Cooling Off Period?

International Experiment to Study Role
of Pollutants in Climate Change
More than 60 scientists from around the world met September 8-12 at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California, to plan an international experiment they hope will answer a pivotal question in climate change: How are pollutants known as aerosols cooling the planet and impacting global climate change? The project -- INDOEX, or the Indian Ocean Experiment -- is one of the first attempts by scientists to measure the cooling effect of sulfates and other aerosols on regional climate. The Center for Clouds, Chemistry and Climate, a National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center, is coordinating the experiment.    More...

Back to School with NSF:
Tools and Technology Even the Learning Field
As children head back to school, many will be carrying more than books in their backpacks. Some will carry speech synthesizers or computers with braille output -- technology that can enable them to communicate and participate in the classroom and in society. National Science Foundation (NSF)-supported research in areas such as speech recognition, alternative interfaces with computers, and speech/braille output are having a dramatic impact on the lives of people with disabilities.    More...

Getting to the Bottom of the Amazon:
Researchers and Their Fish Stories
Countless explorers have ridden the rushing, muddy waters of the Amazon on their way to seek out new species in South America's rainforests. Using the world's largest tropical river system as a floating route into the jungle, these adventurers may have missed the boat entirely. For below the seemingly familiar surface of the Amazon, there is a cornucopia of unknown fish. Today, at last, a handful of intrepid explorers -- biologists funded by NSF's Biotic Surveys and Inventories Program -- have begun to seek out these myriad creatures. What they are finding is a world of fish species long kept secret, including such oddities as electric fish with strange culinary tastes, and transparent catfish.    More...