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  January 7, 1999: Highlights

This Just In . . .

Power lines NSB Task Force on Environment to Hold Portland, OR Hearing Jan. 14
The National Science Board (NSB) Task Force on the Environment was established to assist NSF in defining the scope of its role with respect to environmental research, education, and assessment, and in determining the best means of implementing activities related to this area. The Task Force will be holding an open Hearing on Environmental Research, Education and Assessment on January 14, 1999 at the Hilton Hotel, Portland, OR. For more information on the hearing and future activities of the Task Force, and to provide comments on issues under consideration, visit the NSB Task Force Web site (http://www.nsf.gov/nsb/tfe/start.htm).     More...

Y2K USA Today / Gallup Poll: Americans and the Y2K Millennium Computer Bug
While a majority of Americans think computer mistakes due to the Year-2000 issue will cause only minor problems, nearly half surveyed said they would avoid travelling on airplanes on or around January 1, 2000, and nearly two-thirds said they would seek extra confirmation of bank account, retirement fund or other financial records, according to a recent Gallup poll. The nationwide telephone poll, released by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and USA Today, surveyed 1,032 adults between December 9 and 13. "This poll shows much of the American public is aware of possible Year 2000 computer mistakes," said George Strawn, NSF's Computer Networking Division Director. "This underscores how truly integrated computers already are in our everyday lives, and how much we depend on them."    More...
See also: Final Topline Survey Results and NSF's Y2K page for NSF grantees.

National Medal of Science National Science Medalists Named
President Clinton on December 8th named nine of the nation's most renowned scientific researchers to receive the National Medal of Science, citing them for "their creativity, resolve, and a restless spirit of innovation to ensure continued U.S. leadership across the frontiers of scientific knowledge." The individuals awarded the nation's highest scientific honor have had wide-ranging impact on social policy, cancer research, materials science, and greatly extended knowledge of our Earth and the solar systems. "These are superstars in their respective fields," Rita Colwell, director of the National Science Foundation (NSF), said.    More...

celestial object now officially called 1998 FS144 High School Students Discover Distant Asteroid Using NSF Telescope and Education Program
High school students have discovered a previously unidentified celestial object in the Kuiper Belt using images from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) 4-meter Blanco Telescope in Chile. Heather McCurdy, Miriam Gustafson and George Peterson of Northfield Mount Hermon School in Northfield, Massachusetts, one of six Asteroid Search Teams at the school participating in NSF's innovative Hands-On Universe Program, found and verified the distant object. "Only about 72 such objects had been identified in the Kuiper Belt," says astronomy teacher Hughes Pack. Kuiper Belt Objects, found beyond Neptune, are generally believed to be remnants dating to the formation of our solar system.    More...

Photo courtesy Northfield Mount Hermon School

asteroid

Scientist Finds Asteroid Fossil that May Have Caused Global Dinosaur Extinction
The fossilized remnants of an asteroid that may have caused the global extinction of dinosaurs and other species more than 65 million years ago has been found by a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded researcher. Frank Kyte, a geochemist from University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), presents his analysis of the fossil meteorite in the November 19 issue of the journal Nature. Some scientists believe that this particular worldwide extinction, which ended the Cretaceous period 65 million years ago, was caused by the destructive impact of a comet or asteroid. Kyte found the fossil meteorite while studying the sediment boundary layer between the Cretaceous and Tertiary eras.
More...

Photo courtesy Frank Kyte, UCLA

earthquake fault

Drying Rock Can Cause Repeated Earthquakes
Physical changes within rocks below fault zones may lead to repeated earthquakes, according to NSF-funded geologists. Researchers Jay Ague, Jeffrey Park and Danny Rye of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, analyzed chemical reactions within Earth's middle crust, about 10-20 kilometers (6-12 miles) beneath the surface. Their study shows that rocks subjected to increases in pressure and temperature, such as those found in faults along boundaries where tectonic plates slide past each other, may release water over time. Loss of water and resulting increases in internal fluid pressures can cause these rocks to break, and possibly cause an earthquake -- if that break happens near an active fault line, like the San Andreas Fault.    More...


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