Science and Technology

Asymmetric Division of a Polarized Artificial Cell (Image 2)

2012-01-30T18:46:00.000-08:00

Asymmetric division of a polarized artificial cell results in daughter cells that differ in membrane and interior compositions. In this, the final panel, one of the daughter cells has polarized. Scale bar indicates 10 microns.

In this asymmetric division of a primitive model cell, the cell is composed of a lipid membrane that encapsulates a polymer solution. Two coexisting lipid membrane phase domains are labeled red and green, and a protein that concentrates into the dextran-rich aqueous phase domain is labeled in blue. Sucrose was added from left to right to draw water out of the vesicle by osmosis. After the division event, one of the daughter vesicles contains only red membrane and encapsulates the dextran-rich aqueous phase along with most of the protein molecules, while the other vesicle inherits both red and green membrane encapsulating the PEG-rich aqueous phase. The scale bar indicates ten microns. [Research supported by the National Science Foundation Chemistry Division (grant CHE 07-50196) and by the Molecular and Cellular Biosciences Division.] (Date of Image: 2011)

Credit: Meghan Andes-Koback and Christine Keating, Chemistry Department, Penn State University

Asymmetric Division of a Polarized Artificial Cell (Image 1)

2012-01-30T18:43:00.000-08:00

Asymmetric division of a polarized artificial cell results in daughter cells that differ in their membrane and interior compositions. Scale bar indicates 10 microns.

Credit: Meghan Andes-Koback and Christine Keating, Chemistry Department, Penn State University

Brazilian Youth Ambassadors Visit NASA Headquarters

2012-01-30T15:37:00.000-08:00

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden played host to 45 Brazilian Youth Ambassadors on Friday, Jan. 27, in the NASA Headquarters auditorium, where he delivered an educational outreach presentation. The Brazilians are participating in a three-week U.S. Department of State youth exchange program for outstanding Brazilian public school students.

The Department of State requested this special presentation for the Brazilian students as a follow on to the Administrator’s successful outreach activities during his trip to Brazil in October 2011. His presentation to students at the National Institute of Space Research facilities in São José dos Campos was simulcast by the U.S. Embassy and viewed by nearly 3,000 people throughout the country.

The Youth Ambassadors are young people in pursuit of academic and professional success who make a difference in their communities through their leadership and volunteer work. As ambassadors, the students also have an opportunity to fulfill a very important mission - to introduce a little bit of Brazil to the United States. Since 2002, the program has benefited some 250 young Brazilians. The Youth Ambassadors Program has now expanded to more than 20 countries in the Western Hemisphere.

During the students first week in the United States, Youth Ambassadors visited Washington, D.C. and took part in meetings with government officials, visiting schools and social projects. The young Brazilians strengthened their leadership skills through workshops and lectures during these visits.

They then traveled to host states, where they stayed with volunteer families. They attended classes at local schools, took part in volunteer activities, gave presentations about Brazil, and interacted with the community. The program offered a unique opportunity to learn about the U.S. culture and practice English. After their return home, the students will implement community service projects they developed during their exchange program.

Image Credit: NASA/Paul Alers

NASA Releases First Multi-Player Facebook Game

2012-01-30T13:11:00.000-08:00

Brian Dunbar
Headquarters, Washington

WASHINGTON -- NASA has launched its first multi-player online game to test players' knowledge of the space program. Who was the first American to walk in space? Who launched the first liquid-fueled rocket? These are only a few of the questions players can answer in Space Race Blastoff.

Available on Facebook, Space Race Blastoff tests players' knowledge of NASA history, technology, science and pop culture. Players who correctly answer questions earn virtual badges depicting NASA astronauts, spacecraft and celestial objects. Players also earn points they can use to obtain additional badges to complete sets and earn premium badges.

"Space Race Blastoff opens NASA's history and research to a wide new audience of people accustomed to using social media," said David Weaver, NASA's associate administrator for communications. "Space experts and novices will learn new things about how exploration continues to impact our world."

NASA chose to make the game available through Facebook to take advantage of the social media site's large audience and enable players to compete against others. Individuals also can play solo games.

Once in the game, players choose an avatar and answer 10 multiple-choice questions. Each correct answer earns 100 points, with a 20-point bonus to the player who answers first. The winner advances to the bonus round to answer one additional question for more points.

Correctly answering the bonus question earns the player a badge.

Space Race Blastoff was developed by Scott Hanger, Todd Powell and Jamie Noguchi of NASA's Internet Services Group in the Office of Communications. Play the game now at http://apps.facebook.com/spacerace.

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Electronic Tattoo Monitors Brain, Heart and Muscles

2012-01-30T13:08:00.001-08:00

Elastic electronics offer less invasive, more convenient medical treatment

Imagine if there were electronics able to prevent epileptic seizures before they happen. Or electronics that could be placed on the surface of a beating heart to monitor its functions. The problem is that such devices are a tough fit. Body tissue is soft and pliable while conventional circuits can be hard and brittle--at least until now.

"We're trying to bridge that gap, from silicon, wafer-based electronics to biological, 'tissue-like' electronics, to really blur the distinction between electronics and the body," says materials scientist John Rogers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), he's developing elastic electronics. The innovation builds upon years of collaboration between Rogers and Northwestern University engineer Yonggang Huang, who had earlier partnered with Rogers to develop flexible electronics for hemispherical camera sensors and other devices that conform to complex shapes.

This is circuitry with a real twist that's able to monitor and deliver electrical impulses into living tissue. Elastic electronics are made of tiny, wavy silicon structures containing circuits that are thinner than a human hair, and bend and stretch with the body. "As the skin moves and deforms, the circuit can follow those deformations in a completely noninvasive way," says Rogers. He hopes elastic electronics will open a door to a whole range of what he calls "bio-integrated" medical devices.

One example is what Rogers calls, an "electronic sock"--in this case, elastic electronics are wrapped around a model of a rabbit heart like a stocking. "It's designed to accommodate the motion of the heart but at the same time keep active electronics into contact with the tissue," explains Rogers.

Using animal models, Rogers has developed a version of the sock that can inject current into the heart tissue to detect and stop certain forms of arrhythmia.

Rogers also demonstrates prototypes of a catheter that can be inserted through the arteries and into the chambers of the heart to map electrical activity and provide similar types of therapies.

He believes that one day this technology will lead to devices like an implantable circuit that diagnoses and perhaps even treats seizures by injecting current into the brain.

The device might detect differences in brainwave activity that occur just before a seizure sets in, and could automatically counteract any electrical abnormalities. Prototypes of the circuits are being tested that can detect muscle movement, heart activity and brain waves just by being placed on the surface of the skin like temporary tattoos. The prototypes can detect the body's electrical activity nearly as well as conventional, rigid electrode devices in use currently.

Rogers says their size could offer benefits in many important cases, such as monitoring the health and wellness of premature babies. "They are such tiny humans that this epidermal form of electronics could really be valuable in the monitoring of these babies in a manner that is completely noninvasive and mechanically 'invisible'," he points out.

Miles O'Brien, Science Nation Correspondent

Jon Baime, Science Nation Producer

GPS Technology Provides Assistance in Case Against Fitchburg Bank Robber

2012-01-30T12:50:00.001-08:00

BOSTON—A Fitchburg man was sentenced to prison today for his role in five bank robberies across Central Massachusetts. The case against Keith D. Cormier was made with the assistance of GPS technology.

U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor, IV sentenced Cormier to 56 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release. Cormier, 45, was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $11,485, the money which he stole from the banks. In September 2011, Cormier pleaded guilty to committing five bank robberies; between October and June 2010, Cormier robbed banks in Shrewsbury, Leominster (two), Worcester, and Gardner.

In each case, Cormier entered the bank wearing a disguise, with his face wrapped in gauze, and passed the teller a note demanding money. He retrieved the note and fled the bank with the proceeds of the robbery. The most compelling evidence against Cormier was derived from two separate GPS devices. One GPS device was installed by his employer in the company truck which Cormier drove to and from the robberies. The data from the GPS device indicated that Cormier’s work truck was within blocks of each of the banks at the time of the robbery and departed the area within minutes after Cormier fled the banks.

The second GPS device was secreted in a stack of bills by an alert teller during the robbery of a Citizen’s Bank on Oct. 28, 2010. This GPS device resulted in the police tracking Cormier’s van and arresting him a short distance away from the bank, with the proceeds from the robbery and his disguise inside the truck.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and Richard DesLauriers, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division, made the announcement today. The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as well as detectives from the Shrewsbury, Leominster, Worcester, and Gardner Police Departments. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Cory Flashner of Ortiz’s Worcester Branch Office.

Fort Campbell Makes Advances in TBI Evaluation

2012-01-30T12:49:00.000-08:00

By Kathy Helmick, DCoE deputy director for traumatic brain injury

In December, I had the opportunity to visit Fort Campbell, Ky., to learn more about their Military Functional Assessment Program. Maj. Sarah Goldman, Army Office of the Surgeon General, traumatic brain injury (TBI) program manager, and I were invited to see this comprehensive, advanced five-day assessment, which is part of a 12-week program designed to treat service members with TBIs.

This evaluation does not rely on a pen and paper test or a computer assessment. It takes place on post and in the program’s simulation lab, exposing service members to realistic combat scenarios while allowing a team of medical and rehabilitation providers the opportunity to evaluate their responses. Service members are observed on camera while combat-related decision-making functions are tested, such as how long it takes a service member to come to the aid of a fallen comrade, identify a threat, plan a course of action, or radio call into a command center. If they perform tasks in simulated combat situations in accordance to Army standards, then this information helps guide return-to-duty decision-making.

Additionally, the lab tests how the service member performs under environmental stressors, such as lack of light or loud sounds, to approximate scenarios encountered in combat zones.

One of the program’s best practices relates to integrating the expertise of a non-commissioned officer (NCO) to evaluate the ability of the soldier to perform the tasks to established Army standards. In the assessment we saw, the NCO was instrumental in educating medical providers about Army standards and describing combat scenarios. Leveraging the knowledge of a qualified NCO helps the medical provider offer a comprehensive evaluation of the service member’s impairments associated with TBI and the injury’s effects on their ability to perform military duties on the battlefield to standard.

I was also impressed with how this program focused on function; instead of clicking a dot on a computer test or circling a multiple choice question, service members with TBI are put in an environment to test their performance and capabilities. Some service members may perform well in a controlled rehabilitation environment, but may not be able to perform as well when multitasking during a high-pressure combat scenario. It was clear that the service members appreciated this type of evaluation and gained more confidence, whether they transitioned back to duty, or out of the military into civilian life.

In continuing to follow this advanced program, I hope that we can identify key outcomes that predict return-to-duty success, or help service members return back home.

Western Europe at Night

2012-01-30T12:21:00.001-08:00

With hardware from the Earth-orbiting International Space Station appearing in the near foreground, a night time European panorama reveals city lights from Belgium and the Netherlands at bottom center. the British Isles partially obscured by solar array panels at left, the North Sea at left center, and Scandinavia at right center beneath the end effector of the Space Station Remote Manipulator System or Canadarm2. This image was taken by the station crew on Jan. 22, 2012.

Image Credit: NASA

Biodiversity of Earth's Richest Plant Kingdom Under

2012-01-30T12:20:00.000-08:00

Climate change is on your porch and in your backyard and living room--anywhere you bedeck with flowering plants.

Global warming affects favorite flowers of garden and vase. This is true of plants around the world, including the proteas and the pelargoniums native to South Africa.

Pelargoniums are wild ancestors of common geraniums. Proteas, with their vase-shaped bracts surrounding pencil-thin flowers, look like brightly-colored sea anemones.

During the Northern Hemisphere's winter, summer comes to South Africa and proteas and pelargoniums bloom in riotous color. On steep, rocky slopes, their red and pink flowers dot the hillsides.

"As one of the most diverse plant groups in South Africa, the pelargoniums have a variety well beyond what's available at even the largest U.S. nursery," says Carl Schlichting, an ecologist and evolutionary biologist at the University of Connecticut who specializes in these flowering plants.

But pelargoniums and proteas such as the king protea, which measures 12 inches across and is the national flower of South Africa, are under fire. Some will become extinct. Some already have.

In a region where average temperatures have significantly warmed over the past 30 years, South Africa's--if not the world's--most unusual flowers are besieged.

