NSF Grantees Awarded 2002 Nobel Prizes for Physics, Economics, and Chemistry
Raymond Davis, Jr., of the University of Pennsylvania and Riccardo Giacconi of Associated Universities, Inc., were awarded the 2002 Nobel Prize in Physics, along with Masatoshi Koshiba of Japan, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced on Oct. 8. The following day, the academy awarded Daniel Kahneman of Princeton University and Vernon L. Smith of George Mason University the Nobel Prize for Economics, and awarded John B. Fenn the Nobel Prize for Chemistry along with Japan's Koichi Tanaka and Kurt Wütrich of Switzerland. NSF has supported Kahneman, Smith, Fenn, Davis, and Giacconi. More... (posted October 15, 2002)

Photo: Felice Frankel

Envision This: Science Photographer Felice Frankel to Present a Lecture; NSF Will Web Cast
NSF will host and web cast a lecture on "Envisioning Science: The Design and Craft of the Science Image" by science photographer Felice Frankel on Oct. 28. Frankel is a research scientist in the School of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Director of the Envisioning Science Project, and the author of two books about communicating science through imagery. The lecture coincides with an exhibit of her work at NSF. The live web cast will bring the event to anyone with Internet access. Web viewers will need a RealPlayer Plug-in that can be downloaded for free. The lecture and web cast will begin at 1:30 pm. More... (posted October 15, 2002)

Karen L. Gregory, RN BSN RRT, of the Oklahoma Allergy & Asthma Clinic in Oklahoma City administers the breath analysis tool to a young asthma patient. Photo: www.breathmeter.com.

Laser Research Yields Precision Breath Analysis Tool for Asthma Diagnosis and Treatment
Research at the University of Oklahoma has yielded a novel way of using a laser to analyze exhalations of asthma sufferers, opening the door to more accurate diagnosis and prescriptive treatment of the malady. Patrick McCann, through a NSF research award, coupled a laser spectroscopy system to a tunable laser to create a device that can accurately and simultaneously measure both carbon dioxide and nitric oxide levels of a single exhalation of breath. The precise measurements provided by McCann's instrument might help doctors evaluate airway inflammation and prescribe medications at a level of accuracy corresponding to the measurement, thereby providing the most efficient and effective treatment of asthma while eliminating overmedication. More... (posted October 15, 2002)

Soot Contributes to Droughts and Floods in China
A new climate study has found that soot particles composed of black carbon and other pollutants are causing precipitation and temperature changes in China and may be partially responsible for the increased floods and droughts in the region over the past several decades. In research funded by NSF and NASA, Surabi Menon of both NASA and Columbia University in New York, and her colleague, James Hansen of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, have found that black carbon can affect regional climate by absorbing sunlight, which heats the air and thereby alters large-scale atmospheric circulation and the hydrologic cycle. The research appeared in the September 27 Science.
More... (posted October 15, 2002)