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For more information on these science news and feature story tips, please contact the public information officer at the end of each item at (703) 292-8070. Editor: Bill Noxon Contents of this News Tip:
New Integrated GPS Net Advances Quake StudiesEarthquake scientists recently unveiled the Southern California Integrated GPS Network (SCIGN), a new type of ground motion monitoring network, supported by the National Science Foundation's (NSF) division of earth sciences. Unlike other instrument networks that record shaking, SCIGN tracks the slow motion of the Earth's plates by using the Global Positioning System (GPS) -- a constellation of satellites originally designed for military navigation that are used to determine precise locations on the ground. With SCIGN, the link between the motions of the plates that make up the Earth's crust and the resulting earthquakes is now being observed by an array of GPS stations operating in southern California -- one of the world's most seismically active and highly populated areas. Using SCIGN data to measure deformation of the Earth's crust, which can occur as movement on faults or as slow distortion of the ground, scientists can determine how strain builds up slowly over time before being released suddenly during earthquakes. The accumulated strain is directly related to earthquake potential, and measurement of it contributes to earthquake hazard assessments. [Cheryl Dybas] Genes of Aquatic Birds Reveal Surprising Evolutionary HistoryThe genes of aquatic birds have revealed a family tree dramatically different from traditional relationship groupings based on the birds' body structure, according to NSF-funded research. The most startling and unexpected finding of the study is that the closest living relative of the flamingo, with its long legs built for wading, is not any of the other long-legged species of wading birds but the squat grebe, with its short legs built for diving. The two species -- whose genes are more similar to each other's than to those of any other bird -- otherwise show no outward resemblance, according to Blair Hedges, an evolutionary biologist at Penn State University and leader of the study. Another surprising implication of the study is that physical features like long legs and webbed feet -- traditionally used to group birds of a feather into different flocks on the bird family tree -- did not appear just once during the history of bird evolution, but evolved repeatedly in the history of different aquatic bird species. [Cheryl Dybas] "New" Salamanders Turn Up from DNA AnalysisA new species of salamander discovered in an isolated range of hills in southeastern Mexico highlights the agile inventiveness of evolution. It also suggests that there are many species still waiting to be discovered in out-of-the-way places, and even under our noses. The soil dwelling salamander looks identical to one living in mountain foothills several hundred miles away. But DNA analysis by NSF-funded zoologists at the University of California at Berkeley shows them to be a distinct species. Experts can't tell them apart, but the salamander species apparently evolved from different ancestors and are not one another's closest relatives, according to David Wake, an integrative biologist at the University of California at Berkeley, who performed the research. The finding demonstrates an evolutionary concept called
parallelism, a situation where two organisms independently
come up with the same adaptation to a particular environment.
The discovery is one of many surprises that have emerged
in recent years as biologists use DNA comparisons
to distinguish species and chart family trees. [Cheryl
Dybas]
NSF is an independent federal agency which supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering, with an annual budget of about $4.5 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states, through grants to about 1,800 universities and institutions nationwide. Each year, NSF receives about 30,000 competitive requests for funding, and makes about 10,000 new funding awards. Receive official NSF news electronically through the e-mail delivery system, NSFnews. To subscribe, send an e-mail message to listmanager@nsf.gov. In the body of the message, type "subscribe nsfnews" and then type your name. (Ex.: "subscribe nsfnews John Smith")
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