Laser confocal photomicrograph of a microorganism that researchers found in lake ice from the dry valleys (the region where Lake Vida is located). Image courtesy of the Priscu Research Group, Montana State University at Bozeman

Researchers Uncover Extreme Lake -- and 3000-Year-Old Microbes -- in Mars-Like Antarctic Environment
NSF-supported researchers drilling into Lake Vida, an Antarctic "ice-block" lake, have found the lake isn't really an ice block at all. In the December 16 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team reveals that Antarctic Lake Vida may represent a previously unknown ecosystem, a frigid, "ice-sealed," lake that contains the thickest non-glacial lake ice cover on Earth and water seven times saltier than seawater. Because of the arid, chilled environment in which it resides, scientists believe the lake may be an important template for the search for evidence of ancient microbial life on Mars and other icy worlds.
More... (posted December 17, 2002)

Arcminute Cosmology Bolometer Array Receiver (ACBAR). Image courtesy of ACBAR, U.C. Berkeley, and Case Western Reserve University

Scientists Use South Pole Telescope to Produce the Most Detailed Images of the Early Universe
Using a powerful new instrument at the South Pole, a team of cosmologists has produced the most detailed images of the early Universe ever recorded. The research team, which was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), has made public their measurements of subtle temperature differences in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation. The CMB is the remnant radiation that escaped from the rapidly cooling Universe about 400,000 years after the Big Bang. Images of the CMB provide researchers with a snapshot of the Universe in its infancy, and can be used to place strong constraints on its constituents and structure. The new results provide additional evidence to support the currently favored model of the Universe in which 30 percent of all energy is a strange form of dark matter that doesn't interact with light and 65 percent is in an even stranger form of dark energy that appears to be causing the expansion of the Universe to accelerate. Only the remaining five percent of the energy in the Universe takes the form of familiar matter like that which makes up planets and stars.
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Composite SEM images showing biological force microscopy. Credit: Steven Lower, Department of Geology, University of Maryland

NSF Hosts Conference on Latest Discoveries in Nanoscale Science and Technology
Recipients of Nanoscale Science and Engineering awards made in 2001 presented initial results from over 100 NSF-funded projects at a grantees conference December 11-13, 2002, at the National Science Foundation.
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New NSF Awards Encourage Collaborations Between Ocean Scientists and Educators
NSF has awarded its first eight grants in a new Centers for Ocean Science Education Excellence (COSEE) program designed to integrate ocean science research into delivery of high-quality education programs in the ocean sciences. The new program also aims to promote a deeper public understanding of the oceans and their influence on quality of life and national prosperity. Seven centers around the country will be formed, with one central coordinating COSEE office. Centers are headquartered at: the New England Aquarium, Boston; University of California at Berkeley; University of Southern California; Rutgers University, New Jersey; University of South Florida; University of Southern Mississippi; and the South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium. The Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education (CORE) in Washington, D.C. will serve as the coordinating network office.
More... (posted December 11, 2002)

Hot springs panic grass can tolerate soil temperatures of 115 degrees Fahrenheit (46.5 Celsius) or higher in Yellowstone National Park. Photo Courtesy: R. Stout

Plant-Fungal Symbiosis Found in High-Heat Extreme Environment
Researchers examining plants growing in the geothermal soils of Yellowstone National Park and Lassen Volcanic National Park have found evidence of symbiosis between fungi and plants that may hold clues to how plants adapt to and tolerate extreme environments. The research was funded in part through NSF's Microbial Observatories Program and published in the Nov. 22 issue of the journal Science. Biologists Regina Redman of the University of Washington and Joan Henson of Montana State University and their colleagues examined 200 samples of Dichanthelium lanuginosum, also called "Geyser's Dichanthelium," for fungal colonization. They found what may be a new species of the fungus Curvularia that survives only in temperatures greater than 98 degrees when it associates with plants.
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Wide-angle view of the Milky Way in the direction of its center. Image was taken at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chili.

A Dim View of a Black Hole
When it comes to galactic centers, the core of our Milky Way isn't the brightest bulb on the tree. Astronomers have long been puzzled by the dimness of the area around the black hole in the heart of our galaxy compared to others in the universe. Now, NSF-supported researcher Geoffrey Bower of the University of California at Berkeley and colleagues have finally solved the riddle of why our light is not so bright. While earlier studies have shown that the glow is caused by super-heated gasses careening into the black hole, researchers have found that our dim galactic center may be a result of limited amounts of plasma in the region, not a trapping of the plasma's energy. In future studies, their techniques may also be used to probe space near the surface of the black hole as a test of Einstein's theory of general relativity.
More... (posted December 11, 2002)