Science News

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Researchers from the Natural Resources Research Institute (NRRI) at the University of Minnesota Duluth are developing a computer model to simulate animal foraging. Currently, the model is being used to study the effects of moose eating habits on plant growth in an effort to better manage moose populations. EASE, which stands for Energy Activity and Simulation Environment, uniquely combines four submodels into one and was designed specifically for ruminantsóanimals that initially eat great quantities of food and later regurgitate it from their ìfermenterî stomachs to completely digest the food.

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National Science Foundation Tips: 1) Children's Author on A South Pole Adventure, 2) Team in Himalayas Retrieves Ice Core from Highest-Ever Altitude, 3) U. Vermont Wires "Smartest Bridge in the World"

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A new book by Purdue University Professor Greg Frederickson may reshape the way you think about mathematical puzzles. In the book, Frederickson explores the challenges of geometric dissections, the mathematical art of cutting figures into the fewest number of pieces that can be rearranged to form other figures.

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After studying more than 9,500 images taken during the acclaimed Mars Pathfinder mission, scientists report in Science (Dec. 5) that surface photographs provide strong geological and geochemical evidence that fluid water was once present on the red planet.

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The National Science Board (NSB), concerned about the future state of scientific research in the U.S., is calling for further study on how to set priorities. In a working paper titled Government Funding of Scientific Research, the Board calls for "high-level coordination" of federally financed scientific research, leading toward "systematic ways to reach and prioritize decisions."

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A Harvard Medical School Division on Addictions study has found that the prevalence of gambling disorders among adults in the United States and Canada has increased during the past two decades.

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New Scientist Tip Sheet for 12-3-97

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As millions of students are about to rate the teaching abilities of their professor, researchers say such evaluations are flawed and often misused. Science, math and engineering instructors, who teach demanding classes, are often penalized with undeservedly low ratings, while teachers of easier courses are often rewarded with unfairly high ratings.

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LSU researchers have developed a method of continuously producing microalgae. Commercial production of their system should slash costs in commercial aquaculture, especially for shellfish.

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LSU researchers are part of a team examining how global climate change might affect economically important fisheries.

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Starlight, an advanced three-dimensional visualization technology, has been developed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash., to help solve the problem of information overload. Already in use by the U.S. intelligence community, Starlight can be applied to a variety of other fields, such as medical data analysis, environmental security and current events monitoring.

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Working with communities of microbes, University of Minnesota ecologists have shown that having more species at each level- -such as green plants, decomposers, herbivores and predators--improves the reliability of ecosystem functioning. The research supports the idea that preservation of a diversity of species is important, even if certain species appear to have no direct benefit to humans.

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The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Department of Energy (DoE) have joined forces in an unprecedented program to make accessible DoE's extensive complex of 15 national labs and science facilities to train K-12 math and science teachers.

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In January 1998 the worldís foremost experts in mathematical modelling of chemicals are gathering in India to share their knowledge and experience. With the advent of the computer age, researchers now sit at a desk to predict whether or not harmful chemical compounds are present in our soils and waters.

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Serious musicians may do well to consult a radiologist before they purchase their next violin, according to a computed tomography (CT) study of 14 solo-quality stringed instruments, including rare Stradivarius violins and other acknowledged masterpieces.

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Cornell astronomers have been awarded a $2.1 million grant from NASA to develop and build an infrared camera called FORCAST, which will be among the main instruments aboard the space agency's newest airborne observatory.

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A strange group of fossil mammals, heretofore only known in South America, has been discovered on the island of Madagascar and in India. The unexpected discoveries were announced in this week's issue of the journal Nature by an international team of researchers. The team was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and led by paleontologist David Krause of the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

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In an effort to expand its work in one of the most critical areas facing social work professionals, the Boston College Graduate School of Social Work has established the National Research and Training Center on Social Work and HIV/AIDS.

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New Scientist Tip Sheet for 11-26-97

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A physician reporting at the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) annual meeting this week will describe how the Digital Holographyô System from VoxelÆ (NASDAQ:VOXL) improves display of cerebral vasculature and reduces or eliminates image artifacts in patients with surgical hardware. Additionally, Voxel will introduce software for previewing three-dimensional holograms on a computer.

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Tips related to chem/bio warfare 1. Chemical microsensors detect signs of munitions or toxins. 2. PCR technology tell if pathogens are natural outbreak -- or not. 3. Acoustic signature reveals container contents. 4. Modeling bioagent dispersals in urban settings. 5. A lab tool for bioanalysis is now used in the field by the Army. 6. Remote detection technology aids defense against terrorism.

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A Purdue biochemist has identified plant genes that could soon help the wood industry produce paper with less waste and livestock get more nutrition out of their feed.

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The University of North Dakota Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) has established a program to conduct research and demonstrate technologies related to fine particle matter, an air pollutant that affects human health and the environment.

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A recent discovery by a team of scientists, working in part through the National Science Foundation (NSF)'s Center for Biological Timing, challenges the strongly-held belief that 24-hour rhythms (biological clocks) are centrally controlled by the brain.

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1) Scientists demonstrate new need to preserve biodiversity, 2) U.S. Research and Development (R&D) expenditures exceed expectations, 3) Carbon, not sulfate, prevails in polluted D.C. air

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On Dec. 1, more than 100 countries will send delegations to the United Nations Kyoto Conference of the Parties to discuss limiting greenhouse gas emissions. North Carolina State University experts have researched this important environmental issue, taken part in worldwide conferences debating the actions needed to help ensure the world's environmental health, and have studied the policies motivating the politics. Call on them if you'd like to localize your coverage of the Kyoto Conference.

