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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. Contents of this News Tip:
Is It A Bird, Is It A Plane, Is It A...Sprite?Is it a bird, is it a plane, is it a... sprite? Strange lights in the sky have recently been discovered by atmospheric scientists. Dubbed red sprites, these dancing fairies-of-the clouds are sometimes glimpsed as blood-red bursts of light in the shape of jellyfish. At other times, they appear as a trumpet-shaped blue glow, called a blue jet. Like the most elusive of nymphs, however, red sprites and blue jets come out on only one occasion: during severe thunderstorms, says researcher Davis Sentman, who spent his summer in pursuit of these wraiths, which may hold clues to atmospheric chemistry and global climate. [Cheryl Dybas] Progress Of DNA Analysis DocumentedDNA is the genetic building block which holds the answers to many scientific questions, some yet to be asked. As biologists, ecologists, anthropologists and others plumb this storehouse of the genetic information that controls life, new research questions continually emerge. The evolution of DNA-related research depends a great deal on related technological advances; for example, a means to preserve DNA samples in the field, to amplify (copy) all the DNA, and to reduce costs to allow wide distribution of the technology. To assess technological progress and trends in DNA analysis, an international group of scientists was convened at NSF in August by Pennsylvania State University anthropologist Kenneth Weiss. Weiss is a lead organizer of the proposed Human Genome Diversity Project (HGDP), which would establish an accessible, representative and inexhaustible sample of human genes worldwide. "A genome diversity DNA bank must accommodate all types of samples -- recent and archival, living and nonliving - and it must be generic enough to accommodate asyet-unthought questions that will dominate science in coming decades," said Weiss. Since the value of statistical information is directly related to sample size, the search continues for methods to ensure an adequate sample of DNA material. The NSF workshop helped to define the technological challenges of doing so, and recommended ways to meet them. Weiss hopes the resulting report will help guide the continuing search for valuable applications of DNArelated research. [Mary Hanson] Research Probes Diamond Film GrowthIf you can't mine them, grow them! National Science Foundation-funded scientist Charles Feigerle of the University of Tennessee-Knoxville is studying how to improve the growth of diamond films. It takes nature millions of years to convert carbon into gleaming gem stones at pressures and temperatures which would destroy most objects. About 20 years ago scientists discovered a low pressure technique for coating the surface of materials such as silicon with diamond. By activating a mixture of hydrogen and methane at high temperature, the carbon in methane is made reactive enough to cling to a surface, while hydrogen makes sure the methane carbon converts to diamond rather than any old carbon. There are already lots of uses for home-grown diamond films and more will be realized if the fundamental chemical interactions which control diamond film growth are better understood. Industry can use the knowledge to refine the coating processes and apply them to more and more materials, Feigerle says. Dense, evenly distributed coatings of diamond applied to the surfaces of machine tools will make them more durable, for example. Also, as consumer and industrial products are increasingly miniaturized, diamond heat sinks and semiconductors may make compact electronic components more resistant to overheating. [George Chartier] Press releases and other information are now available electronically on NSFnews, a free service available via the Internet. To subscribe to NSFnews send an e-mail message to listmanager@nsf.gov. In the body of the message (not the subject line) type the words "subscribe nsfnews" and then type your name (not an e-mail address). For example: Subscribe nsfnews James Smith. The system will reply with a confirmation via e-mail. For additional information about NSFnews send another e-mail message to listmanager@nsf.gov and in the body of the message type the word "help".
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