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Discovering
the Tree of Life: NSF Awards Grants to
Discover the Relationships of 1.75 Million
Species |
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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
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Simulating
Disasters to Save Lives |
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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
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Using
Computers, Scientists Successfully Predict
Evolution of E. Coli Bacteria |
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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
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Now
Available: Guide to Programs FY 2003
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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
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Emperor
Penguin Colony Struggling With Iceberg
Blockade |
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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
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Lake
Microbes Hold Keys to Understanding of
Basic Biology |
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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
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National Science Foundation
Office of Legislative and Public Affairs
4201 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, Virginia 22230, USA
Tel: 703-292-8070
FIRS: 800-877-8339 | TDD: 703-292-5090
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