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An ancient type of marine community typical of 450 million years ago has resurfaced in Antarctic fossils of near-modern age. A National Science Foundation-sponsored expedition to Seymour Island off the Antarctic Peninsula unearthed an ecological anomaly: fossil communities only 40-million-years-old dominated by brittle stars and sea lilies (marine invertebrates like starfish).

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Several University of Michigan scientists currently conducting research on questions related to the effects of global warming, climate change and increasing levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere are available for interviews. Here is a summary of their areas of expertise and how to reach them.

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A $20 million crystal growth experiment on board the current flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia is making Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute a testbed for the remote telescience that will be the paradigm for research on the planned International Space Station.

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November tips include 1.) High-tech snow plows set to battle winter, 2.) Making PC's work like supercomputers, 3.) New alliance for nondestructive evaluation education.

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University of Wisconsin-Madison horticulturists have identified a compound that causes fruit to ripen more quickly and last longer on grocers' shelves and in our refrigerators.

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In a compendium of more than 25 peer-reviewed papers published this month, scientists warn that the world's fisheries are now considered fully or heavily exploited, and need new management schemes to prevent collapse.

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Did the large plant-eating Parasaurolophus dinosaur bellow, screech, roar or honk? Find out at 10 a.m. Dec. 5 when Sandia National Laboratories and the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science ìunveilî the sound the dinosaur made 70 million years ago.

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A microtransmission about the size of a grain of sand, developed at Sandia National Laboratories, can increase the power of its micro- engine (also the size of a grain of sand) 3 million times, and theoretically move an object weighing one pound.

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Individual brain cells continually perfrom complex computational tasks to help humans, bats, gerbil, birds and other creatures distinguish what a sound ;is and where it is coming from. To do this, individual neurons do not just relay information from one point to another. Instead each neuron could be compared to a tiny computer that compiles ;information from many sources and makes a decision based on that information, say a group of neuroscientists who are beginning to unravel how brain cells continually perform complex computations what a sound is and where it's coming from.

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October turned out dry in the Northeast, according to climatologists from the Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell University.

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Cornell University gerontologist finds that 80 percent of older moms have favorite children and most children think -- wrongly -- that they are it. Moms tend to favor children who had problems out of their control.

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A probability chart developed by the Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell University shows the chances of a 'white' Thanksgiving. The chart gives the probability of one-inch or more of snow on the ground Thanksgiving morning.

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African American boys, compared with Whites, Hispanics and African American girls, are "particularly and perhaps uniquely" vulnerable to "academic disidentification," the phenomenon in which success or failure in school ceases to matter to the student. The finding comes from a four-year study of nearly 25,000 high school students across the United States and is reported in the December issue of the Journal of Educational Psychology, published by the American Psychological Association (APA).

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Studies on the health of sea otters in Alaska are helping scientists understand how an ecosystem responds to an environmental disaster. Paul W. Snyder, a Purdue University veterinary pathologist, is studying the effects that the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound has had on the Alaskan sea otter population.

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New Scientist Tip Sheet for 11-19-97

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The picture of life on the streets for children in the late 20th century drawn from a University of Washington psychologist is a horrifying one. Violence in ;the form of physical and sexual abuse are rampant, as are suicide attempts, mental and emotional disorders, and drug and alcohol abuse. But those conditions may be an improvement over those found at home.

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WASHINGTON -- The chemical analysis of a 9000-foot core taken from the Greenland ice sheet has now uncovered unequivocal evidence of large-scale atmospheric lead pollution in the Northern Hemisphere dating to 300 A.D. And the source has been traced to ancient Carthaginian and Roman mines in Spain, according to Dr. Kevin J. Rosman of the Curtin University of Technology in Perth, Australia. Rosman's group, along with colleagues from the Domaine Universitaire in France, report their results in the December issue of Environmental Science & Technology, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society.

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A University of Delaware researcher has joined forces with a Lincoln University colleague to win a major U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) grant that ultimately may help improve the accuracy of global warming predictions.

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From science fairs to spelling bees, children's efforts are often propelled by the desire to win against others. A new study suggests that a child's level of masculinity is central to determining his or her response to competition.

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Primate researcher Jane Goodall will speak to the nation's first college Roots and Shoots environmental summit to be held at Texas Christian University Nov. 21-23. The summit, organized by students at TCU, will bring 50 delegates from colleges and universities around the nation to learn more about environmental issues and how to start Roots and Shoots chapters on their own campuses.

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With twin goals of furthering her research in mathematics and pushing out the frontiers of education for inner-city children, Katherine Okikiolu of the University of California, San Diego, has received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE).

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The following research articles will appear in the December issue of Environmental Science & Technology, a monthly peer-reviewed journal published by the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society: 1. Sunflowers Filter Uranium, Clean Up Contaminated Ground Water, 2. Mother Nature's Outdoor Air Cleaner Proves a Health Problem For Indoor Offices, 3. Mexican Auto Emissions Improve, but Problems Still Exist, 4. Exposure to PCBs In Residential Indoor Air near a Superfund Site

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A coating that detects Sarin, nuclear weapons scientists design an artifical foot, and a detector that makes evidence blink is all part of research at Sandia Natonal Laboroyaries.

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A Michigan State University scientist has shown that corn isn't just a food that sits on the sob waiting to be salted. Kris Berglund has discovered a way to turn corn into a salt substitute that lacks both sodium or the bitter taste that plagues other salt substitutes.