Latest U.S. National Science Foundation Stories

Dissolution or creation of huge gypsum deposits changed sulfate content of the oceans Scientists have discovered a potential cause of Earth's "icehouse climate" cooling trend of the past 45 million years. It has everything to do with the chemistry of the world's oceans. "Seawater chemistry is characterized by long phases of stability, which are interrupted by short intervals of rapid change," says geoscientist Ulrich Wortmann of the University of Toronto, lead author of a paper...

Long-forgotten coastal habitats reappeared, species unseen for years returned The reappearance of long-forgotten habitats and the resurgence of species unseen for years may not be among the expected effects of a natural disaster. Yet that's exactly what researchers found in a study of the sandy beaches of south central Chile, after an 8.8-magnitude earthquake and devastating tsunami in 2010. Their study also revealed a preview of the problems wrought by sea level rise--a major...

To find answers, oceanographers install observatories beneath remote seafloor Of all the habitable parts of our planet, one ecosystem still remains largely unexplored and unknown to science: the igneous ocean crust. This rocky realm of hard volcanic lava exists beneath ocean sediments that lie at the bottom of much of the world's oceans. While scientists have estimated that microbes living in deep ocean sediments may represent as much as one-third of Earth's total biomass, the...

How diseases are transmitted among humans, other animals, the environment is focus New research aimed at controlling the transmission of diseases among humans, other animals and the environment is being made possible by grants from a collaboration among U.S. and U.K. funding agencies. By improving our understanding of the factors affecting disease transmission, the projects will help produce models to predict and control outbreaks. Funding is from the U.S. National Science Foundation...

Researchers used an "Ideas Lab" to generate potentially transformative projects and stimulate new approaches to a long-standing scientific problemScientists in the United States and the United Kingdom have been awarded funding totaling more than $10.3 million to improve the process of biological photosynthesis. The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.K. Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) collaborated in issuing these jointly funded...

Star known as HD49933 is located 100 light years away from EarthIn a bid to unlock long-standing mysteries of the sun, including the impacts on Earth of its 11-year cycle, an international team of scientists has successfully probed a distant star.By monitoring the star's sound waves, the team has observed a magnetic cycle analogous to the sun's solar cycle.Results of the study, conducted by scientists at the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colo., and...

Ocean drilling expedition off New Zealand helps predict global sea level changesFor eight weeks beginning in November 2009, off the coast of New Zealand, an international team of 34 scientists and 92 support staff and crew on board the scientific drilling vessel JOIDES Resolution (JR) were at work investigating sea-level change in a region called the Canterbury Basin. It proved to be a record-breaking trip for the research team.The JR is one of the primary research vessels of an international...

In recognition of World Refugee Day, 12 hours of live webcasts and chats will bring the world in touch with refugee camps around the worldRefugees 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...

ALMA is on its way to developing observational capabilities with resonance 10 times that of the current state of the artAstronomers yesterday celebrated the formal acceptance of the first North American antenna by the Joint ALMA Observatory. ALMA, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, is a gathering armada of short-wavelength radio telescopes whose combined power will enable astronomers to probe with unprecedented sharpness phenomena and regions that are beyond the reach of...

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Feb. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Astronomers celebrated today the formal acceptance of the first North American antenna by the Joint ALMA Observatory. ALMA, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, is a gathering armada of short-wavelength radio telescopes whose combined power will enable astronomers to probe with unprecedented sharpness phenomena and regions that are beyond the reach of visible-light telescopes. The observatory is being assembled high in the Chilean...