In response, they're moving uphill to cooler or wetter spots. When will they run out of room? No one knows for sure. But time is of the essence in learning about this ecosystem, says Schlichting.

Despite centuries of discovery, most of the planet's biodiversity remains unknown. The scale of that unrecognized biodiversity is a vital question, scientists believe, given its rapid and permanent loss around the globe.

To respond to the need for more knowledge and a better understanding of Earth's biodiversity, the National Science Foundation (NSF) recently awarded 25 grants in its Dimensions of Biodiversity campaign.

The effort is part of NSF's Science, Engineering and Education for Sustainability (SEES) initiative.

Schlichting and colleagues comprise one of the research teams funded.

"By establishing networks of interdisciplinary, globally-engaged scientists, Dimensions of Biodiversity will have a lasting effect on biodiversity science," says John Wingfield, NSF assistant director for Biological Sciences. "It has the potential to transform the way we conduct biological research in this arena."

The Dimensions of Biodiversity campaign is important, believes Wingfield, because assessing the living diversity of Earth is not as straightforward as simply listing species.

The campaign is transforming how the role and scope of life on Earth is described and understood, he says.

It promotes novel, integrated approaches to identifying and comprehending the evolutionary and ecological significance of biodiversity in today's changing environment and in the geologic past.

"Dimensions of Biodiversity is accelerating the pace of biodiversity research and discovery, and it enables scientists to think at grand scales," says Joann Roskoski, NSF deputy assistant director for Biological Sciences.

"Collaborative teams have formed to tackle some of the big questions using novel and integrative techniques," she says. "Taxonomists are talking to geneticists; geneticists to ecologists; and ecologists to taxonomists. This is not business as usual."

With the loss of Earth's biodiversity, biologists have found, links in the web of life that provide ecosystem services are being lost; an understanding of the history and future of the living world is being forfeited; and beneficial discoveries in the domains of food, fiber, fuel, pharmaceuticals and bio-inspired innovation are being eliminated.

That reality has stimulated the NSF awards, co-funded by NSF's Directorates for Biological Sciences and Geosciences.

"Dimensions may accomplish in 10 years what, with a piecemeal approach, would have taken 50 years--a half-century we can no longer wait," says Roskoski.

Proteas are the keystone species of South Africa's Cape Floral Kingdom, the smallest but, biologists say, the richest of Earth's six plant kingdoms.

The Cape Floral Kingdom is the size of a postage stamp, comparatively speaking. It has the highest plant biodiversity, however, of anywhere on the planet.

About 9,000 plant species, 70 percent of which live nowhere else, are found there in what's called the fynbos ecosystem. Just to the north lies another, yet more diverse, desert-like ecosystem, the succulent karoo.

Near South Africa's Cape of Good Hope, leathery-leaved fynbos plants cover the mountains, valleys and coastal plains. Proteas and pelargoniums thrive despite nutrient-poor soils and high winds.

Schlichting's research focuses on how proteas and pelargoniums have diversified over the last 15 million years during periods of climate change in southern Africa.

"Contemporary climate change will drive responses at all levels of biodiversity, from the traits of individuals to distributions of species and biomes," says Schlichting.

"Our team hopes to combine an understanding of past evolutionary patterns with an assessment of modern diversity to make predictions about the future of plant communities."

Some pelargonium plants, for example, may be drought-avoiders, while others are drought-tolerators. Schlichting is discovering which ones are which.

These traits may be linked with the environment, he and others have found, and may indicate patterns of local adaptation.

"This study looks at one of the most diverse floras of the world," says Sam Scheiner, program director in NSF's Division of Environmental Biology, "and connects plant physiology with the evolutionary processes driving diversification. It is one of the most comprehensive views of this process, and promises to greatly expand our knowledge."

As Earth's climate warms, species like proteas and pelargoniums will try to keep pace by adapting to new conditions or by moving to their preferred temperature and rainfall ranges.

Fire

Protea seeds, for example, are carried on the wind to new locations. Those that become rooted in cooler or wetter areas will survive.

"We may not have much time to understand why there is such a rich diversity of pelargoniums and proteas," says Cynthia Jones, a University of Connecticut scientist working on the project, "before they begin to disappear."

From porches, backyards and living rooms. And from fynbos and succulent karoo.

-- Cheryl Dybas, NSF (703) 292-7734 cdybas@nsf.gov

Simulated Observation of a Massive Star

2012-01-29T16:36:00.000-08:00

A simulated observation of a massive star viewed along the plane of the disk. This visualization of dust emission traces the density and temperature of the gas cloud that surrounds the star. The regions that are currently ionized (in red) and have been ionized in the past (blue structures) show how the nebula flickers.

Simulations by researchers show that as the gas cloud collapses, it forms dense filamentary structures that absorb the star's radiation when it passes through them. Stars form when huge clouds of gas collapse. Once the central density and temperature are high enough, hydrogen begins to fuse into helium and the star begins to shine. The most massive stars, though, begin to shine while the clouds are still collapsing. Their ultraviolet light ionizes the surrounding gas, forming a nebula with a temperature of 10,000 degrees Celsius. This suggests that the growth of a massive star should taper off or even cease because the surrounding gas should be blown away by the heating.

The simulations were run on supercomputers at the Texas Advanced Computing Center, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), and at the Leibniz and Jxlich Computing Centers in Germany. The research was funded in part by the NSF Astronomy Division (grant AST 08-35734). To learn more about this research, see the American Museum of Natural History news story Simulations Solve a 20-year-old-Riddle About Why Nebulae Around Massive Stars Don't Disappear. (Date of Image: 2010)

Credit: T. Peters et al.

Obama Praises DOD’s Energy Leadership, Stewardship

2012-01-29T16:26:00.000-08:00

By Donna Miles, American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama traveled to Buckley Air Force Base near Denver today to praise the military for “doing its part” – not just in the nation’s defense, but also as leaders in energy conservation.

Obama delivered his message at the home of the 460th Space Wing in Aurora, Colo., calling the “green” initiatives being advanced here indicative of the Defense Department’s clean-energy focus.

The Air Force has installed a 1-megawatt solar array on the base, and last year test piloted jets there that run on advanced biofuels, demonstrating a key technology that reduces U.S. dependence on foreign oil.

Joined today by Air Force Secretary Michael B. Donley, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, and Sharon Burke, assistant secretary of defense for operational energy, Obama praised them for their work with Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta “to keep our military the strongest in the world, and to make our military more energy efficient.”

“Now, it’s important for the military to do its part because … our military is the largest energy consumer in the world,” the president said. “So we can set a good example, and help create an additional market for clean energy.”

Obama noted that the Navy plans to buy enough clean energy to power 250,000 homes a year, through an effort that won’t cost taxpayers a dime.

“What does it mean?” he asked the crowd, a mix of military members, students in clean energy programs and local energy stakeholders. “It means that the world’s largest consumer of energy, the Department of Defense, is making one of the largest commitments to clean energy in history.”

That commitment will grow the clean-energy market and ultimately strengthen U.S. energy security, he said.

Obama recognized that DOD isn’t embracing clean energy simply because “it feels good,” but also because it makes economic sense.

“Our number one priority is always the security of this nation,” he emphasized. And “what our military understands is that if we’re smart on energy that saves DOD budgets that allow them to do a whole bunch of other things.”

Alternatives to fossil fuels also are important to national security, the president told the crowd. “The less we depend on foreign oil, the more secure we become as a nation,” he said.

The president noted Mabus’ point that the U.S. dependence on foreign fossil fuels creates a vulnerability that could affect its ability to operate its military ships, aircraft and vehicles.

That’s why, Obama explained, the Navy in December made the government’s largest-ever purchase of biofuel. ”This summer, that fuel will power ships and subs during the world’s largest naval exercise,” he said, a reference to the biennial Rim of the Pacific exercise.

Obama also noted that the Navy’s F/A-18 Green Hornet is powered by a 50/50 biofuel blend. And last year, the Air Force flew an A-10 Thunderbolt entirely on alternative fuels – a first for the military.

“Overall, the Air Force is on track to save $500 million in fuel costs over the next five years because you guys have changed the way you operate. Think about that: half a billion dollars,” he told the audience, drawing big applause.

Obama also expounded on the plan he introduced during his Jan. 24 State of the Union address to reduce America’s fuel dependency, make it more secure, improve the environment and create jobs. In addition to promoting more green programs in the military, it includes opening public lands for private clean-energy investments and providing tax incentives to the domestic clean-energy sector.

As he delivered his message, the president praised the 460th Space Wing and other military members at Buckley and thanked them for their service.

“During a decade of war, these folks — so many of you – exhibited the very best of America: courage, selflessness, teamwork,” he said.

Reiterating his remarks during his State of the Union address, he told them, “You’ve exceeded all expectations, because you focus on your mission; you work together; you get the job done.”

This article first appeared on Defense.gov.

NASA's Kepler Announces 11 Planetary Systems Hosting 26 Planets

2012-01-28T20:01:00.000-08:00

Trent J. Perrotto
Headquarters, Washington

Michele Johnson

Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.

MOFFET FIELD, Calif. -- NASA's Kepler mission has discovered 11 new planetary systems hosting 26 confirmed planets. These discoveries nearly double the number of verified planets and triple the number of stars known to have more than one planet that transits, or passes in front of, the star. Such systems will help astronomers better understand how planets form.

The planets orbit close to their host stars and range in size from 1.5 times the radius of Earth to larger than Jupiter. Fifteen are between Earth and Neptune in size. Further observations will be required to determine which are rocky like Earth and which have thick gaseous atmospheres like Neptune. The planets orbit their host star once every six to 143 days. All are closer to their host star than Venus is to our sun.

"Prior to the Kepler mission, we knew of perhaps 500 exoplanets across the whole sky," said Doug Hudgins, Kepler program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Now, in just two years staring at a patch of sky not much bigger than your fist, Kepler has discovered more than 60 planets and more than 2,300 planet candidates. This tells us that our galaxy is positively loaded with planets of all sizes and orbits."

Kepler identifies planet candidates by repeatedly measuring the change in brightness of more than 150,000 stars to detect when a planet passes in front of the star. That passage casts a small shadow toward Earth and the Kepler spacecraft.

Each of the new confirmed planetary systems contains two to five closely spaced transiting planets. In tightly packed planetary systems, the gravitational pull of the planets on each other causes some planets to accelerate and some to decelerate along their orbits. The acceleration causes the orbital period of each planet to change. Kepler detects this effect by measuring the changes, or so-called Transit Timing Variations (TTVs

Planetary systems with TTVs can be verified without requiring extensive ground-based observations, accelerating confirmation of planet candidates. The TTV detection technique also increases Kepler's ability to confirm planetary systems around fainter and more distant stars.

Five of the systems (Kepler-25, Kepler-27, Kepler-30, Kepler-31 and Kepler-33) contain a pair of planets where the inner planet orbits the star twice during each orbit of the outer planet. Four of the systems (Kepler-23, Kepler-24, Kepler-28 and Kepler-32) contain a pairing where the outer planet circles the star twice for every three times the inner planet orbits its star.

"These configurations help to amplify the gravitational interactions between the planets, similar to how my sons kick their legs on a swing at the right time to go higher," said Jason Steffen, the Brinson postdoctoral fellow at Fermilab Center for Particle Astrophysics in Batavia, Ill., and lead author of a paper confirming four of the systems.

Kepler-33, a star that is older and more massive than our sun, had the most planets. The system hosts five planets, ranging in size from 1.5 to 5 times that of Earth. All of the planets are located closer to their star than any planet is to our sun.

The properties of a star provide clues for planet detection. The decrease in the star's brightness and duration of a planet transit, combined with the properties of its host star, present a recognizable signature. When astronomers detect planet candidates that exhibit similar signatures around the same star, the likelihood of any of these planet candidates being a false positive is very low.

"The approach used to verify the Kepler-33 planets shows the overall reliability is quite high," said Jack Lissauer, planetary scientist at NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif., and lead author of the paper on Kepler-33. "This is a validation by multiplicity."

These discoveries are published in four different papers in the Astrophysical Journal and the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Ames manages Kepler's ground system development, mission operations and science data analysis. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., managed the Kepler mission's development.

For more information about the Kepler mission and to view the digital press kit, visit http://www.nasa.gov/kepler.

