July 26, 1996
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: Beth Gaston
Contents of this Tipsheet:
NSF Director Neal Lane has urged scientists and engineers to reach
out to the public and to develop a more civic persona. To help set
the example, Lane a physicist, spoke to the Arlington Rotary Club --
his first address as NSF director to an Arlington community-based
group.
The following are some excerpts from his address:
- "At NSF, all of our surveys show that the public is interested in
science, and believe science is important but nonetheless those
surveyed also believe they have very limited scientific understanding.
When I mention this to scientific audiences I suggest to them that the
survey results perhaps tell us more about the science community than
about the American public. I have pointed out that this disconnect
between the public being interested in science yet feeling that their
knowledge is very limited should give all of us something to ponder."
- "While on the one hand, science seems very remote to most people,
it is, on the other hand, completely pervasive in our lives. The
world is so infused with the stuff of science that we don't even
recognize how it permeates every detail of our daily routine."
- "Suffice it to say that all these returns flow back to our society
in new industries, high-value jobs, and highly competitive products
and services for the domestic and global marketplace. They bring us
better health care, a cleaner environment, and an improved standard of
living." [Beth Gaston]
For the full text of the speech see:
"http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/forum/lane/roty.htm"
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Earth's solid iron inner core -- a crystalline structure weighing
100 million million million tons, a mass about 30 percent greater than
that of our moon --is rotating faster than the planet itself,
NSF-funded scientists have discovered.
The researchers, seismologists Xiadong Song and Paul Richards of
Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades,
New York, found that the solid inner core is spinning independently of
the rest of the Earth within the near-frictionless outer core that
surrounds it. The motion of the inner core has never before been
detected.
The inner core rotates in the same direction as the rest of Earth,
but slightly faster. "Over the past century, that extra speed has
gained the core a quarter-turn on the planet as a whole -- a motion
remarkably faster than most geological movements," says Jim Whitcomb,
director of NSF's geophysics program.
Song and Richards measured changes in the speed of
earthquake-generated seismic waves that traveled through the core.
They showed that the fastest route through the inner core for seismic
waves has moved to different positions relative to Earth's mantle and
crust -- tracing a circular path around the north pole.
[Cheryl Dybas]
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Women and minorities pursuing higher education in 1995 were the
driving force behind a record-breaking year for science and
engineering (S&E;) doctorates. According to a new report just released
by the NSF, almost two-thirds of all doctorates awarded in 1995 by
U.S. universities were in S&E; fields -- 26,515 awards. The number of
women earning S&E; doctorates between 1990 and 1995 increased 30
percent, compared with only 9 percent for men. Among U.S. citizens,
the number of Asians, blacks and Hispanics earning S&E; doctorates in
1995 was significantly higher than in 1990. Still, women and
minorities are underrepresented among S&E; doctorates. The number of
white males earning S&E; doctorates was about the same as in 1990.
Growth in S&E; doctorate awards was fueled more by non-U.S. citizens on
permanent visas (primarily from the People's Republic of China) than
by U.S. citizens. [George Chartier]
A Data Brief (NSF 96-307) summarizing findings and a report of
selected statistical tables (NSF 96-303) are available on the World
Wide Web at: http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/databrf/db.htm
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