Webcast of National Medal of Science Ceremony
The 2001 National Medal of Science and National Medal of Technology will be conferred on 19 individuals and one company by President Bush on Wednesday, June 12, during a 2:00 p.m. ceremony in the East Room of the White House. A webcast of the event will be available at www.nationalmedals.org .

For information on the 2001 National Medal of Science, see:
http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/02/pr0240.htm
(posted June 12, 2002)

The CBI consists of 13 radio antennas located on a plateau at 5,080 meters (16,700 feet) in Chile's Atacama Desert. Photo credit: CBI/Caltech/NSF

Microwave Imager Probes Universe "First Light" to Answer Cosmological Questions
Astronomers operating from a remote plateau in the Chilean desert have produced the most detailed images ever made of the oldest light emitted by the universe, providing independent confirmation of controversial theories about the origin of matter and energy. Pushing the limits of available technology, the Cosmic Background Imager (CBI) funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and California Institute of Technology (Caltech) detected minute variations in the cosmic microwave background, the radiation that has traveled to Earth over almost 14 billion years.
More... (posted May 31, 2002)

Young chimpanzees learn how to use tools to open nuts from their mothers. Photo credit: Christophe Boesch

First Primate Archaeological Dig Uncovers New Tool Development Links
A study of chimpanzees' use of hammers to open nuts in western Africa may provide fresh clues to how tools developed among human ancestors. A paper published in the May 24 issue of the journal Science documents the first archaeological examination of a non-human primate workplace and establishes new links between the use of tools by chimpanzees and similar developments among human ancestors (hominids). The research was supported in part by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
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Photo credit: National Ice Center/Defense Meteorological Satellite Program

Huge Antarctic Icebergs Break Away Near NSF Research Hub
Two new and very large icebergs broke away from the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica earlier this month in a natural "calving" process that returned the edge of the shelf to its pre-exploration position of the early 1900's, researchers say. The icebergs were designated C-18 and C-19 by the Suitland, Md.-based National Ice Center (NIC), a joint operation of the U.S. Navy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the U.S. Coast Guard. Using data collected from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program, NIC said that C-19, the larger of the two icebergs, is 199 kilometers (108 nautical miles) long by 30.5 kilometers (17 nautical miles) wide. C-18 is roughly 75.9 kilometers (41 nautical miles) long by 7.4 kilometers (4 nautical miles) wide.
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Graphical representation of partial Bacillus anthracis genome Photo credit: National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI)

Researchers Compare Anthrax Genomes
In a pioneering use of genomics as a tool for the forensic analysis of microbes, scientists at The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) in Rockville, Md., and at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff have found new genetic markers that distinguish the Bacillus anthracis isolate that was used in last fall's bioterror attack in Boca Raton, Florida, from closely related anthrax strains. The findings, posted on Science Express on May 9 and scheduled for later publication in Science, demonstrate for the first time that the analysis of the genomes of microbial pathogens can be an effective method of finding new "genetic fingerprints" that can help trace the differences among nearly identical strains of microbes such as anthrax.
More... (posted May 31, 2002)