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NASA Day of Remembrance Wreath Laying Ceremony

2012-01-28T19:57:00.000-08:00

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, NASA personnel, and others, participate in a wreath laying ceremony as part of NASA's Day of Remembrance, Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012, at Arlington National Cemetery. Wreathes were laid in memory of those men and women who lost their lives in the quest for space exploration.

Photo Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Simulation From High-resolution Forest-wind Model (Image 10)

2012-01-28T19:53:00.000-08:00

This is one of a series of illustrations that are the result of a high-resolution wind model. The model calculates the speed and direction of wind flow in and above the forest and also includes the effects of the forest itself on the wind. By forming an obstacle to the flow, the leaves and stems of trees in the forest slow down the wind and break large wind gusts to smaller eddies. Leaves also emit heat and water vapor that mix with the air as the wind blows past the leaves and change the air properties.

The images in the series illustrate a sub-section of a virtual forest, roughly 100x100x100 m^3 large. The trees in the forest were generated using a computer model, and the tree-tops are visualized as a green sheet in the picture. Leaves fill the space between the tree-tops and the ground (green floor) but are not illustrated. The white stream lines of wind inside the forest canopy illustrate the directions of the wind flow. The side walls illustrate humidity (moist is white, dry- blue) and the back wall shows the patterns of air temperature (hot is red, cold blue). The movie clip runs for 80 seconds. It illustrates a special pattern of wind in the forest called "momentum ejection." It is caused by wind being pushed from above into the canopy which in turn, pushes moist and warm air upward, outside of the canopy and into the atmosphere above. "Momentum ejections" are the major way in which moisture and heat that are released from the leaves into the canopy air are mixed with the atmosphere above the forest, and also the major way to provide fresh carbon dioxide supply into the canopy air where plants can breathe it during the photosynthesis process. Using this computer model, Gil Bohrer in the department of civil and environmental engineering and geodetic science at Ohio State University discovered that the structure of the forest and the location of gaps within it change the locations and strength at which those momentum ejections happen.

The model used for these simulations was developed with National Science Foundation (NSF) funding (grant DEB 04-53665) and the study--the results of which are depicted in these images--was supported by NSF grants DEB 09-18869 and DEB 09-11461.

Credit: Gil Bohrer, The Ohio State University

Simulation From High-resolution Forest-wind Model (Image 9)

2012-01-28T19:51:00.000-08:00

Credit: Gil Bohrer, The Ohio State University

Remembering Apollo 1

2012-01-27T15:58:00.001-08:00

On January 27, 1967, Apollo 1's crew--Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, Edward H. White II and Roger B. Chaffee--was killed when a fire erupted in their capsule during testing. Apollo 1 was originally designated AS-204 but following the fire, the astronauts' widows requested that the mission be remembered as Apollo 1 and following missions would be numbered subsequent to the flight that never made it into space.

Image credit: NASA

Atom-level View of Nanoscale Interface

2012-01-27T15:57:00.000-08:00

An atom-level view of the nanoscale--mere billionths of a meter--interface between amorphous carbon and diamond. At such a small scale, the surfaces are rough, although researchers have been treating them as smooth. A team of engineers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, used computer simulations to demonstrate that friction at the atomic level behaves similarly to friction generated between large objects. They found that friction is proportional to the number of atoms that interact between two nanoscale surfaces. The researchers' simulations showed that, at the nanoscale, materials in contact behave more like large, rough objects rubbing against each other, rather than as two perfectly smooth surfaces, as was previously imagined. The research was supported in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation.

Further information is available in the UW news story Models present a new view of nanoscale friction. (Date of Image: 2009)

Credit: Courtesy University of Wisconsin

Researchers Show How New Viruses Evolve, and in Some Cases, Become Deadly

2012-01-27T15:54:00.001-08:00

Researchers at Michigan State University (MSU) have demonstrated how a new virus evolves, shedding light on how easy it can be for diseases to gain dangerous mutations. The findings appear in the current issue of the journal Science.

The scientists showed for the first time how the virus called "Lambda" evolved to find a new way to attack host cells, an innovation that took four mutations to accomplish. This virus infects bacteria, in particular the common E. coli bacterium. Lambda isn't dangerous to humans, but this research demonstrated how viruses evolve complex and potentially deadly new traits, noted Justin Meyer, MSU graduate student, who co-authored the paper with Richard Lenski, MSU Hannah Distinguished Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics.

"We were surprised at first to see Lambda evolve this new function, this ability to attack and enter the cell through a new receptor--and it happened so fast," Meyer said. "But when we re-ran the evolution experiment, we saw the same thing happen over and over."

This paper follows recent news that scientists in the United States and the Netherlands produced a deadly version of bird flu. Even though bird flu is a mere five mutations away from becoming transmissible between humans, it's highly unlikely the virus could naturally obtain all of the beneficial mutations at once. However, it might evolve sequentially, gaining benefits one-by-one, if conditions are favorable at each step, Meyer added.

Through research conducted at BEACON, MSU's National Science Foundation Center for the Study of Evolution in Action, Meyer and his colleagues' ability to duplicate the results implied that adaptation by natural selection, or survival of the fittest, had an important role in the virus' evolution.

Funding for the research was provided in part by NSF and MSU AgBioResearch.

-NSF-

Simulation From High-resolution Forest-wind Model (Image 8)

2012-01-27T11:24:00.000-08:00

Credit: Gil Bohrer, The Ohio State University

NASA Renames Earth-Observing Mission in Honor of Satellite Pioneer

2012-01-26T22:14:00.000-08:00

Steve Cole
Headquarters, Washington

Rani Gran

Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

WASHINGTON -- NASA has renamed its newest Earth-observing satellite in honor of the late Verner E. Suomi, a meteorologist at the University of Wisconsin who is recognized widely as "the father of satellite meteorology." The announcement was made Jan. 24 at the annual meeting of the American Meteorological Society in New Orleans.

NASA launched the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project, or NPP, on Oct. 28, 2011, from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. NPP was renamed Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership, or Suomi NPP. The satellite is the first designed to collect critical data to improve short-term weather forecasts and increase understanding of long-term climate change.

"Verner Suomi's many scientific and engineering contributions were fundamental to our current ability to learn about Earth's weather and climate from space," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington." Suomi NPP not only will extend more than four decades of NASA satellite observations of our planet, it also will usher in a new era of climate change discovery and weather forecasting."

The Suomi NPP mission is a bridge between NASA's Earth Observing System satellites to the next-generation Joint Polar Satellite System, or JPSS, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) program. JPSS is the civilian component of the former National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS), which was reorganized by the Obama Administration in 2010.

"The new name now accurately describes the mission," said Michael Freilich, director of the Earth Science Division in NASA's Science Mission Directorate. "Suomi NPP will advance our scientific knowledge of Earth and improve the lives of Americans by enabling more accurate forecasts of weather, ocean conditions and the terrestrial biosphere. The mission is the product of a partnership between NASA, NOAA, the Department of Defense, the private sector and academic researchers."

Verner Suomi pioneered remote sensing of Earth from satellites in polar orbits a few hundred miles above the surface with Explorer 7 in 1959, and geostationary orbits thousands of miles high with ATS-1 in 1966. He was best known for his invention of the "spin-scan" camera which enabled geostationary weather satellites to continuously image Earth, yielding the satellite pictures commonly used on television weather broadcasts. He also was involved in planning interplanetary spacecraft missions to Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

Suomi spent nearly his entire career at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where in 1965 he founded the university's Space Science and Engineering Center with funding from NASA. The center is known for Earth-observing satellite research and development. In 1964, Suomi served as chief scientist of the U.S. Weather Bureau for one year. He received the National Medal of Science in 1977. He died in 1995 at the age of 79.

"It is fitting that such an important and innovative partnership pays tribute to a pioneer like Verner Suomi," said Mary Kicza, assistant administrator for NOAA's Satellite and Information Service. "Suomi NPP is an extremely important mission for NOAA. Its advanced instruments will improve our weather forecasts and understanding of the climate and pave the way for JPSS, our next generation of weather satellites."

Suomi NPP currently is in its initial checkout phase before starting regular observations with all of its five instruments. Commissioning activities are expected to be completed by March. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., manages the Suomi NPP mission for the Earth Science Division of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The JPSS program provides the satellite ground system and NOAA provides operational support.

For more information about Verner Suomi's career, visit http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Suomi/.

For more information about the Suomi NPP mission, visit http://www.nasa.gov/npp.

- end -

NBC News, NBC Sports and National Science Foundation Launch "Science of NHL Hockey"

2012-01-26T22:09:00.000-08:00

NBC News' educational arm, NBC Learn, and the NBC Sports Group recently teamed up with the National Hockey League (NHL) and National Science Foundation (NSF) to release "Science of NHL Hockey"--an informative 10-part video series exploring the science behind the fastest game on ice.

Made especially for students and teachers to use in the classroom, the videos will be aligned to lesson plans and national state education standards, and are available to the public cost-free on NBCLearn.com, NBCSports.com and Science360.gov. NBC News' Lester Holt narrates the series. NBCUniversal will distribute the videos across several platforms.

The "Science of NHL Hockey" videos will debut during NBC Sports Network's all-encompassing coverage of the 2012 NHL All-Star Weekend from Ottawa January 26-29, including a select number of videos airing throughout the Honda SuperSkills Competition on Saturday, January 28, from 7-9:30 p.m. ET. The NHL will feature the videos on NHL.com, NHL Network in the United States and Canada and in a number of arenas throughout the league. The series will also appear in retail venues across the country, on American Airlines in-flight entertainment and on NBC's affiliate stations.

This collaboration between NBC Learn, NBC Sports and NSF uses the universal appeal of hockey to drive an understanding of complicated scientific concepts. Students and teachers see how the principles of science enable players to perform actions such as quickly stopping on ice, passing the puck to a teammate, shooting a slap shot and making a great save.

The science is broken down by capturing the athletes' movements with a state-of-the-art, high-speed Phantom camera, which has the ability to capture movement at rates of up to 10,000 frames per second. These dynamic visuals allow for frame-by-frame illustrations of specific scientific principles such as Newton's Three Laws of Motion, kinematics and velocity. Other video episodes analyze the hockey science behind reflexes and reaction time, statistics, vectors, linear motion, geometry and more.

NBC Sports Group oversaw the Phantom video shoot in September 2011 during the yearly media tour sponsored by the NHL and its players association. NBC Sports Group also provided research and technical support throughout the project.

Current NHL players who participated in the video series include:

•Jaroslav Halak, Goaltender, St. Louis Blues

•Erik Johnson, Defenseman, Colorado Avalanche
•Brenden Morrow, Left Wing, Dallas Stars
•Matt Moulson, Left Wing, New York Islanders
•Pekka Rinne, Goaltender, Nashville Predators

In each video, an NSF-supported scientist explains a selected scientific principle, while NHL athletes describe how the principle applies to their respective positions. Series scientists supported by NSF are: Edward Burger, Williams College; Irene Fonseca, Carnegie Mellon; Jim Gates, University of Maryland; Robert Gehrz, University of Minnesota; and Patricia Shewokis, Drexel University. The videos also include actual game footage provided by the NHL, and the lesson plans that accompany the videos will be provided by the National Science Teachers Association.

"Science of NHL Hockey" follows in the footsteps of the "Science of NFL Football" and "Science of the Olympic Winter Games" collections, which are part of an ongoing "Science of Sports" collaboration with the NSF that was awarded a 2010 Sports Emmy for "Outstanding New Approaches Sports Programming."

"Wayne Gretzky once said, 'The only way a kid is going to practice is if it's total fun for him ... and it was for me,'" said Morris Aizenman, Senior Scientist for NSF's Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences. "'Science of NHL Hockey' is an NSF and NBC Learn project that continues our effort to make science total fun for students. We hope, after watching these videos that students will also want to learn and practice science."

"Building on the innovative partnership that NBC Learn has with NSF and NBC Sports, we are thrilled to expand the 'Science of Sports' franchise to include hockey," said Soraya Gage, Executive Producer of NBC Learn. "These one-of-a-kind videos have set a new precedent for teaching science in the classroom, by literally breaking down concepts and illustrating their real life application through sports."

"The NHL is excited to partner with NBC and the National Science Foundation on this special project," said Charles Coplin, Executive Vice President of Content for the NHL. "Students, teachers and NHL fans everywhere will experience hockey in a unique way through the spectacular footage captured during filming with the players."

