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Photo courtesy: Michigan
State University
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Dispatches
and Images Available: Research Team Studies Human Impact on Giant
Panda Habitat
A team of researchers from Michigan State University left the United
States for China on June 14 to continue a long-term study of how
human population trends affect giant panda habitat in the Wolong
Nature Reserve in Sichuan Province, southwestern China. Jianguo
(Jack) Liu, an associate professor of fisheries and wildlife at
Michigan State is leading the research team, which is partially
funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
More...
(posted June 26, 2002)
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A single Colbalt atom controlling the
flow of electrons between two gold electrodes.
Credit: Cornell University Center for Materials Research. |
Two Breakthroughs
Achieved in Single-Molecule Transistor Research
How small can electronic devices get? Nano-small! Two teams of scientists
have fashioned transistors from single molecules, and report their
results in the June 13 issue of Nature. The ability to use
individual molecules for electronics is a coveted breakthrough for
science at the nanometer scale and for electronics industries because
of the potential to shrink the size of components well beyond what
is possible using conventional lithography techniques.
More...
(posted June 18, 2002)
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Graphic depiction comparing our solar
system with a newfound planetary system, 55 Cancri, showing
a planet in an orbit similar to that of our Jupiter.
Credit: JPL |
Newfound Planetary
System Has "Hometown" Look
After 15 years of observation and a lot of patience, the world's
premier planet-hunting team has found a planetary system that reminds
them of our home solar system. Geoffrey Marcy, astronomy professor
at the University of California, Berkeley, and astronomer Paul Butler
of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, Pasadena, Calif., announced
on June 13 the discovery of a Jupiter-like planet orbiting a Sun-like
star at nearly the same distance as the Jovian system orbits our
sun. "All other extrasolar planets discovered up to now orbit closer
to the parent star, and most of them have had elongated, eccentric
orbits. This new planet orbits as far from its star as our own Jupiter
orbits the sun,'' said Marcy. The National Science Foundation (NSF)
and NASA fund the planet-hunting team.
More... (posted
June 18, 2002)
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A marine iguana on San Cristóbal Island
and the grounded tanker.
Photo credit: Heidi Snell |
Galápagos Iguana
Deaths Reveal Surprising Damage From Low-Level Oil Spills
The ecological effects of low-level oil spills may be more serious
than previously thought, according to a study documenting the widespread
death of marine iguanas on a Galápagos island. In research funded
by the National Science Foundation (NSF), Princeton University biologist
Martin Wikelski and colleagues reported that more than half the
marine iguanas on the Galápagos island of Santa Fe died with a year
after a grounded tanker dumped nearly 800,000 gallons of oil into
nearby waters.
More... (posted
June 18, 2002)
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Graphic developed (evolved) from original
graphic by J.J.Sepkoski, Jr. |
In Evolution Game, Survival
Doesn't Equal Success; Finding Has Implications for Future of Biodiversity
A significant number of organisms that survived the five greatest
mass extinctions in Earth's history subsequently failed to achieve
evolutionary success, according to a new study funded by the National
Science Foundation (NSF) and conducted by University of Chicago
scientist David Jablonski. "It's clear that there is a lot of evolutionary
action in the aftermath of mass extinctions," said Jablonski. "The
shape of the post-extinction world comes not only from who goes
extinct, but from which survivors are successful -- or, instead,
become extinct or marginalized in the aftermath." Jablonski lays
out his evidence in the June 11 issue of the journal, Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences.
More... (posted
June 18, 2002)
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Single branch of Xanthocyparis vietnamensis
with two foliage types. Immature foliage on the left and mature
foliage on the right.
Image courtesy of Daniel Harder, Arboretum at UCSC |
Botanists Discover New
Conifer Species in Vietnam
An unusual conifer found in a remote area of northern Vietnam has
been identified as a genus and species previously unknown to science.
The limestone ridges where the tree grows are among the most botanically
rich areas in Vietnam, said Daniel Harder, currently director of
the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC) Arboretum and
a co-discoverer of the new species. "For us to find a previously
undescribed, large tree like this indicates that there is probably
a lot more to be discovered there," Harder said.
More... (posted
June 18, 2002)
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