2004

2003

2002

Researchers Uncover Extreme Lake -- and 3000-Year-Old Microbes -- in Mars-Like Antarctic Environment

 
NSF-supported researchers drilling into Lake Vida, an Antarctic "ice-block" lake, have found the lake isn't really an ice block at all. In the December 16 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team reveals that Antarctic Lake Vida may represent a previously unknown ecosystem, a frigid, "ice-sealed," lake that contains the thickest non-glacial lake ice cover on Earth and water seven times saltier than seawater. Because of the arid, chilled environment in which it resides, scientists believe the lake may be an important template for the search for evidence of ancient microbial life on Mars and other icy worlds.
Photo credit: Priscu Research Group, Montana State University at Bozeman
Read the full story. ... posted 12/16/02

 

Scientists Use South Pole Telescope to Produce the Most Detailed Images of the Early Universe

 
Using a powerful new instrument at the South Pole, a team of cosmologists has produced the most detailed images of the early Universe ever recorded. The research team, which was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), has made public their measurements of subtle temperature differences in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation. The CMB is the remnant radiation that escaped from the rapidly cooling Universe about 400,000 years after the Big Bang. Images of the CMB provide researchers with a snapshot of the Universe in its infancy, and can be used to place strong constraints on its constituents and structure. The new results provide additional evidence to support the currently favored model of the Universe in which 30 percent of all energy is a strange form of dark matter that doesn't interact with light and 65 percent is in an even stranger form of dark energy that appears to be causing the expansion of the Universe to accelerate. Only the remaining five percent of the energy in the Universe takes the form of familiar matter like that which makes up planets and stars.
Photo credit: ACBAR, U.C. Berkeley, and Case Western Reserve University
Read the full story. ... posted 12/16/02

 

Increases in Rainfall Variability Related to Global Climate Change Alter Productivity and Plant Community Composition

 
Projected increases in rainfall variability resulting from changes in global climate can rapidly reduce productivity and alter the composition of grassland plants, according to scientists funded by the National Science Foundation. Although the diversity of plant species is increased in this scenario, the most important or dominant grasses were more water-stressed and their growth was reduced. Carbon dioxide release by roots and microbes below ground also was reduced. Results of the experiment, conducted at NSF's Konza Prairie Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) site, are published in the December 13th issue of the journal Science.
Photo credit: Kansas State University
Read the full story. ... posted 12/13/02

 

NSF Hosts Conference on Latest Discoveries in Nanoscale Science and Technology

 
Recipients of Nanoscale Science and Engineering awards made in 2001 will highlight initial results from over 100 NSF-funded projects at a grantees conference December 11-13, 2002, at the National Science Foundation. Topics include: biological models for nanoengineering, quantum dots and their applications, nanostructured materials, single molecule transport and devices, nanoscale electronics, molecular self-assembly, environmental nanoprocesses, nanomechanical devices, and national nanotechnology research and education networks.
Image courtesy: Dr. Nadrian Seeman, Department of Chemistry, New York University.
Read the media advisory. ... posted 12/10/02
Read about the image and view other nano images.
Additional conference information.

 

Scientists Find Earliest "New World" Writings in Mexico

 
Scientists have uncovered evidence of what is believed to be the earliest form of writing ever found in the New World. The discovery was based on glyphs carved on a cylindrical seal used to make imprints, and on greenstone plaque fragments found near La Venta in Tabasco, Mexico in the Gulf Coast region. The writings were produced during the Olmec era, a pre-Mayan civilization, and are estimated to date from 650 B.C. Mary E.D. Pohl of Florida State University, Kevin O. Pope of Geo Eco Arc Research, and Christopher von Nagy of Tulane University describe the findings in the Dec. 6 edition of Science. Pohl's research was funded primarily by the National Science Foundation.
Photo Credit: Christopher von Nagy
Read the full story. ... posted 12/6/02

 

New NSF Awards Encourage Collaborations Between Ocean Scientists and Educators

 
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded its first eight grants in a new Centers for Ocean Science Education Excellence (COSEE) program designed to integrate ocean science research into delivery of high-quality education programs in the ocean sciences. The new program also aims to promote a deeper public understanding of the oceans and their influence on quality of life and national prosperity. Seven centers around the country will be formed, with one central coordinating COSEE office. Centers are headquartered at: the New England Aquarium, Boston; University of California at Berkeley; University of Southern California; Rutgers University, New Jersey; University of South Florida; University of Southern Mississippi; and the South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium. The Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education (CORE) in Washington, D.C. will serve as the coordinating network office.
Read the full story. ... posted 12/3/02

 

Plant-Fungal Symbiosis Found in High-Heat Extreme Environment

 
Researchers examining plants growing in the geothermal soils of Yellowstone National Park and Lassen Volcanic National Park have found evidence of symbiosis between fungi and plants that may hold clues to how plants adapt to and tolerate extreme environments. The research was funded in part through NSF's Microbial Observatories Program and published in the Nov. 22 issue of the journal Science. Biologists Regina Redman of the University of Washington and Joan Henson of Montana State University and their colleagues examined 200 samples of Dichanthelium lanuginosum, also called "Geyser's Dichanthelium," for fungal colonization. They found what may be a new species of the fungus Curvularia that survives only in temperatures greater than 98 degrees when it associates with plants.
Image credit: NPS Photo
Read the full story. ... posted 12/2/02

 

U.S. Researchers May Provide Entrée into Coenzyme Q₁₀ Market

 
Proponents of Coenzyme Q₁₀ describe it as a "miracle nutrient" because of its potential to invigorate our cells, fight a variety of diseases, and perhaps even slow the aging process. However, U.S. production of the supplement has been stalled by the lack of an economical synthesis method to compete with patented techniques Japanese companies use. Now, U.S. manufacturers may soon gain a foothold into the international CoQ₁₀ market. In his laboratory at the University of California, Santa Barbara, NSF-sponsored chemist Bruce Lipshutz and his colleagues have found a successful way to economically synthesize the compound.
Read the full story ... and other news tips, including "A Dim View of a Black Hole" and "Increasing Nitrogen in Earth's Soils May Signal Global Changes." ... posted 12/2/02