"It was exciting to be part of a unique project that utilizes hockey to help educate students on science and physics," said Brenden Morrow of the Dallas Stars. "It was fun to participate in and was very interesting. I learned a lot myself."

-NSF-

Simulation From High-resolution Forest-wind Model (Image 7)

2012-01-26T22:03:00.001-08:00

Credit: Gil Bohrer, The Ohio State University

Simulation From High-resolution Forest-wind Model (Image 6)

2012-01-26T21:59:00.001-08:00

Credit: Gil Bohrer, The Ohio State University

Simulation From High-resolution Forest-wind Model (Image 5)

2012-01-26T17:02:00.000-08:00

Credit: Gil Bohrer, The Ohio State University

Blue Marble

2012-01-26T17:00:00.000-08:00

A 'Blue Marble' image of the Earth taken from the VIIRS instrument aboard NASA's most recently launched Earth-observing satellite - Suomi NPP. This composite image uses a number of swaths of the Earth's surface taken on January 4, 2012. The NPP satellite was renamed 'Suomi NPP' on January 24, 2012 to honor the late Verner E. Suomi of the University of Wisconsin.

Suomi NPP is NASA's next Earth-observing research satellite. It is the first of a new generation of satellites that will observe many facets of our changing Earth.

Suomi NPP is carrying five instruments on board. The biggest and most important instrument is The Visible/Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite or VIIRS.

Image Credit: NASA/NOAA/GSFC/Suomi NPP/VIIRS/Norman Kuring

Simulation From High-resolution Forest-wind Model (Image 4)

2012-01-26T16:58:00.000-08:00

Credit: Gil Bohrer, The Ohio State University

Simulation From High-resolution Forest-wind Model (Image 3)

2012-01-26T16:56:00.000-08:00

Credit: Gil Bohrer, The Ohio State University

NASA Renames Earth-Observing Mission in Honor of Satellite Pioneer

2012-01-25T19:51:00.000-08:00

Steve Cole
Headquarters, Washington

Rani Gran

For more information about Verner Suomi's career, visit http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Suomi/.

For more information about the Suomi NPP mission, visit http://www.nasa.gov/npp.

- end -

Simulation From High-resolution Forest-wind Model (Image 2)

2012-01-25T19:46:00.000-08:00

Simulation From High-resolution Forest-wind Model (Image 1)

2012-01-25T19:44:00.000-08:00

PhET Simulations Provide Interactive Learning Tools

2012-01-25T14:58:00.000-08:00

What causes a balloon to stick to a sweater? How do microwaves heat coffee? How is electricity generated from a bar magnet?

The physical world poses a number of questions. The PhET Interactive Simulations project at the University of Colorado Boulder helps students discover the answers and go beyond, while improving their scientific literacy.

The PhET project, founded by Nobel Laureate Carl Wieman and funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and others, provides free, interactive, research-based simulations of physical phenomena for elementary through university students. NSF's Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR) provides primary support through its Transforming Undergraduate Education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics program (and its predecessor the Course, Curriculum and Laboratory Improvement Program) and the Discovery Research K-12 program.

The simulations are presented as individual exploratory environments rather than courses, so each computer simulation can be integrated into various classroom activities. They're also readily accessible--with a simple "click," these simulations, written in Java and Flash, open up an engaging science playground.

"PhET allows students to simulate experiments," said Zeke Kossover, a 2011-2012 NSF Einstein Fellow and a high school physics teacher. "This allows them to do experiments with equipment that might not normally be available to them. It lets students play around in a physics sandbox where they can't break anything and they can try everything. It also can let them do experiments in such a way that they can explore just the idea being tested without having too many real world complications going on at once."

Don Millard, program director in EHR's Division of Undergraduate Education, said "PhET gives students the ability to put a context around formulas and theories, etc., and helps students to explore 'what if' questions that arise in science."

PhET simulations are developed using extensive research to help make the simulations as effective as possible. Katherine Perkins, director of PhET, explained that PhET simulations draw from and are aligned with published research in a variety of disciplines, including cognitive science, multimedia and computer interface design, and general and discipline-based education research.

"In addition, we conduct a series of individual interviews on every simulation to examine whether the simulation is engaging students in scientist-like exploration, whether the interface is intuitive, whether students are correctly interpreting the representations and feedback provided by the simulation to advance their understanding, and whether students are able to achieve the learning goals of the simulation through their interaction and investigation," said Perkins. "Finally, we conduct observations and research in classroom environments."

PhET's learning tools and simple design have caught on around the world. PhET simulations have been used over 60 million times, and are available in 65 languages with 22 full website translations.

PhET in action

"I use PhET in three ways," said Kossover. "In the first way, the students are given a playground to explore a topic. In the second way, I give the students a structured lab and tell them what to do. This is relatively rare. The third way is I find an applet that is very similar to an activity we did in class. Students who were absent can repeat the activity. Students that had more questions can poke around and explore on their own time. Students who were confused or made some sort of mistake can redo the work at home."

Ultimately, PhET can help students develop skills to use beyond the classroom and create their own new innovations. "Students are able to get fundamentals and apply them to create new products," said Millard. "Interactive simulations, such as PhET, allow students to integrate knowledge to help better identify problems we might be facing, and use this knowledge to develop innovative solutions."

A Mini-lesson using a PhET simulation on waves

Many PhET simulations help students make mental models of things that are too small to see.

In the Wave Interference Simulation, students can experiment with making waves using a faucet, an audio speaker and a laser. Students can control the frequency and amplitude of each of the waves (for light, the amplitude and the wavelength) as well as control other variables.

Kossover gives a mini-lesson on waves using the audio speaker/sound-wave model:

After running the Wave Interference Simulation, switch to the "Sound" tab, and then press the green "plus" on the upper right corner of the wave simulation to enlarge the simulation. Then, on the middle right side of the simulation, switch from "Grayscale" to "Particles."

"You can see right away how the motion of the speaker moves particles back and forth and how they collide with other particles and send them moving," said Kossover. "You can increase the frequency and see the speaker vibrate more times per second. You can raise the amplitude and see the distance moved by the speaker get larger and the particles become more compressed with fewer particles in between the compressed spots."

A user can also add a second speaker to the simulation.

"Then, you can see that there are some parts where the particles move more and some places where the particles move less, showing constructive and destructive interference," said Kossover.

"While the visualization factor itself is great, the students' ability to adjust the frequency and the amplitude makes it easier for them to get a feel for what's happening in such a way that they can make a mental model of what's happening," said Kossover. "Imagine how challenging it is to explain this model to students in another way."

"Understanding waves is part of most state physics standards but learning more about waves and sound is a hook that helps students, especially if they are musicians or listen to music," said Kossover.

"It helps students understand that much of their everyday lives has hidden beauty and complexity that can be described by physics models. The scientific process of making mental models of how the world works and using them to make predictions about the world are the first steps to becoming a scientist or at least thinking like one. The PhET simulations help students make these mental models and see scientific principles in action."

PhET selected as a 2011 Tech Award laureate

Last September, PhET was selected as a 2011 Tech Award laureate, and the recipient of the Microsoft Education Tech Award $50,000 cash prize. The Tech Award is a signature program of The Tech Museum in San Jose, Calif. that recognizes and honors technical solutions that benefit humanity and address crucial issues in our world today. PhET was selected as one of 15 laureates, out of over 600 nominations representing 54 countries. Watch PhET's Tech Award Laureate video to learn more.

-- Ellen Ferrante, (703) 292-2204 emferran@nsf.gov

Investigators

Carl Wieman
Robert Parson
Michael Dubson
Daniel Schwartz
Noah Podolefsky
Noah Finkelstein
Katherine Perkins

Related Institutions/Organizations

University of Colorado at Boulder

NASA Chief Technologist Mason Peck Visits Wallops

2012-01-25T14:53:00.001-08:00

NASA Chief Technologist Mason Peck, left, and Robin Heard, Manager of Antares Upper Stage Ground Operations, Orbital Sciences Corp., view the Antares rocket at Wallops on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. The visit to Wallops was Peck's first visit to an agency center since becoming NASA's Chief Technologist.

Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Zero Robotics Challenge Winners Decided in High-Tech Competition

2012-01-25T14:00:00.001-08:00

Ann Marie Trotta
Headquarters, Washington

WASHINGTON -- Two hundred high school students packed an auditorium at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on Monday, Jan. 23, for a competition to program miniature satellites aboard the International Space Station. Alliance Rocket from the United States and virtual participants Alliance CyberAvo from Europe were named the winners in the third annual NASA-sponsored Zero Robotics SPHERES Challenge.

Student teams wrote programming code for two small NASA robotic satellites aboard the station. Astronauts Don Pettit and Andre Kuipers, who currently live aboard the International Space Station, presided over the event and gathered data from the student-controlled SPHERES flight programs after each phase of the competition. Current and former astronauts were on hand at MIT to share their experiences in space with the student audience, including Greg Chamitoff, Leland Melvin, John Grunsfeld and Jeff Hoffman. Spaceflight participant Richard Garriott, who traveled to the space station about a Soyuz, also attended.

Both winning efforts consisted of three teams. The teams that made up Alliance Rocket were Team Rocket, River Hill High School, Clarksville, Md.; Defending Champions, Storming Robots, Branchburg, N.J.; and SPHEREZ of Influence, Rockledge High School/Brevard County, Fla. Alliance CyberAvo consisted of CyberAvo, I.T.I.S. Amedeo Avogrado, Turin, Italy; Ultima, Kaethe Kollwitz Oberschule, Berlin, Germany; and Lazy, Heinrich Hertz Gymnasium, Berlin, Germany. A total of 36 teams participated in the SPHERES event.

"It is just amazing to me what these high school students have accomplished," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. "To program a robotic spacecraft with the precision of a NASA flight controller is quite a feat, but to have that ability, talent and discipline at such a young age is remarkable. Our future is in good hands."

NASA sponsors the Zero Robotics SPHERES Challenge in partnership with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and MIT. The competition aligns with the agency’s goal of encouraging students to study and pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM.

The SPHERES National Laboratory is operated by NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif.

For more about the Zero Robotics program, visit http://go.nasa.gov/zero-robotics.

For more information about SPHERES, visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/SPHERES.html.

For more information about the space station, visit http://www.nasa.gov/station.

- end -

"Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology" Initiative Charts New Path for College-level Biology

2012-01-25T13:57:00.000-08:00

According to a rising chorus of biology educators, major changes in the teaching of undergraduate biology are needed to bring undergraduate biology courses into the 21st century. Such changes, these educators say, are necessary because modern biology has, in recent years, undergone major transformations. For example, biologists have used emerging technologies and interdisciplinary collaborations to rapidly open new areas of biological research and pioneer new approaches that enhance our understanding of living systems.

Associated advancements in biology are helping society better address urgent problems involving climate, energy, food and health. At the same time, a communications revolution has created a hyper-connected world in which information flows fast and freely. Because of these trends, the ways in which we discover, understand and learn about biology have profoundly changed.

In response to these new realities, biology educators are considering ways to better prepare college students for careers in the life sciences and to promote biological literacy in our citizenry. In doing so, they have increasingly recognized that traditional undergraduate teaching approaches that aim to "cover it all" cannot accommodate the ongoing explosion of new information in biology.

A call to action

To help biology educators modernize undergraduate biology education, the National Science Foundation (NSF)--in partnership with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)--launched a national initiative in 2007 called Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology. This initiative was designed to distill a set of cutting-edge, 21st century approaches to undergraduate biology education from decades of conversations, reports and calls for change. Steadily gaining momentum, the initiative has, thus far, culminated in:

1.A national conference, entitled "Transforming Undergraduate Biology Education: Mobilizing the Community for Change," that was held in 2009 and attended by more than 500 biology faculty members, administrators, students and other stakeholders. The conference was hosted by AAAS with support from the NSF and input from HHMI and NIH.

2.The release in 2011 of a final report, entitled "Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action", which--based on the diverse insights expressed at the conference--provides a roadmap for the future of undergraduate biology education.

The final report's findings were summarized by a quote from Carol Brewer, professor emeritus of biological sciences at the University of Montana and the conference co-chair, that was included in a summary of the final report. Brewer said, "We all have work ahead of us to ensure that the transformations we make in biology classrooms around the country reflect the biology we do in the 21st Century."

