single branch of Xanthocyparis vietnamensis with two foliage types. Immature foliage on the left and mature foliage on the right. Image courtesy of Daniel Harder, Arboretum at UCSC

Botanists Discover New Conifer Species in Vietnam
An unusual conifer found in a remote area of northern Vietnam has been identified as a genus and species previously unknown to science. The limestone ridges where the tree grows are among the most botanically rich areas in Vietnam, said Daniel Harder, currently director of the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC) Arboretum and a co-discoverer of the new species. "For us to find a previously undescribed, large tree like this indicates that there is probably a lot more to be discovered there," Harder said.
More... (posted June 18, 2002)