NSF News

Scientists Create First Working Model of a Two-Qubit Electronic Quantum Processor

A team led by Yale University researchers has successfully implemented simple algorithms using a quantum processor based on microwave solid-state technology--similar to that found in computers and cell phones. The new processor is far from conventional, however, in that it uses the potent power of quantum mechanics to bring the dream of quantum computing a small but significant step closer to reality.

The work was supported in part by the Yale Center for Quantum and Information Physics ...

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Peer Pressure Plays Major Role in Environmental Behavior

People are more likely to enroll in conservation programs if their neighbors do--a tendency that should be exploited when it comes to protecting the environment, according to results of a new study.

The research, to be published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) this week, is the first to focus on the phenomenon of social norms in the context of China's conservation efforts, said scientist Jianguo "Jack" Liu of Michigan State ...

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Desert Dust Alters Ecology of Colorado Alpine Meadows

Accelerated snowmelt--precipitated by desert dust blowing into the mountains--changes how alpine plants respond to seasonal climate cues that regulate their life cycles, according to results of a new study reported this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). These results indicate that global warming may have a greater influence on plants' annual growth cycles than previously thought.

Current mountain dust levels are five times ...

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Stream of Sand Behaves Like Water

University of Chicago researchers recently showed that dry granular materials such as sands, seeds and grains have properties similar to liquid, forming water-like droplets when poured from a given source. The finding could be important to a wide range of industries that use "fluidized" dry particles for oil refining, plastics manufacturing and pharmaceutical production.

Researchers previously thought dry particles lacked sufficient surface tension to form droplets like ...

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New Data Show Jump in Science and Engineering Graduate Study

New data show that enrollment in U.S. science and engineering (S&E) graduate programs in 2007 grew 3.3 percent over comparable data for 2006--the highest year-over-year increase since 2002 and nearly double the 1.7 percent increase seen in 2006. Science programs added the most students in absolute numbers, but engineering's percentage growth over 2006, 5.9 percent, was substantially higher than that of science, which grew by 2.4 percent. Enrollment in computer sciences programs was up ...

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Statement by Arden L. Bement, Jr., Director, National Science Foundation, on the Death of Dr. Jerri Nielsen FitzGerald

We at the National Science Foundation and U.S. Antarctic Program are saddened to hear the news of the death of Dr. Jerri Nielsen FitzGerald on Tuesday, June 23, 2009.

During her time as the physician at NSF's Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, Dr. FitzGerald was a dedicated member of the station team, and we will always be appreciative of her service to the US Antarctic Program and the scientific mission that continues there.

Dr. FitzGerald's cancer diagnosis while at the station ...

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Weather Forecasts of Great Value to Americans, Survey Finds

Close to nine out of 10 adult Americans obtain weather forecasts an average of more than three times each day, a new nationwide survey by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colo., has found.

The value Americans place on forecasts appears to be far more than the nation spends on public and private weather services. While the authors cautioned that it is difficult to put a dollar figure on the value of forecasts, the survey indicated that ...

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Variation in the Same Gene Affects Rate of Parasite Infection in Both Humans and Baboons

Researchers at the Duke University Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy have found that variation in the same gene in humans and baboons produces the same kind of disease resistance. The findings were published in the June 24 online edition of the journal Nature.

With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), lead authors Gregory Wray, Susan Alberts and Jenny Tung drew on Alberts' longtime study of the yellow baboons in Kenya's Amboseli National Park to examine ...

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TeraGrid '09 to Meet in Arlington, Va., June 22-25

TeraGrid ‘09 will be held June 22-25, 2009, in Arlington, Va., at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City, and will provide an opportunity to learn more about how federally funded researchers in a broad range of fields advance and accelerate their work with computational resources. The TeraGrid ‘09 program will include presentations on computational medicine, chemistry, physics, biology, social science, seismology, nanoscience, weather forecasting, cosmology, hydrology and more.

...

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Scientists Create First Comprehensive Computer Model of Sunspots

In a breakthrough that will help scientists unlock mysteries of the sun and its impacts on Earth, scientists have created the first-ever comprehensive computer model of sunspots. The resulting visuals capture both scientific detail and remarkable beauty. The results are published this week in a paper in Science Express. The research was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

The high-resolution simulations of sunspots open the way for scientists to learn more ...

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Sudden Collapse in Ancient Biodiversity: Was Global Warming the Culprit?

Scientists have unearthed striking evidence for a sudden ancient collapse in plant biodiversity. A trove of 200 million-year-old fossil leaves collected in East Greenland tells the story, carrying its message across time to us today.

Results of the research appear in this week's issue of the journal Science.

The researchers were surprised to find that a likely candidate responsible for the loss of plant life was a small rise in the greenhouse gas carbon ...

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Conflict Zones, Live

Refugees in global conflict zones often seem viscerally close in spirit, but tangibly remote. Now, for one day, the world will connect directly to refugees from Darfur, central Columbia and other sites in a 12-hour, live webcast.

Sponsored by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and delivered via the VSee communications platform--developed with the ...

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Beaked, Bird-like Dinosaur Tells Story of Finger Evolution

Scientists have discovered a unique beaked, plant-eating dinosaur in China. The finding, they say, demonstrates that theropod, or bird-footed, dinosaurs were more ecologically diverse in the Jurassic period than previously thought, and offers important evidence about how the three-fingered hand of birds evolved from the hand of dinosaurs.

The discovery is reported in a paper published in this week's edition of the journal Nature.

"This work on dinosaurs ...

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Science Nation

An online magazine examining the breakthroughs and the possibilities for new discoveries about our planet, our universe and ourselves. Each week, Science Nation takes a dynamic, entertaining look at the research--and the researchers-- that will change our lives.

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Global Warming Can Impact Monsoons and Lower Crop Production

When the climate warmed relatively quickly about 14,700 years ago, seasonal monsoons moved northward. Prior to that, the monsoons were dropping more rain on the Earth's oceans at the expense of tropical areas, according to climate researchers.

In an article to be published in the June 12 issue of the journal Science, researchers from the Desert Research Institute in Nevada, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Oregon State University present their findings after ...

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