To help guide this transformative effort, the final report identifies:

•Core concepts that students must understand in order to become biologically literate. These concepts are: 1) evolution (the diversity of life-forms that have evolved over time through mutations, selection, and genetic change; 2) structure and function (the basic units of biological structures that define the functions of all living things); 3) information flow, exchange and storage (the influence of genetics on the control of the growth and behavior of organisms); 4) pathways and transformations of energy and matter (the ways in which chemical transformation pathways and the laws of thermodynamics govern the growth and change of biological systems); and 5) systems (the ways in which living things are interconnected and interact with one another).

•Core competencies--beyond the concepts identified above--that students must experience in order to become biologically literate and practice science. These competencies are: 1) the ability to apply the process of science; 2) the ability to use quantitative reasoning; 3) the ability to use modeling and simulation; 4) the ability to tap into the interdisciplinary nature of science; 5) the ability to communicate and collaborate with other disciplines; and 6) the ability to understand relationships between science and society.

Facilitating change in the biology classroom

Another critical aspect of the report is its emphasis on the importance of developing student-centered teaching approaches that actively engage students in interactive, inquiry-driven, cooperative and collaborative activities. According to the report, these approaches should convey to students the wonder of the natural world and the passion and curiosity of scientists, involve students in authentic research experiences and teach students how to evaluate complex biological problems from varied perspectives without just reciting facts and terminology.

To promote the development of student-centered approaches, the report directs readers to practical resources to help them integrate student-centered learning throughout biology curriculums, relevant examples of successful models and approaches to student-centered learning, and practical advice on using assessment tools.

In addition, the report recommends designing and revising undergraduate biology courses to incorporate clearly defined, measurable goals, the latest insights into how people learn, and successful best practices in teaching that have been identified by science education researchers and practitioners.

The report also cites the need for institutions--including colleges, universities, professional societies and federal and private funding sources--to create environments that promote advances in biology education. The report advises institutions to do so by preparing and training future faculty members to create student-centered classrooms, offering professional development in teaching to all of biology faculty members, hiring biologists who have education specialties, and devoting funds and resources to improving biology education.

Gaining momentum

To further energize biology educators, the next phases of the Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Initiative are currently being planned. These steps will involve engaging the biology community in the identification and dissemination of strategies for curricular reform at the departmental and institutional levels, and developing, in partnership with professional societies, a Web portal that features curricular resources for undergraduate biology courses that are based on the latest developments in scientific teaching.

What's next? A large national meeting is currently being planned for 2013. This meeting will focus on updates to the initiative's progress and on methods used to achieve such progress. In addition, vision and change fellows will be identified who will work together to draft an implementation framework that is expected to help institutionalize the adoption of the recommendations across various types of institutions.

-- Cynthia Wei, Former AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow at NSF Cynthia3wei@gmail.com

NASA Administrator Visits Morgan State University

2012-01-25T13:53:00.000-08:00

Sarah Ramsey
Headquarters, Washington

Highlights Importance of Science, Math in Creating Economy That Works for All

WASHINGTON -- NASA Administrator Charles Bolden will visit Morgan State University in Baltimore on Jan. 25 to meet with students in the engineering and science programs, and highlight the importance of science, engineering and mathematics in creating and sustaining the American economy. Bolden’s visit will come the day after President Obama delivers his State of the Union speech.

Bolden will visit the Richard N. Dixon Science Research Center School of Computer, Mathematical and Natural Sciences and the Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr. School of Engineering. Morgan State University is one of NASA’s University Research Centers, studying next generation aviation safety, aerospace systems engineering and Earth science.

While visiting the Engineering Visualization Research Laboratory, Bolden and Morgan State University President David Wilson will be available to speak with news media at 12:45 p.m. EDT.

Media representatives should call Sarah Ramsey at 202.358.1694 or email her at sarah.ramsey@nasa.gov to attend the tour and press event.

Founded in 1867, Morgan State University is one of the nation’s historically black colleges and universities. For more information about Morgan State University, visit http://www.morgan.edu.

For information about NASA and agency programs, visit http://www.nasa.gov.

- end -

Next-Generation Space Flight

2012-01-24T21:10:00.001-08:00

The Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV), or Orion, being assembled and tested at Lockheed Martin's Vertical Testing Facility in Colorado.

Drawing from more than 50 years of spaceflight research and development, Orion is designed to meet the evolving needs of our nation's space program for decades to come.

As the flagship of our nation's next-generation space fleet, Orion will push the envelope of human spaceflight far beyond low Earth orbit.

Orion may resemble its Apollo-era predecessors, but its technology and capability are light years apart. Orion features dozens of technology advancements and innovations that have been incorporated into the spacecraft's subsystem and component design.

A test version of the Orion spacecraft makes a stop at the Science Museum Oklahoma in Oklahoma City today, giving residents the chance to see a full scale test version of the vehicle that will take humans into deep space.

Image Credit: Lockheed Martin

Young Adults Responded Well to Swine Flu

2012-01-24T21:09:00.000-08:00

About one in five young adults in their late 30's received a flu shot during the 2009-2010 swine flu epidemic, a University of Michigan (U-M) study released today says.

But about 65 percent were at least moderately concerned about the flu, and nearly 60 percent said they were following the issue very or moderately closely.

Using survey data collected from approximately 3,000 young adults during the 2009-2010 H1N1 influenza epidemic, this second of three parts in a U-M Generation X Report explores the first serious infectious disease Americans ages 36-39 ever experienced. It describes how the group kept abreast of the issue and what actions they eventually took to protect themselves and their families.

The data is part of the Longitudinal Study of American Youth conducted by the Institute for Social Research at University of Michigan and directed by Jon D. Miller, author of the report. The study, funded by the National Science Foundation since 1986, now includes responses from approximately 4,000 Gen Xers--those born between 1961 and 1981.

"These results suggest that young adults in Generation X did reasonably well in their first encounter with a major epidemic," says Miller. "Those with minor children at home were at the greatest risk, and they responded accordingly with higher levels of awareness and concern."

According to Miller, understanding GenX reactions to this recent threat may help public health officials manage future epidemics more effectively.

"This nationally-representative study helps us understand young adults' knowledge of viral infections and the ways they sought information on the H1N1 epidemic," says Gavin Fulmer, associate program director in NSF's Division of Research on Learning. "The findings can inform public health officials about the relationships among health knowledge, accessible sources of health information and preventive behaviors. This may help us address future epidemics or other potential health emergencies."

The results also show that even though a majority of Generation X young adults felt that they were "well informed" or "very well informed" about the issue, overall they scored only moderately well on an Index of Influenza Knowledge, a series of five items designed to test the level of knowledge about viral infections generally and about the swine flu epidemic specifically.

Among the other findings:

•Young adults with minor children at home were most likely to follow the news about influenza closely and were most concerned about the swine flu epidemic.

•Young adults were most likely to report getting information about the epidemic from friends, co-workers and family members. In the month before the survey, they reported having about nine such conversations, compared to getting news about the flu less than three times via print or broadcast media and about five times from searching the internet.

•The most trusted sources of information about the influenza epidemic were physicians, followed by the National Institutes of Health, pharmacists at local drug stores and nurses from county health departments. The least trusted sources were YouTube videos, drug company commercials and Wikipedia articles.

"In the decades ahead, the young adults in Generation X will encounter numerous other crises--some biomedical, some environmental, and others yet to be imagined," says Miller. "They will have to acquire, organize and make sense of emerging scientific and technical information, and the experience of coping with the swine flu epidemic suggests how they will meet that challenge."

A third Generation X Report on the topic of food and cooking will be issued in April 2012. Subsequent reports will cover climate, space exploration, citizenship and voting.

-NSF-

U.S., Coalition Nations Form Wideband Global Satellite Partnership

2012-01-23T16:51:00.000-08:00

By Tech. Sgt. Chris Powell, Defense Media Activity

Senior defense officials from six countries announced a multilateral partnership in wideband global satellite (WGS) communication, which is valued at more than $10 billion, Jan. 17 here.

The officials from Canada, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the U.S. held an initial WGS partnership steering committee meeting prior to the announcement.

“This new WGS partnership provides an example of how the U.S. plans to continue exploring opportunities to strengthen our existing cooperative relationship and to build new partnerships,” said Heidi Grant, the Deputy Under Secretary of the Air Force for International Affairs. “These activities will bolster our mutual trust, help to achieve further interoperability for our warfighters, and will increase the capabilities and capacity of all partners.”

Currently, there are three WGS satellites in orbit, with six additional satellites scheduled for launches from 2012 through 2018, including a ninth satellite that is enabled by the new partnership.

“With this arrangement, each partner’s unique level of requirement will be accommodated corresponding to each partner’s level of contribution,” Grant said. “The United States’ contribution to the agreement includes the development, fielding and operation of eight satellites, and the launch services and operations for a ninth satellite.”

According to Grant, the multilateral partners contributed $620 million of the approximate $1 billion cost to expand the WGS System with a ninth satellite.

“This is a model of a good way to do business,” said Maj. Gen. John Hyten, the director of Space Programs in the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition. “From an Air Force acquisition perspective, it improves our ability to acquire the constellation in an efficient manner because it keeps an active production line going, it allows us to achieve efficiencies in the production line (and) it saves us money in the long term by having a very efficient program.

“From an operational perspective for our Air Force operators, it puts (them) on the same system as the coalition partners,” he said.

The general explained that Air Force operators receive air tasking orders via wideband communications, and now each partner nation has access to the system and can receive ATOs through that same system.

This article first appeared on AF.mil.

Astronaut Application Deadline Approaching

2012-01-23T16:48:00.000-08:00

Joshua Buck
Headquarters, Washington

Nicole Cloutier-Lemasters

Johnson Space Center, Houston

HOUSTON -- Individuals interested in becoming America's future space explorers have until Friday to submit their applications. The deadline to apply for the next class of NASA astronauts is Jan. 27.

The agency typically receives as many as 3,500 applicants for each astronaut class. Thus far, NASA has received more than 3,000 applications since November for this class.

"We are excited about the response we have received, and we want to encourage anyone contemplating this dynamic and exciting career to apply," said Peggy Whitson, chief of the Astronaut Office. "We are entering a new phase in human spaceflight with amazing opportunities to live and work in space. We want the best, the brightest and the most talented mix of professionals to join our team."

Those interested in applying for the astronaut corps can submit their applications through the federal government's USAJobs.gov website. Qualifications include a bachelor's degree in engineering, science or math and three years of relevant professional experience. Educators teaching kindergarten through 12th grade also are encouraged to apply.

NASA expects to announce the final selections in 2013 with initial training to begin that summer.

For more information about the astronaut application and selection process and to follow the latest news via NASA accounts on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, visit http://www.nasa.gov/flynasa.

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8th Annual Blast Injury Conference Discusses New Technology, Continuum of Care

2012-01-23T13:51:00.000-08:00

By Robyn Mincher, DCoE Strategic Communications

Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center (DVBIC), a center of Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE), hosted the 8th Annual Blast Injury Conference Dec. 14, 2011, in Tampa, Fla. The event covered topics such as current care efforts of blast injury, new technology to improve treatment of traumatic brain injury (TBI), blast testing methods and how families can be affected by TBI.

Dr. Steven Scott, medical director of James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital’s Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center in Tampa, gave opening remarks and helped organize the conference. Scott has been integral to the annual event since it began as a session at the Special Operations Medical Association conference in 2004. It has since grown to a full-day event, bringing together TBI and psychological health care experts from around the world, as well as those invested in TBI and psychological care and treatment in the military community.

“When the conference first originated eight years ago, we were seeing injuries from the wars, but recognized that the community and providers often didn’t really know what blast injury was,” he said. “Realizing the uniqueness of this injury, we made the conference a one-day event so we can educate our people working in care settings on advanced knowledge on blast injury.”

In her presentation “Mild Traumatic Brain Injury: Continuum of Care,” Army Col. Jamie Grimes, DVBIC director, discussed pre-deployment prevention and education training for service members on concussion, such as an Army campaign to teach soldiers and units how to identify, care for and track cases of mild TBI, which includes mandatory classes on the basics of the injury.

