2004

2003

2002

Discovering the Tree of Life: NSF Awards Grants to Discover the Relationships of 1.75 Million Species

 
One of the most profound ideas to emerge in modern science is Charles Darwin's concept that all of life, from the smallest microorganism to the largest vertebrate, is connected through genetic relatedness in a vast genealogy. This "Tree of Life" summarizes all we know about biological diversity and underpins much of modern biology, yet many of its branches remain poorly known and unresolved. To help scientists discover what Darwin described as the tree's "everbranching and beautiful ramifications," NSF has awarded $17 million in "Assembling the Tree of Life" grants to researchers at more than 25 institutions. Their studies range from investigations of entire pieces of DNA to assemble the bacterial branches; to the study of the origins of land plants from algae; to understanding the most diverse group of terrestrial predators, the spiders; to the diversity of fungi and parasitic roundworms; to the relationships of birds and dinosaurs.

Image: USDA
Read the full story . ... posted 11/19/02

 

Simulating Disasters to Save Lives

 
In the past year, civil engineers have begun to change the way they look at buildings. A team of civil engineers and computer scientists at Purdue University has developed a new high-performance computing tool that will help to improve the design of critical buildings, such as hospitals and fire stations, which may save lives in the event of a disaster. The research team, as part of several NSF computer science and engineering projects, used software commonly used in automobile crash testing to create highly realistic simulations of the September 11, 2001, attack on the Pentagon, in which an airliner was crashed into the building. The results were then used to create a vivid re-enactment of the moment of impact.

Image: Courtesy of Purdue University School of Civil Engineering, Departments of Computer Science and Computer Graphics, and Information Technology at Purdue.
Read the full story and view video. ... posted 11/19/02

 

Using Computers, Scientists Successfully Predict Evolution of E. Coli Bacteria

 
For more than a decade, researchers have been trying to create accurate computer models of Escherichia coli (E. coli), a bacterium that makes headlines for its varied roles in food poisoning, drug manufacture and biological research. By combining laboratory data with recently completed genetic databases, researchers can craft digital colonies of organisms that mimic, and even predict, some behaviors of living cells to an accuracy of about 75 percent. Now, NSF-supported researchers at the University of California at San Diego have created a computer model that accurately predicts how E. coli metabolic systems adapt and evolve when the bacteria are placed under environmental constraints.
Image: Courtesy of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health
Read the full story . ... posted 11/14/02

 

Now Available: Guide to Programs FY 2003

 
The new edition of the Guide to Programs (NSF 03-009) is now available on the NSF website. Published each fiscal year, the Guide is a compilation of funding opportunities offered by NSF for research and education in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology. The Guide includes broad, general descriptions of programs and activities for each NSF Directorate, as well as sources for more information. NSF funds research and education in most fields of science and engineering and accounts for about one-fourth of all Federal support to academic institutions for basic research.
See the Guide to Programs. ... posted 11/7/02

 

Emperor Penguin Colony Struggling With Iceberg Blockade

 
The movements of two gigantic Antarctic icebergs appear to have dramatically reduced the number of Emperor penguins living and breeding in a colony at Cape Crozier, according to two researchers who visited the site last month. "It's certain that the number of breeding birds is way down" from previous years, said Gerald Kooyman, a National Science Foundation-funded researcher at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, Calif.
Image: Gerald Kooyman, NSF / Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Read the full story . ... posted 11/7/02

 

Lake Microbes Hold Keys to Understanding of Basic Biology

 
Researchers are probing lakes in Wisconsin, discovering new organisms with as yet unknown traits and learning how microbe communities react to environmental changes. The discoveries could be invaluable, for microbes have provided us with important drugs like streptomycin (the first antibiotic important in treating tuberculosis), and the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a technique that is critical for studying DNA. "Despite the fact that bacteria play a major role in important processes in lakes, such as nutrient and carbon cycling, we know very little about them," says Eric Triplett, a biologist at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. Triplett is one of many scientists participating in the National Science Foundation (NSF) Microbial Observatories program.
Read the full story. ... posted 11/5/02