How Did That Chain Letter Get To My Inbox?

Everyone who has an e-mail account has probably received a forwarded chain letter promising good luck if the message is forwarded on to others--or terrible misfortune if it isn't. The sheer volume of forwarded messages such as chain letters, online petitions, jokes and other materials leads to a simple question--how do these messages reach so many people so quickly? New research into these forwarded missives by Jon Kleinberg of Cornell University and David Liben-Nowell of ... More at http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111580&govDel=USNSF_51 This is an NSF News item.

Why Nations Fail to Act

The international community should take formal steps to justify inaction when conditions of genocide exist anywhere in the world.So says Paul Slovic, a University of Oregon psychology professor, who wants a formal process that requires nations to carefully weigh and publicly justify action or inaction in cases of intentional mass murder. "If they were required to deliberate, I think it would be much more difficult for nations not to take action," he says. "This is ... More at http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111526&govDel=USNSF_51 This is an NSF News item.

Aerospace Business Leader, Supreme Problem Solver, and Innovative Science Communications Programs Capture Public's Interest in Science

The National Science Foundation (NSF) and its policy arm, the National Science Board (NSB), this week presented its annual awards, the Alan T. Waterman Award, the Vannevar Bush Award and the Public Service Award.UCLA Professor of Mathematics Terence Tao was presented with the Alan T. Waterman Award. The annual Waterman Award recognizes an outstanding young researcher in any field of science or engineering supported by the NSF and carries a $500,000 grant for a three-year period. Often ... More at http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111541&govDel=USNSF_51 This is an NSF News item.

Designer Isotopes Push the Frontier of Science

Designer labels have a lot of cachet, a principle that's equally true in fashion and physics. The future of nuclear physics is in designer isotopes--the relatively new power scientists have to make specific rare isotopes to solve scientific problems and open doors to new technologies, according to Bradley Sherrill, a University distinguished professor of physics and associate director for research at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL) at Michigan State University ... More at http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111552&govDel=USNSF_51 This is an NSF News item.

Ancient Beachcombers May Have Travelled Slowly

New evidence, more questions. That's the thumbnail of the first new data reported in 10 years from Monte Verde, the earliest known human settlement in the Americas.Evidence from the archaeological site in southern Chile confirms Monte Verde is the Americas earliest known settlement and is consistent with the idea that early human migration occurred along the Pacific Coast more than 14,000 years ago, but questions remain about just how rapidly that migration occurred."If ... More at http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111530&govDel=USNSF_51 This is an NSF News item.

Platypus Genome Decoded

The curious discovery of the duck-billed, egg-laying, otter-footed, beaver-tailed, venomous platypus in Australia in 1798 convinced British scientists that it must be a hoax. Sketches of its appearance were thought to be impossible.But new research proves that the oddness of the platypus' looks isn't just skin-deep. Platypus DNA is an equally cobbled-together array of avian, reptilian and mammalian lineages that may hold clues for human disease prevention.Mark Batzer and Andrew ... More at http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111521&govDel=USNSF_51 This is an NSF News item.

Closing the Achievement Gap in Math and Science

The latest results from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Math and Science Partnership (MSP) program show not only improved proficiency among all elementary and middle school students, but also a closing of the achievement gaps between both African-American and Hispanic students and white students in elementary school math, and between African-American and white students in elementary and ... More at http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111514&govDel=USNSF_51 This is an NSF News item.

Top Science and Math Teachers Receive Presidential Award

Excellent teaching in math and science can make a crucial difference to students' mastery of these subjects, and to decisions about future study and careers. Teachers who bring such teaching to their classrooms are being honored by President Bush as winners of the 2007 Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST).The PAEMST is administered by the National Science Foundation (NSF) on behalf of the White House. Each year, state officials are asked to ... More at http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111502&govDel=USNSF_51 This is an NSF News item.

Astronomers Discover New Type of Pulsating White Dwarf Star

University of Texas at Austin astronomers Michael H. Montgomery and Kurtis A. Williams, along with graduate student Steven DeGennaro, have predicted and confirmed the existence of a new type of variable star, with the help of the 2.1-meter Otto Struve Telescope at McDonald Observatory. The discovery is announced in today's issue of Astrophysical Journal Letters.This research was funded by the National Science Foundation and the Delaware Asteroseismic Research ... More at http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111513&govDel=USNSF_51 This is an NSF News item.

Research Team Is First to Model Photochemical Compass for Bird Navigation

A team of researchers at Arizona State University and the University of Oxford are the first to model a photochemical compass that may simulate how migrating birds use light and Earth's weak magnetic field to navigate. The team reports in the April 30, 2008, online issue of Nature that the photochemical model becomes sensitive to the magnitude and direction of weak magnetic fields similar to Earth's when exposed to light. The research funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) ... More at http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111509&govDel=USNSF_51 This is an NSF News item.