New technology was the focus of the presentation “Improving Function through Use of the Functional Electrical Stimulation Hand Glove 200.” Scott and a team of researchers from Haley Veterans’ Hospital discussed how the electrical glove delivered electrical stimulation to finger extensors and flexors attached to parts of the hand. The glove, invented by a scientist who spent 10 years as a robotic engineer for films, strengthened muscle, reduced spasticity, pain and swelling in hands that have decreased function as a result of TBI.

Dr. Jeanette Betancourt, vice president of outreach and educational practices with Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization behind Sesame Street, discussed the impact of TBI on military families. She listed their resources to help military families communicate when there is a psychological health care issue, such as their website www.familiesnearandfar.org.

The conference marked another year where top minds in TBI furthered knowledge on the many concerns surrounding the injury in the military.

“There’s a lot we’re learning every day about blast injuries. This injury has a significant effect on the whole person and their family, and it needs a whole team community behind rehabilitation,” said Scott.

Bionic Leg Makes Amputee Faster on His Feet

2012-01-23T13:49:00.000-08:00

This powered prosthetic is better at anticipating the next move

Craig Hutto considers himself part bionic man. In 2005, doctors amputated his leg after a shark attacked him during a fishing trip off the Florida Gulf Coast.

"I was 16 years old at the time," recalls Hutto. "My brother heard me yell: 'What was that?' He saw something take me under; he saw the back fin of the shark. There was so much tissue damage and so much flesh gone that it was just irreparable."

Two years later and game for a challenge, Hutto became the test pilot for a unique and powerful new prosthetic leg being developed by mechanical engineer Michael Goldfarb and his team at Vanderbilt University. The effort was kick-started by a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

"We were able to develop an early prototype that demonstrated that you could have a leg that was light enough and could deliver biomechanical levels of torque and power," says Goldfarb.

Version 1.0 evolved into a more streamlined version 2.0, which is computer controlled, with advanced range of motion in the joints. Version 2.0 was funded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering at the National Institutes of Health.

"This is a battery that powers everything," explains Goldfarb, holding up the latest version and pointing to the various components. "You have a motor that drives the knee joint, another motor that drives the ankle joint. There is a whole computer board that essentially tells the motors what to do with the joints."

In Goldfarb's lab, Hutto straps on the prosthetic and "walks the walk" on a treadmill--each step recorded by an array of cameras to help engineers improve the mechanics, electronics and software.

Brian Lawson, a mechanical engineer and member of Goldfarb's team, says what makes this prosthetic stand out is the on-board computer. "What I think makes people think that it's bionic is the computing capability that infers what the user is trying to do and works synergistically with the user to provide the torque at the right time."

The prosthetic leg is designed to respond to cues from the wearer. For example, when Hutto goes from walking to climbing stairs, he gives a signal and the bionic leg responds. "I kind of kick my thigh back just a little bit," says Hutto, "and just that little movement tells it, 'Hey you're about to walk upstairs,' and it switches mode into the stair ascent."

To reduce the risk of injury, Goldfarb's team has intentionally programmed a slight delay into the leg's computer to make sure the wearer and the prosthetic stay in perfect step with each other, and to make walking easier. "The leg can move with you," says Goldfarb.

Hutto confirms it takes less effort to walk compared to the prosthetic he currently wears. "With my leg, it's harder because it's always a step behind. I'm having to use my hip to swing my leg through, whereas the Vanderbilt Powered Prosthetic, when it toes off, the power swings the leg through and so I'm not having to use my hip to swing it through."

Goldfarb says after years of work, they have sold their technology to a major prosthetic manufacturer. "We'll know in the next few years if these are going to come onto the market and really gain a lot of traction," he says.

Meanwhile, Hutto, inspired by the three nurses who saved him from bleeding to death, is studying to become a nurse and looking forward to one day walking tall on the bionic leg that he helped make a reality.

Miles O'Brien, Science Nation Correspondent

Ann Kellan, Science Nation Producer

Virginia Students to Speak Live With Space Station Astronauts

2012-01-23T12:22:00.001-08:00

Ann Marie Trotta
Headquarters, Washington

Rachel Kraft

Johnson Space Center, Houston

WASHINGTON -- Students gathered at The University of Virginia College at Wise will speak with Expedition 30 Commander Dan Burbank and Flight Engineer Don Pettit aboard the International Space Station at 9:20 a.m. EST on Thursday, Jan. 26. Media representatives are invited to attend.

Approximately 2,500 students from southwestern Virginia will ask questions about life, work and research aboard the space station. NASA Associate Administrator for Education and former astronaut Leland Melvin will attend, and Gov. Robert McDonnell and U.S. Sen. Mark Warner will connect virtually with the event. It will be broadcast live on NASA Television.

To attend the event, news media must contact Jennifer Maggard at jennifer@courtbar.org or 276-328-6111 no later than noon on Wednesday, Jan. 25. The university is located at One College Avenue in Wise.

Students from Wise County Public Schools will participate in science, technology, engineering and mathematics learning activities before and after the event. A temporary space museum set up at the university Jan. 25 - 26 will display a moon rock, a spacesuit like those worn by Apollo astronauts and an inflatable replica of NASA's Curiosity rover currently en route to the Red Planet.

This in-flight education downlink is one in a series with educational organizations in the United States and abroad to improve STEM teaching and learning. It is an integral component of NASA's Teaching From Space program, which promotes learning opportunities and builds partnerships with the education community using the unique environment of space and NASA's human spaceflight program.

For NASA TV downlink, schedule and streaming video information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv.

For information about NASA's education programs, visit http://www.nasa.gov/education.

For information about the International Space Station, visit http://www.nasa.gov/station.

To follow Twitter updates from Burbank and Pettit, visit http://twitter.com/AstroCoastie and http://twitter.com/Astro_Pettit.

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Scientists Aboard Iberian Coast Ocean Drilling Expedition Report Early Findings

2012-01-23T11:43:00.000-08:00

Mediterranean bottom currents and the sediment deposits they leave behind offer new insights into global climate change, the opening and closing of ocean circulation gateways and locations where hydrocarbon deposits may lie buried under the sea.

A team of 35 scientists from 14 countries recently returned from an expedition off the southwest coast of Iberia and the nearby Gulf of Cadiz. There the geologists collected core samples of sediments that contain a detailed record of the Mediterranean's history. The scientists retrieved the samples by drilling into the ocean floor during an eight-week scientific expedition onboard the ship JOIDES Resolution.

The group--researchers participating in Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 339: Mediterranean Outflow--is the first to retrieve sediment samples from deep below the seafloor in this region.

Much of the sediment in the cores is known as "contourite" because the currents that deposit it closely follow the contours of the ocean basin.

"The recovery of nearly four kilometers of contourite sediments deposited from deep underwater currents presents a superb opportunity to understand water flow from the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean," says Jamie Allan, program director at the National Science Foundation (NSF), which co-funds IODP.

"Knowledge of this water flow is important for understanding Earth's climate history in the last five million years."

"We now have a much greater insight into the distinctive character of contourites, and have validated beyond doubt the existing paradigm for this type of sedimentation," says Dorrik Stow of Heriot-Watt University in the United Kingdom and co-chief scientist for Expedition 339.

The world's oceans are far from static. Large currents flow at various depths beneath the surface. These currents form a global conveyor belt that transfers heat energy and helps buffer Earth's climate.

Critical gateways in the oceans affect circulation of these major currents.

The Strait of Gibraltar is one such gateway. It re-opened less than six million years ago.

Today, deep below the surface, there is a powerful cascade of Mediterranean water spilling out through the strait into the Atlantic Ocean.

Because this water is saltier than the Atlantic--and therefore heavier--it plunges more than 1,000 meters downslope, scouring the rocky seafloor, carving deep-sea canyons and building up mountains of mud on a little-known submarine landscape.

The sediments hold a record of climate change and tectonic activity that spans much of the past 5.3 million years.

The team found evidence for a "tectonic pulse" at the junction between the African and European tectonic plates, which is responsible for the rising and falling of key structures in and around the gateway.

This event also led to strong earthquakes and tsunamis that dumped large flows of debris and sand into the deep sea.

At four of the seven drill sites, there was also a major chunk of the geologic record missing from the sediment cores--evidence of a strong current that scoured the seafloor.

"We set out to understand how the Strait of Gibraltar acted first as a barrier and then a gateway over the past six million years," says Javier Hernandez-Molina of the University of Vigo in Spain and co-chief scientist for Expedition 339. "We now have that understanding and a record of a deep, powerful Mediterranean outflow through the Gibraltar gateway."

The first drill site, located on the west Portuguese margin, provided the most complete marine sediment record of climate change over the past 1.5 million years of Earth history.

The sediment cores cover at least four major ice ages and contain a new marine archive to compare against ice core records from Greenland and Antarctica, among other land-based records.

The team was surprised to find exactly the same climate signal in the mountains of contourite mud they drilled in the Gulf of Cádiz.

Because these muds were deposited much faster than the sediments at the Portuguese margin site, the record from these cores could prove to yield even richer, more detailed climate information.

"Cracking the climate code will be more difficult for contourites because they receive a mixed assortment of sediment from varying sources," Hernandez-Molina says.

"But the potential story that unfolds may be even more significant. The oceans and climate are inextricably linked. It seems there is an irrepressible signal of this nexus in contourite sediments."

The team also found more sand among the contourite sediments than expected.

The scientists found this sand filling the contourite channels, deposited as thick layers within mountains of mud, and in a single, vast sand sheet that spreads out nearly 100 kilometers from the Gibraltar gateway.

All testify to the strength, velocity and duration of the Mediterranean bottom currents. The finding could affect future oil and gas exploration, the researchers believe.

"The thickness, extent and properties of these sands make them an ideal target in places where they are buried deeply enough to allow for the trapping of hydrocarbons," Stow explains.

The sands are deposited in a different manner in channels and terraces cut by bottom currents; in contrast, typical reservoirs form in sediments deposited by downslope "turbidity" currents.

"The sand is especially clean and well-sorted, and therefore very porous and permeable," says Stow. "Our findings could herald a significant shift in future exploration targets."

IODP is an international research program dedicated to advancing scientific understanding of the Earth through drilling, coring, and monitoring the subseafloor.

IODP is supported by two lead agencies: the U.S. National Science Foundation and Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology. Additional program support comes from the European Consortium for Ocean Research Drilling, the Australia-New Zealand IODP Consortium, India's Ministry of Earth Sciences, the People's Republic of China (Ministry of Science and Technology), and the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources.

The JOIDES Resolution is a scientific research vessel managed by the U.S. Implementing Organization of IODP (USIO). Texas A&M University, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, and the Consortium for Ocean Leadership comprise the USIO.

For more information visit IODP's Expedition 339: Mediterranean Outflow web page.

-NSF-

Closest Dione Flyby

2012-01-21T19:40:00.001-08:00

Flying past Saturn's moon Dione, Cassini captured this view which includes two smaller moons, Epimetheus and Prometheus, near the planet's rings.

The image was taken in visible light with Cassini's narrow-angle camera during the spacecraft's flyby of Dione on Dec. 12, 2011. This encounter was the spacecraft's closest pass of the moon's surface, but, because this flyby was intended primarily for other Cassini instruments, it did not yield Cassini's best images of the moon. Higher resolution images were obtained during earlier flybys (see PIA07638).

Dione (698 miles, or 1,123 kilometers across) is closest to Cassini here and is on the left of the image. Potato-shaped Prometheus (53 miles, or 86 kilometers across) appears above the rings near the center top of the image. Epimetheus (70 miles, or 113 kilometers across) is on the right.

This view looks toward the northern, sunlit side of the rings from less than one degree above the ring plane. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 67,000 miles (108,000 kilometers) from Dione. Image scale is 2,122 feet (647 meters) per pixel on Dione.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

Media Invited to Up Close Look at Engine Test Facilities for Next Deep Space Rocket

2012-01-21T19:38:00.000-08:00

Michael Braukus/J.D. Harrington
Headquarters, Washington

Jennifer Stanfield

Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.

Rebecca Strecker

Stennis Space Center, Miss.

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. -- Media representatives are invited to NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi on Jan. 25 for a behind-the-scenes look at the facilities used for testing the J-2X engines that will launch astronauts on missions to deep space aboard the Space Launch System (SLS).

