 |
      |
 |
 |
||
 |
|
 |
||
 |
|
 |
||
|
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:
TINY CRAB MAKES BIG EVOLUTIONARY LEAPThe world's most land-loving crab is a thin and delicate Jamaican species that spends its entire life in a tree. And it has made a surprisingly rapid evolutionary transformation from its large and rugged ocean-dwelling ancestors, according to genetic research performed by National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded biologists at Pennsylvania State University. "These very unusual crabs, which are the most terrestrial of any in the world, live in little pockets of rainwater inside bromeliad plants, which grow on the branches of tropical trees," explains S. Blair Hedges, an evolutionary biologist at Penn. State. The tiny bromeliad crabs are less than an inch long, and are thin enough to squeeze between the leaves at the base of the bromeliad plant, where rainwater collects. Because the bromeliad crab looks and behaves so differently from its ocean-dwelling relatives, scientists thought the two species must have needed a long time--on the order of 50 million years--to evolve from their last common ancestor. But, according to Hedges, the Jamaican land crab evolved from one common Jamaican marine ancestor as recently as four million years ago. "This date makes sense," adds Hedges, "as it corresponds to a time in Jamaica's geologic history when the land had risen far enough out of the sea to provide new ecological niches for the ancestral marine crab. That ancestor then began evolving strategies for living entirely on land. Such rapid adaptation is not common in nature." [Cheryl Dybas] SURVEY DATA ILLUSTRATES INCREASING COMPUTER USAGEAccess to computers has increased substantially in the past decade, and more people are using the Internet for practical purposes, according to Jon Miller, vice president of the Chicago Academy of Sciences. Miller regularly conducts public surveys on science literacy and understanding for NSF's Division of Science Resources Studies. Since 1983, he has included questions on computer (and related technology) usage in the NSF survey of U.S. adults. Resulting data -- published in Science and Engineering Indicators 1998 -- illustrate that computer usage is broad and growing in America. Households with computers have increased from 8 percent in 1983 to 43 percent in 1997; and 11 percent of Americans report more than one working computer in their home. A third of Americans own a home computer that includes a modem. "People are beginning to use the Internet and web facilities to get information on health and science," said Miller. "Approximately 30 million adults had looked for specific information on the Web during the year preceding the 1997 interview," he said. Miller notes, however, that a difference related to educational level remains. The data show, for example, that nearly 90 percent of college graduates in the U.S. use a computer at home or work, compared to 60 percent of high school graduates and 21 percent of those who did not complete high school. "In regard to information technology and resources, we are becoming a more polarized society -- those citizens with a college education have greater access to this new technology are able to gain access to and utilize information more easily," he said. [Mary Hanson/Bill Noxon] For more information, see: http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/stats.htm. "VIRTUAL HUMAN" CAN TEACH SIGN LANGUAGEMona, the Signing AvatarTM, expresses herself through articulated arm and hand movements complemented by life-like facial expressions. The 3D virtual human, developed by Seamless Solutions, Inc. (SSI) of Orlando, Florida, uses all the visual cues necessary to communicate in sign language. Research for the Signing AvatarTM facial animation was begun through the NSF's Small Business Innovation Research Program. Some 50 movable joints and more than 1,200 deformable surfaces let Mona interact with users through smooth, detailed, gestures. New and highly efficient algorithms enable developers to use fluid web animations with less loss of detail through compression. With the new technology, SSI plans to create learning tools for deaf students and to supplement educational software, or work independently over the web. Mona has already received good responses from her first users, students at the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind in St. Augustine. With further testing to come, SSI plans to begin integrating Mona and her counterparts into commercial software within the next two years. [Greg Lester] For more information, see: http://www.seamless-solutions.com.
|
||||
 |
|
 |
|
|
 |