Global Warming Affects World's Largest Freshwater Lake

Russian and American scientists have discovered that the rising temperature of the world's largest lake, located in frigid Siberia, shows that this region is responding strongly to global warming.Drawing on 60 years of long-term studies of Russia's Lake Baikal, Stephanie Hampton, an ecologist and deputy director of the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) in Santa Barbara, Calif., and Marianne Moore, a biologist at Wellesley College in Wellesley, ... More at http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111511&govDel=USNSF_51 This is an NSF News item.

Ancient "Nutcracker Man" Challenges Ideas on Evolution of Human Diet

Tiny marks on the teeth of an ancient human ancestor known as the "Nutcracker Man" may upset current evolutionary understanding of early hominid diet.Using high-powered microscopes, researchers looked at rough geometric shapes on the teeth of several Nutcracker Man specimens and determined that their structure alone was not enough to predict diet.Peter Ungar, professor of anthropology at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, contends the finding shows ... More at http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111457&govDel=USNSF_51 This is an NSF News item.

Genetic Sequencing of Protein from T. rex Bone Confirms Dinosaurs' Link to Birds

Scientists have put more meat on the theory that dinosaurs' closest living relatives are modern-day birds.Molecular analysis, or genetic sequencing, of a 68-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex protein from the dinosaur's femur confirms that T. rex shares a common ancestry with chickens, ostriches, and to a lesser extent, alligators.The dinosaur protein was wrested from a fossil T. rex femur discovered in 2003 by paleontologist John Horner of the Museum ... More at http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111466&govDel=USNSF_51 This is an NSF News item.

Injecting Sulfate Particles into Stratosphere Could Have Drastic Impact on Earth's Ozone Layer

A much-discussed idea to offset global warming by injecting sulfate particles into the stratosphere would have a drastic impact on Earth's protective ozone layer, new research concludes.The study, led by Simone Tilmes of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colo., warns that such an approach would delay the recovery of the Antarctic ozone hole by decades and cause significant ozone loss over the Arctic.The study results are published today in the ... More at http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111467&govDel=USNSF_51 This is an NSF News item.

A CluE in the Search for Data-Intensive Computing

The Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) directorate at the National Science Foundation (NSF) released a solicitation for proposals for the new Cluster Exploratory (CluE) initiative. The CluE program was announced in February as a part of a relationship between Google, IBM and NSF. NSF hopes this initiative will help lead to innovations in the field of data-intensive computing, as well as serve as an example for future collaborations between the private sector and the ... More at http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111470&govDel=USNSF_51 This is an NSF News item.

Catching a Glimpse of a Black Hole's Fury

Using the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) and a host of international telescope partners, a team of researchers has made the clearest observation yet of innermost region of a black hole.From the observations, astronomers found strong evidence that the enormous jets of particles emitted by supermassive black holes are corkscrewed in a way predicted by theory. The researchers believe the coiling is a result of twisted magnetic fields acting on the ... More at http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111487&govDel=USNSF_51 This is an NSF News item.

Still Images and Video Available: Lakes of Meltwater Can Crack Greenland's Ice and Contribute to Faster Ice-Sheet Flow

In findings embargoed for release on April 17, National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded researchers investigate the role of surface meltwater on the flow of the Greenland Ice Sheet and outlet glaciers.The research was conducted by glaciologists Sarah Das, of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and Ian Joughin, University of Washington and published in a pair of companion papers in the online journal Science Express this week.NSF is making available to the news media b-roll ... More at http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111438&govDel=USNSF_51 This is an NSF News item.

Attraction at the Atomic Level

Countless romance novels begin with a hero and heroine who initially repel each other, only to find them thrown together in uncomfortable circumstances and ultimately rejoicing as their antagonism switches to ardor.Odd as it seems, this tried-and-true romantic formula may also describe the scintillating secret behind the science of superconductivity--the phenomenon that occurs when materials conduct electricity across huge distances without losing any energy due to resistance from the ... More at http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111397&govDel=USNSF_51 This is an NSF News item.

National Science Board to Honor Norm Augustine with Prestigious Vannevar Bush Award

The National Science Board (NSB) today announced that Norman R. Augustine will receive its 2008 Vannevar Bush Award for his distinguished public service leadership in science, engineering and technology; for his longstanding commitment to the ethical conduct of business and the engineering profession; and for his extraordinary contributions to the welfare of the nation through his advocacy of science, technology and engineering education as national priorities. The NSB will honor Augustine ... More at http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111409&govDel=USNSF_51 This is an NSF News item.

Star Wars Exhibition Brings Reality to Fantasy

An exhibit developed by the Museum of Science, Boston, in collaboration with Lucasfilm, Ltd. explores the possibility that some of the robots, vehicles and devices of the Star Wars films are closer to reality than one might think. The exhibition--now at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pa., through May 4--showcases landspeeders, R2D2 and other icons as engineering design challenges and highlights how researchers are currently pursuing similar ... More at http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111453&govDel=USNSF_51 This is an NSF News item.