Journalists will have the opportunity to visit the:

-- Test Control Center that manages all J-2X test-firings

-- A-1 Test Stand where J-2X powerpack testing is set to begin soon
-- Engine Assembly Facility where final assembly of the J-2X is completed

NASA officials will brief media on the new SLS and J-2X engine, the process for preparing an engine for testing, and what takes place on the day of an engine test.

Participants include:

-- Tom Byrd, J-2X engine lead in the SLS Liquid Engines Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

-- Gary Benton, J-2X engine testing project manager at Stennis

To attend, media representatives must contact Rebecca Strecker at 228-688-3249 or rebecca.a.strecker@nasa.gov no later than noon CST on Jan. 24. News media must arrive no later than 9 a.m. on Jan. 25 to allow time for clearance and escort on site and must be wearing flat, closed-toe shoes.

For more information on the J-2X engine, visit http://www.nasa.gov/j2x.

For more information on the Space Launch System, visit http://www.nasa.gov/sls.

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Navy Medicine Announces New Eyeglass Frame

2012-01-20T15:01:00.001-08:00

From Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery Public Affairs

WASHINGTON (NNS) -- Navy Medical Logistics Command (NMLC) announced Jan. 19 that all active duty and Reserve personnel, including recruits will soon have a new standard issue eyeglass frame available.

Since 1990, military personnel and recruits have received standard issue S9 eyeglass frames, often jokingly referred to as "birth control glasses" or simply "BCGs." Not any longer.

"We are happy to announce that the New Year brings with it a new frame option for all personnel serving on active duty and in the Reserves," said Capt. Matt Newton, commanding officer of Naval Ophthalmic Support and Training Activity (NOSTRA) in Yorktown, Va. "Service members have told us that they like the appearance of the new frame. We are confident this frame will increase the likelihood that military personnel will continue to utilize their eyeglasses beyond boot camp."

Effective Jan. 1, the current cellulose acetate spectacle frame provided at all Armed Forces initial entry training sites began the transition from male and female, brown "S9" spectacles to a new, unisex, black "5A" frame.

The change stems from a study which was directed by the Military Health System's Optical Fabrication Enterprise (OFE) and coordinated by NOSTRA in order to find a suitable frame to add to the standard issue inventory. Selected samples were submitted to U.S. Army Public Health Command for review, and three frames were identified for user tests. Tests were conducted at Recruit Training Center Great Lakes, Ill.; Advanced Infantry Training, Camp Geiger, N.C.; Fort Sam Houston, Texas; Fort Knox, Ky. and U.S. Coast Guard Recruit Training Center, Cape May, N.J.

Surveys assessed functionality, durability and cosmetic appearance and the 5A frame was selected as the best option.

Initial deployment of the 5A frame will occur at all Armed Forces initial entry training sites. Within six months, the 5A frame will be made available to all active duty and Reserve service members with full implementation expected to be completed over a two-year period.

Retirees are currently eligible to receive standard issue S9, S91A and Half-Eye frames, and there will be no change to this authorization. However, over the next two years, the OFE will study the feasibility of providing 5A frames to retirees.

The OFE was established by Congressional mandate in 1996, with the U.S. Navy Surgeon General charged with managing the program. Upon the closure of the Army Optical Fabrication Laboratory at Fitzsimmons Army Medical Center, NOSTRA became a joint production lab with Army opticians augmenting Navy and civilian production staff. The OFE is guided by the Optical Fabrication Advisory Board which represents the Surgeons General of the Army, Navy and Air Force. A sampling of OFE initiatives includes managing the military Frames of Choice program, standardization of military combat eye protection inserts, introduction of a new submariner frame, and operational support with the deployment of the new M50 gas mask insert. For the last several years, the OFE has produced approximately 1.5 million pairs of spectacles and optical inserts annually for authorized military personnel.

NMLC is responsible for designing, executing and administering individualized state-of-the-art solutions to meet customer medical materiel and health care requirements. NMLC supports the U.S. Navy with acquisition and logistics systems training, health care services strategies, operational forces support, medical equipment and logistics solutions, acquisition management, deployable platforms and eyewear fabrication.

Navy Medicine is a global health care network of 63,000 Navy medical personnel around the world who provide high quality health care to more than 1 million eligible beneficiaries. Navy Medicine personnel deploy with Sailors and Marines worldwide, providing critical mission support aboard ship, in the air, under the sea and on the battlefield.

Armed Services Blood Program Supports Patient Care World-Wide

2012-01-20T14:59:00.000-08:00

Recently I had the opportunity to interview the Deputy Director for Policy at the Armed Services Blood Program, Lieutenant Commander Aaron J. Harding, MSC, U.S. Navy, about the organization and the challenges of collecting blood for the services.

Q. Can you tell me a bit about the Armed Services Blood Program’s key activities?

A: The Armed Services Blood Program’s (ASBP) mission is to support military operations and patient care at military medical facilities world-wide. Blood support to medical units in Afghanistan is a primary focus that includes the availability of blood products throughout the continuum of care to our wounded warrior from the battlefield to here at home.

Q. Why does the military have its own blood donation program? Why not take from civilian reserves such as those collected by the Red Cross?

A: Our blood program supports the warfighter, so by having our own program we can quickly respond to any contingency by way of an integrated system involving each of the Services; from collecting blood to moving it to where it needs to be. Civilian blood reserves would not be able to meet demands for such a situation without impacting the delivery of blood to civilian hospitals across the country.

Q. Are there any specific risks or challenges associated with world-wide travel undertaken by military members in relationship to the blood they donate? For example disease exposure, vaccinations, or other conditions that might change the blood that is donated?

A: Military, as well as civilian, donors are impacted by world-wide travel to countries at risk of malarial infections and those who have traveled to the United Kingdom (UK) and Europe between 1980 to 1996 due to the risk of transmitting Variant Creutzfeld-Jacobs disease through blood transfusion. Because large numbers of military and civil service personnel and their family members have been stationed in the UK and Europe during this time period, the ASBP is impacted more than our civilian counterparts. There are other eligible criteria for medical conditions, medications and immunizations that are varying that will be assessed when interviewed prior to donating.

Q. Is there more or less testing done on military blood vs. civilian reserves? Why or why not? What kinds of tests are performed?

A: Blood collected at military donor centers are tested to the same standards as those collected by civilian donor centers. Both military and civilian blood donor centers must meet federal regulatory and accreditation standards when collecting and manufacturing blood and blood products for transfusion. Blood is tested for the following infectious diseases according to federal guidelines to ensure the blood supply is safe: HIV, HTLV, Hepatitis B and C, Syphilis, and Chagas disease. For platelet products, testing for bacterial contamination occurs before they’re released for transfusion.

Q. What happens to the blood once it is collected?

A: After a unit of blood is collected, it goes through several manufacturing, strict handling and review of donor questionnaire and testing results before the red blood cell, plasma and platelet products are acceptable for distribution. These processes are in place, and periodically audited, to prevent an unacceptable unit from being released into the available inventory.

Q. What blood products are collected / created from the raw blood donations?

A: From whole blood, three products can be collected: red blood cells, plasma and platelets. Blood types that are most needed are “O” negative and “AB.” Type “O” negative is the universal donor for red blood cells, while the “AB” blood type is the universal donor for plasma.

Q. How is blood stored until it is needed?

A: Each of the three blood products is stored differently. Red blood cells are refrigerated until they’re released for transfusion. Plasma products are frozen and must be thawed and then refrigerated prior to being released for transfusion. Platelets are stored at room temperature in an incubator and must be gentle agitated to maintain platelet function.

Q. What are the technical challenges of getting blood from where it is to where it is needed?

A: An integrated system for cold chain storage to get blood to the right place at the right time in the right amount at the right temperature is the key to the success of our mission. Once the blood products are ready for distribution, the military has established this integrated tri-service operation for moving the blood from within the United States to anywhere in the world to support a military or humanitarian operation. It is for this very reason that the ASBP maintains its own blood program.

Q. How can the general public donate blood to the ASBP?

A: The ASBP actively recruits only eligible service members and federal employees to donate with the ASBP. However, those civilians who have access to federal property where we conduct blood drives are more than welcome to donate. We also let our civilian donors who cannot access our drives know that with roughly 5 percent of the population donating blood on a routine basis, more donors are needed to support civilian blood donor centers. In addition, local military installations work with community blood centers to maximize the opportunity for everyone to donate, especially at those installations where there is not a military blood donor center.

Q. Is there anything else you’d like to share about ASBP with our readers?

A: If anyone is interested in saving a life, you can be a hero by donating blood on a routine basis. To become a blood donor today and find a military donor center go to www.militaryblood.dod.mil. You can find us online and interact with our staff at www.facebook.com/militaryblood or www.twitter.com/militaryblood.

Lieutenant Commander Aaron J. Harding

Lieutenant Commander Aaron J. Harding is Deputy Director for Policy at the Armed Services Blood Program Office, Falls Church, Virginia. The Armed Services Blood Program Office is a DOD field operating agency, coordinating the blood programs of the Military Departments and Combatant Commands for the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs and the Joint Chief of Staff, J4 HSSD. Lieutenant Commander Harding earned a Bachelor of Science in clinical laboratory sciences from Arizona State University in 1995 and a Master of Science in Immunohematology from George Washington University in 2005. He is also a Certified Specialist in Blood Banking with the American Society of Clinical Pathologist.

Wallops Media Roundtable With NASA's Space Technology Director

2012-01-20T13:58:00.001-08:00

Keith Koehler
Wallops Flight Facility, Va.

David E. Steitz

Headquarters, Washington

WALLOPS ISLAND, Va. -- Journalists are invited to a roundtable discussion at 11 a.m. EST on Tuesday, Jan. 24, with NASA's Chief Technologist Mason Peck during his visit to the agency's Wallops Flight Facility at Wallops Island, Va.

Wallops Flight Facility Director Bill Wrobel will join Peck for the event. They will discuss Wallops' important role in the agency's development of cutting-edge technologies and innovations that will enable NASA's future missions in science, exploration and space operations.

Wallops will conduct critical high-altitude balloon and sounding rocket flights for several major space technology projects during the coming years. The center will test inflatable aerodynamic decelerators for safely returning cargo to Earth from the International Space Station and landing large payloads on planetary surfaces. NASA also will launch a small technology secondary payload aboard a commercial rocket from Wallops this year.

Reporters interested in attending the media roundtable at Wallops must contact Keith Koehler at 757-824-1579 or keith.a.koehler@nasa.gov by 3 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 23. To join the roundtable by telephone, journalists should call: 1-800-369-6087 or 1-773-756-0843 and use the passcode "Wallops."

For information about high altitude balloon and sounding rocket programs at Wallops, visit http://www.nasa.gov/wallops.

For Peck's biography and information about the Office of the Chief Technologist, visit http://www.nasa.gov/oct.

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New Museum App Released on iTunes and Android Market

2012-01-20T13:53:00.000-08:00

Pensacola, Fla.– January 19, 2012 – To start the new year, download the official app of the National Naval Aviation Museum from iTunes and the Android Market. Located aboard NAS Pensacola, Florida, the National Naval Aviation Museum is one of the world’s largest aviation museums with over 350,000 square feet of displays and more than 150 beautifully restored aircraft representing Naval, Marine Corps and Coast Guard Aviation.

The National Naval Aviation Museum app is your go to source for information on the Museum aircraft and exhibits including exclusive photos and videos. Featuring an interactive map of the Museum and comprehensive guide to the collection, users have the ability to build their own tours, learn more details of the aircraft and displays, and keep track of upcoming events and museum news.

Cost for the app is $1.99 and all proceeds support the Museum, the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation and its mission to “Inspire and Educate” the public through the history of Naval Aviation. Last fall, the Foundation also released the official Blue Angels app also available on iTunes and the Android Market.

Features include:

• Interactive map of the facility giving you instant access to the Museum collection.

•    Detailed descriptions, photos and multi-media of over two hundred Museum exhibits and aircraft.
•    Create your own tour of the Museum or select one of our pre-built tours to act as your digital docent.
•    Museum Twitter and Facebook feeds for the latest news and updates.
•    A complete listing and guides to Museum activities, upcoming events, Blue Angels practice schedule and new exhibits.

Media Note: For more information about the National Naval Aviation Museum and Apps, contact Shelley Ragsdale or Donald Watson, Naval Aviation Museum Foundation, Inc. at (850) 453-2389 or by e-mail at sragsdale@navalaviationmuseum.org or dwatson@navalaviationmuseum.org.

