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News Tip

 


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:

LANE SPEAKS TO ARLINGTON ROTARY CLUB

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 CORE SPINNING FASTER THAN REST OF PLANET

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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PROGRESS FOR MINORITIES AND WOMEN IN PH.D.s

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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