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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: Cheryl Dybas Contents of this News Tip:
SCIENTISTS HEAD TO JAPAN TRENCH FOR EARTHQUAKE STUDIESFor the first time in the history of scientific drilling of the ocean floor, scientists funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) will attempt to establish long-term seafloor observatories in one of the world's most active earthquake zones. Scientific instruments will be installed in deep boreholes located off the east coast of Japan, in a region known as the Japan Trench. The instruments will record earthquakes and the Earth's movement for study of the dynamic processes of tectonic collision. At this site, the Pacific Plate is colliding with and sliding under the Eurasian Plate, in a process referred to as subduction. Subduction zones are the locations on Earth where the largest and most destructive earthquakes occur. A team of scientists will install a series of instruments, which to date have been limited to use in continental regions or on islands (with the exception of a few temporary ocean bottom seismometers). If successful, this expedition will establish long-term geophysical observatories in the bottoms of two boreholes. The holes will be drilled approximately one kilometer into the ocean floor under more than two kilometers of water. Both observatories will have replaceable data recording devices and batteries installed during the cruise. The seafloor observatories will be serviced by robotically-controlled vehicles (ROVs) similar to those used for investigating the Titanic. [Cheryl Dybas] TOURING EVOLUTION THEORY'S LAND OF ORIGIN THROUGH A "VIRTUAL GALAPAGOS"Visiting the Galapagos Islands was an expensive proposition even in the time of Charles Darwin's escort there by the HMS Beagle. Today, the costs are also measured in terms of our negative environmental impact on the pristine island ecology. But thanks to burgeoning multi-media technology, students will soon be able to imitate Darwin and "virtually explore" the island and its inhabitants. They will use an innovative CD-ROM-based educational program being produced by Stanford University and MW Productions, Inc. of San Francisco, through a grant from the National Science Foundation. The program presents 360 views of various points on the island and allows students to learn about earth and evolutionary sciences as well as island plant and animal life through narrated video, animation, simulation, graphics, text, and computer programming. The product will include self-directed and self paced discovery in: pattern and process in organic evolution; the scientific method; the history of science around the time of Darwin; Galapagos community ecology and conservation issues; and geology and climatology. Using Galapagos organisms, students will explore examples of adaptation, natural selection, sexual selection, and coevolution. Additional materials to be developed include printed workbooks that students use for compiling results and teachers use for assessment of student work, and a printed teacher's guide. Content is aligned with National Science Education Standards. [Lee Herring] "ROBOFLY" SOLVES MYSTERY OF INSECT FLIGHTInsects have been flitting about the planet far longer than any other creature, yet how they manage to stay aloft has been a mystery. But now, a University of California, Berkeley, biologist funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) has solved the riddle. Using a pair of robotic wings he has dubbed "robofly," Michael Dickinson and his colleagues have found three distinct wing motions that not only allow insects like flies and bees to stay airborne, but also let them steer and execute amazing acrobatic maneuvers. These mechanisms seem to be common to most insects, and perhaps even to the hummingbird. "Engineers say they can prove that a bumblebee can't fly," says Dickinson. "And if you apply the theory of fixed wing aircraft to insects, you do calculate they can't fly. You have to use something different. We now have a unified theory of insect flight aerodynamics that explains how they can steer and maneuver. We've solved the old riddle." The team's discovery could help speed the development of small flying robots, which must be designed around different physical principles than larger flying craft. "Insects are the most successful group of macroscopic organisms on Earth, and they were the first to take to the air. Their life seems centered around flight," says Dickinson. "Understanding the evolution and the aerodynamics of flight is a great problem in biology. With insects, we didn't really know how they could stay in the air. Now we do." [Cheryl Dybas]
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