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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: Bill Noxon Contents of this News Tip:
CHILDREN'S AUTHOR ON A SOUTH POLE ADVENTUREJanice VanCleave, author of three dozen childrens' books and a former Phi Delta teacher of the year, will help spearhead an interactive educational adventure in December at the U.S. Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica, sponsored by the NSF. Sponsored by the Center for Astrophysical Research in Antarctica (CARA), based at the University of Chicago, VanCleave and CARA education coordinator Randy Landsberg will perform simple experiments at the Pole which are submitted by middle school students from different geographic locations. Results will be posted and compared, and students' questions will be answered on an interactive Web site at http://www.southpole.com. Students will be able to continue submitting ideas for experiments throughout the Antarctic summer research season. The project aims to encourage students' interest in science and in Antarctica. The experience will be the basis for a new book in VanCleave's "Science for Fun" series. Her "Fun with Science" workshops are held at libraries, schools, museums and bookstores throughout the country. Educators and children can e-mail VanCleave and Landsberg at: icy@astro.uchicago.edu. [Lynn Simarski] TEAM IN HIMALAYAS RETRIEVES ICE CORE FROM HIGHEST-EVER ALTITUDEAn NSF-funded expedition to a glacier atop the world's 14th highest peak, in the Himalayan Mountains, has returned with ice cores containing climate records that could reach back into the last glacial stage, some 12,000 years ago. The international expedition was led by Ohio State University scientist Lonnie Thompson. The 40-member team conducted its research atop the Dasuopu Glacier, a two-kilometer-wide ice field on the flank of Xixabangma, an 8,014-meter (26,293 foot) peak on the Tibetan Plateau. No previous expeditions have ever drilled cores at such a high altitude. "The cores we've retrieved contain excellent records, since the temperature at bedrock-level was minus 13 degrees Centigrade, making this the coldest, non-polar glacier ever cored," says Thompson. The cold temperatures at bedrock signal that the ice is well preserved. The climate records it contains, therefore, span a longer period, according to Thompson. "The Dasuopu glacier cores are very important for providing a more accurate picture of the monsoonal climate system that affects that part of Asia. We may well find evidence for a historic link between the monsoons and the El Nino-Southern Oscillation climate effect." The monsoons in Asia directly affect one of the most populated regions on earth, and make up a sizable portion of the planet's collective climate system. [Cheryl Dybas] U. VERMONT WIRES "SMARTEST BRIDGE IN THE WORLD"University of Vermont (UVM) engineers are embedding fiber optic sensors into a steel truss bridge spanning the Winooski River in Waterbury, Vt., making the bridge one of "the smartest in the world," according to engineers who pioneered the use of the technology. While a few bridges have been outfitted with fiber optic sensors that measure for individual flaws, such as cracking, few have the instrumentation to provide such a broad range of information, the Vermont engineers say. The sensors on the Winooski River bridge will allow engineers to determine the bridge's structural health -- watching for damage, cracks, strain or road salt corrosion -- and relay that information to a remote computer. The research is being funded by NSF along with the Vermont Agency of Transportation and the U.S. Federal Highway Administration. The sensors come from 3M Specialty Optical Fibers of West Haven, Conn. NSF invests about $1.5 million a year in civil engineering research related to smart technology. The Winooski project is the work of Peter Fuhr, a UVM electrical engineer, and Dryver Huston, a UVM mechanical engineer, along with Stephanus Spammer, a visiting scholar from Rand Afrikaans University of South Africa. See URL: http://VTFEMA.emba.uvm.edu/CLVTbridges.html [George Chartier]
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