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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: Cheryl Dybas Contents of this News Tip:
RESEARCHERS FIND CHEAPER, CLEANER PROCESS TO SEPARATE ISOTOPESResearchers at the National Science Foundation's Science and Technology Center for Ultrafast Optical Science have shown they can use a tabletop laser system to separate chemical isotopes, a process normally performed in huge industrial plants. The isotopes are useful for making medical tracers, pure thin-film coatings needed for microelectronics, and nuclear fuel. A team at the University of Michigan center uses a compact terawatt laser to strike a target material with a powerful pulsed beam, blowing off isotopes from the material. The magnetic field created in the process exerts a force on the isotopes, which deposits them in different locations according to their molecular weight. The process holds promise as a cheap and efficient method to sort isotopes needed for industrial use, without the large and expensive magnetic equipment and hazardous waste that characterize current separation methods. The process will be reported in the September 27 issue of Physical Review Letters. [Amber Jones] INHALED GASES MAY BOOST LUNG IMAGING CAPABILITIES
SCIENTISTS DEVELOP BREAKTHROUGH TECHNIQUE TO IMPROVE HURRICANE PREDICTIONA new forecasting method developed by Florida State University meteorologists, called the Super Ensemble, shows enormous potential in accurately predicting hurricanes. Scientist T.N. Krishnamurti, tropical meteorologist and pioneer in numerical weather predicting, developed the idea for the Super Ensemble with funding from NSF's division of atmospheric sciences. "If you just look at one or two days, the differences may not be that large, but if you extend this to four or five, even six days, then you can see a huge difference," says Krishnamurti. "The Super Ensemble seems to outperform most models for longer ranges. Under shorter range, the differences are smaller, but it's still probably one of the best models that exists today." Krishnamurti and his team of researchers at FSU's Real Time Hurricane Forecast Center use up to 11 tropical forecasts from around the world, including three of their own, and supply the data to a supercomputer similar to IBM's master chess player, Deep Blue. The computer weeds out the errors in each forecast and produces a more accurate one- to six-day track and intensity forecast. The researchers are now working on experimental real-time Atlantic hurricane prediction, including recent hurricanes like Dennis. The Super Ensemble method was able to predict such storms' paths very accurately. [Cheryl Dybas]
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