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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:
New Data Base On Reactive Chlorine Emissions In The AtmosphereAn international team of atmospheric chemists has produced the first gridded global inventory of reactive chlorine emissions to the atmosphere. "This work provides an objective benchmark for assessing our understanding of the global chlorine cycle, and for investigating the potential environmental implications of future changes in chlorine emissions," says scientist William Keene of the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, one of 18 investigators working on the project. Individual investigators received support from various sources, including the National Science Foundation. The project is similar to the global inventory of carbon emissions conducted several years ago to investigate natural and human influences on atmospheric carbon concentrations. That study was central to the discussions leading to the recent Kyoto protocols, a set of international guidelines for regulating future carbon emissions. Some reactive chlorine compounds contribute to the destruction of stratospheric ozone, some are toxic to humans at high-dose exposures, and others are harmful at chronic, lowerdose exposures. The chlorine, carbon, and other inventory data may be found at the following web site: http://blueskies.sprl.umich.edu/geia [Cheryl Dybas] Solution To 40-Year-Old Mathematical Problem Hailed As BreakthroughDoes the tongue-twister 'Taniyama-Shimura' sound familiar? It was in the news in 1993, when mathematicians announced the dramatic solution of the 350-year-old problem known as Fermat's Last Theorem. As one step in solving the Fermat problem, Andrew Wiles, a mathematician at Princeton University, proved a substantial part of a statement known as the Taniyama-Shimura conjecture. Now, four mathematicians have proved the full Taniyama-Shimura conjecture. Three former students of Wiles, supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), Brian Conrad and Richard Taylor of Harvard University and Fred Diamond of Brandeis University, along with Christopher Breuil of the University of Paris, built on Wiles' techniques to reach the final proof. Details will be presented at a special meeting at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkeley, California, December 6-10, 1999. "This is a breakthrough for mathematics," said Philippe Tondeur, NSF's assistant director for mathematical sciences. "This proof will have far-reaching consequences because of the abundance of new mathematical tools developed in the process." For more than 30 years, the conjecture by Yutaka Taniyama and Goro Shimura that ''every elliptic curve over the rational numbers is 'modular' " -- has underpinned the field of arithmetic geometry, which integrates geometry with number theory. Number theory, which examines questions about integers or whole numbers, has real-world applications in the development of secure and accurate electronic communication systems. [Amber Jones] The Cost Of StormsDid you know that in the U.S., hurricanes, floods, and tornadoes cause an average $9.2 billion in damage each year? Or that of the 30 most powerful hurricanes since 1900, more than 40 percent of the total damage occurred in southeast Florida? You can find such information and more, in the new Extreme Weather Sourcebook from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado. NCAR is supported in large part by the National Science Foundation. The Extreme Weather Sourcebook provides quick information on the cost of damage from hurricanes, floods, and tornadoes in the U.S. (by state) and its territories. The sourcebook may be accessed via the web at: www.dir.ucar.edu/esig/HP_roger/sourcebook, or contact lcurtis@ucar.edu to receive a hard copy. [Cheryl Dybas]
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