About the National Naval Aviation Museum

The National Naval Aviation Museum features nearly 350,000 square feet of displays and is one of the world’s largest aviation museums. Located aboard Pensacola Naval Air Station, the facility boasts more than 150 beautifully restored aircraft representing Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard aviation, and is Florida’s most-visited museum. Be sure to visit the Museum’s new expansion, Hangar Bay One, displaying aircraft of the post- WWII era including Marine One presidential helicopter. Among the countless things to touch, see and experience are thrilling 3D MaxFlight simulators and a variety of special exhibits, as well as the drama and power of amazing IMAX® films. The Cubi Bar Café offers a unique dining experience, and the Flight Deck Store is the perfect place to find a memento of the spirit of Naval Aviation. Museum admission is free. The National Naval Aviation Museum is open daily from 9 a.m.–5 p.m., except Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. For more information, visit www.NavalAviationMuseum.org.

STREAMLIGHT® LAUNCHES TLR-1 HP™ and TLR-1s HP™ GUN LIGHTS

2012-01-20T12:33:00.000-08:00

New Lights Feature C4® LED Technology to Deliver 200 Lumens

EAGLEVILLE, PA – Streamlight® Inc., a leading provider of high-performance lighting equipment, has introduced the TLR-1 HP™ (high power) light, featuring enhanced lumen and candela capacity for use with long guns. The TLR-1s HP™ provides the same features, as well as strobe capability. Each light is also available in a remote switch model.

The TLR-1 HP and TLR-1s HP both use a shock-proof C4® LED to provide exceptional brightness, including 46,000 candela peak beam intensity and 200 lumens measured system output. The lights also feature a deep dish parabolic reflector which produces a long-range targeting beam while also optimizing peripheral illumination.

“The long-range beam distance of the TLR-1 HP and TLR-1s HP make them essential tactical tools for first responders and military personnel, as well as a very powerful light source that rivals Streamlight’s brightest hand-held lights,” said Streamlight President and Chief Executive Officer Ray Sharrah. “They are designed for a wide variety of maneuvers under low-light conditions. The strobe feature of the TLR-1s HP offers the added benefits of being able to signal in the field or disorient targets.”

The new lights can be quickly mounted to a broad range of weapons using Streamlight’s one-handed snap-on/tighten interface, which keeps hands away from the muzzle. The lights mount directly to all MIL-STD -1913 (Picatinny) rails and weapons with Glock-style rails. A key kit with five interchangeable keys is included with each model to securely fit the light to the broadest array of rails.

The TLR-1 HP and TLR-1s HP are also available in models with a remote switch. All models offer a tethered battery door and latch mechanism, which prevent door loss while providing easy battery replacement.

The lights deliver 1.75 hours of continuous regulated run time, and come with two 3 volt, CR123A lithium batteries, with a storage life of 10 years. In addition, the C4 LED is impervious to shock and has a 50,000 hour lifetime.

Both models weigh 5.3 ounces (5.6 ounces with remote switch), measure 4.83 inches in length (5.25 inches with remote switch), and are constructed with 6000 Series machined aircraft aluminum with a black anodized finish. They also feature extensively live-fire tested impact-resistant construction.

The TLR-1 HP and TLR-1s HP are backed by Streamlight’s Limited Lifetime Warranty. The MSRP ranges from $199.00 to $289.00, depending on the configuration.

Headquartered in Eagleville, PA, Streamlight, Inc. is a leading manufacturer of high-performance lighting equipment for professional automotive, fire fighting, law enforcement, military, industrial and outdoor applications. Streamlight is an ISO 9001:2008 certified company. For additional information, please call (800) 523-7488 or visit www.streamlight.com.

Hot Jupiter Orbiting Closely to Its Sun

2012-01-20T12:18:00.000-08:00

A retrograde hot Jupiter--an extrasolar planet whose mass is close to or exceeding that of Jupiter. The transiting giant planet orbits very closely to its host star and in a direction opposite the stellar rotation. This peculiar configuration results from gravitational perturbations by another, much more distant planet (seen in the upper left). Some hot Jupiters have orbits that are elongated or highly inclined, with respect to the equator of the star, and some orbit counter to the star's spin direction, but they all have very close proximity to their host star. (Date of Image: unknown)

Credit: Lynette Cook

Cardiac Balloon Catheter With Electrodes/Sensors

2012-01-19T20:48:00.001-08:00

This inflated catheter balloon with integrated active electronics and sensors was used in an animal model for measurement of EKG, temperature and contact, as well as for cardiac ablation therapy. Specialized mechanical designs enable multifunctional electronics that are not adversely affected by inflation/deflation of the balloon. Although still in development, the device could provide more sophisticated and efficient diagnosis and treatment of cardiac arrhythmias.

John A. Rogers of the University of Illinois developed the meshwork of tiny sensor nodes, that can be mounted on a conventional catheter balloon and measure electrical activity of the cardiac muscle, temperature, blood flow and pressure as the balloon presses against the tissue. [Research supported by National Science Foundation grant CMMI 03-28162.] (Date of Image: 2010)

Credit: J. Rogers, University of Illinois

Studying Sundew Plant Adhesive (Image 2)

2012-01-19T20:46:00.000-08:00

A sundew plant. Sundew plants are carnivorous, consuming insects by capturing them with small adhesive balls on the ends of their tentacles.

Mingjun Zhang of the Nano Biosystems and Bio-mimetics Lab at the University of Tennessee is studying the adhesive properties of sundew plants on the nanoscale, which may lead to improvements in medical replacement operations such as hip replacements. In a paper published in the Journal of Nanobiotechnology, Zhang's group reported that the naturally occurring nanofibers and nanoparticles from the secreted adhesive of the sundew show a high compatibility for attaching cells.

The sundew's adhesive has remarkable elasticity, stretching to 1 million times its normal size (most rubber bands can only stretch to six times their original size). Such elasticity would make the adhesive dew secreted from the plant an effective choice for coating replacement body parts, regenerating dying tissues, healing wounds and improving synthetic adhesives. It is also economical--it's so sticky and elastic that less than a microliter (smaller than the period at the end of a sentence) would cover 25 millimeters squared (or the size of George Washington's face on a dollar bill). Zhang's research was supported in part by grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) (CMMI 10-29953 and CBET 09-65877).

To learn more about this research, see the NSF Discovery story from October 2011, The Nanotechnology of Sundew and English Ivy. (Date of Image: 2010)

Credit: Pelagie Favi, Samantha Tracht, University of Tennessee

Studying Sundew Plant Adhesive (Image 1)

2012-01-19T20:44:00.000-08:00

A sundew plant. Sundew plants are carnivorous, consuming insects by capturing them with small adhesive balls on the ends of their tentacles.

To learn more about this research, see the NSF Discovery story The Nanotechnology of Sundew and English Ivy. (Date of Image: 2010)

Credit: Pelagie Favi, Samantha Tracht, University of Tennessee

Three Generations of Rovers with Crouching Engineers

2012-01-19T19:23:00.000-08:00

Two spacecraft engineers join a grouping of vehicles providing a comparison of three generations of Mars rovers developed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. The setting is JPL's Mars Yard testing area.

Front and center is the flight spare for the first Mars rover, Sojourner, which landed on Mars in 1997 as part of the Mars Pathfinder Project. On the left is a Mars Exploration Rover Project test rover that is a working sibling to Spirit and Opportunity, which landed on Mars in 2004. On the right is a Mars Science Laboratory test rover the size of that project's Mars rover, Curiosity, which is on course for landing on Mars in August 2012.

Sojourner and its flight spare, named Marie Curie, are 2 feet (65 centimeters) long. The Mars Exploration Rover Project's rover, including the "Surface System Test Bed" rover in this photo, are 5.2 feet (1.6 meters) long. The Mars Science Laboratory Project's Curiosity rover and "Vehicle System Test Bed" rover, on the right, are 10 feet (3 meters) long.

The engineers are JPL's Matt Robinson, left, and Wesley Kuykendall. The California Institute of Technology, in Pasadena, operates JPL for NASA.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Studying Human Origins in South Africa (Image 2)

2012-01-19T19:21:00.000-08:00

Curtis Marean of Arizona State University collects geologic samples along the coast of Pinnacle Point, a sea cliff on the south coast of South Africa. On-going archaeological research in the area has yielded evidence of early human use of shellfish and other marine resources and the use of fire. The cave has been the focus of intense excavation work since 2000.

The fieldwork and laboratory work for this project have been funded by grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) since 1999 (grants BCS 99-12465, BCS 01-30713 and BCS 05-24087).

To learn more about this research, see the NSF Discovery story from October 2007, Seafood Makes Waves: Humans Leave Homez. (Date of Image: May 2007)

Credit: South African Coast Paleoclimate, Paleoenvironment, Paleoecology, Paleoanthropology Project (SACP4), Arizona State University; Curtis W. Marean, Director

Studying Human Origins in South Africa (Image 1)

2012-01-19T19:18:00.000-08:00

Cave 13B is one of several caves overlooking the Indian Ocean along the coastline of Pinnacle Point, a sea cliff on the south coast of South Africa. Inside the cave, Curtis Marean of Arizona State University and a team of archeologists uncovered evidence of early human use of shellfish and other marine resources dating to the Middle Pleistocene. The cave is the focus of intense excavation work and has been since 2000.

A later study of the cave in 2009 found evidence that early modern humans used fire in a controlled way to increase the quality and efficiency of stone tools, possibly a sign of the evolution of human brain power.

The fieldwork and laboratory work for this project have been funded by grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) since 1999 (grants BCS 99-12465, BCS 01-30713 and BCS 05-24087).

To learn more about this research, see the NSF Discovery story from October 2007, Seafood Makes Waves: Humans Leave Home. (Date of Image: May 2007)

Credit: South African Coast Paleoclimate, Paleoenvironment, Paleoecology, Paleoanthropology Project (SACP4), Arizona State University; Curtis W. Marean, Director

NASA Finds 2011 Ninth Warmest Year on Record

2012-01-19T16:33:00.001-08:00

Steve Cole
Headquarters, Washington

Leslie McCarthy

Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York

WASHINGTON -- The global average surface temperature in 2011 was the ninth warmest since 1880, according to NASA scientists. The finding continues a trend in which nine of the 10 warmest years in the modern meteorological record have occurred since the year 2000.

NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York, which monitors global surface temperatures on an ongoing basis, released an updated analysis that shows temperatures around the globe in 2011 compared to the average global temperature from the mid-20th century. The comparison shows how Earth continues to experience warmer temperatures than several decades ago. The average temperature around the globe in 2011 was 0.92 degrees F (0.51 C) warmer than the mid-20th century baseline.

"We know the planet is absorbing more energy than it is emitting," said GISS director James E. Hansen. "So we are continuing to see a trend toward higher temperatures. Even with the cooling effects of a strong La Nina influence and low solar activity for the past several years, 2011 was one of the 10 warmest years on record."

The difference between 2011 and the warmest year in the GISS record (2010) is 0.22 degrees F (0.12 C). This underscores the emphasis scientists put on the long-term trend of global temperature rise. Because of the large natural variability of climate, scientists do not expect temperatures to rise consistently year after year. However, they do expect a continuing temperature rise over decades.

The first 11 years of the 21st century experienced notably higher temperatures compared to the middle and late 20th century, Hansen said. The only year from the 20th century in the top 10 warmest years on record is 1998.

Higher temperatures today are largely sustained by increased atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide. These gases absorb infrared radiation emitted by Earth and release that energy into the atmosphere rather than allowing it to escape to space. As their atmospheric concentration has increased, the amount of energy "trapped" by these gases has led to higher temperatures.

The carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere was about 285 parts per million in 1880, when the GISS global temperature record begins. By 1960, the average concentration had risen to about 315 parts per million. Today it exceeds 390 parts per million and continues to rise at an accelerating pace.

The temperature analysis produced at GISS is compiled from weather data from more than 1,000 meteorological stations around the world, satellite observations of sea surface temperature and Antarctic research station measurements. A publicly available computer program is used to calculate the difference between surface temperature in a given month and the average temperature for the same place during 1951 to 1980. This three-decade period functions as a baseline for the analysis.

The resulting temperature record is very close to analyses by the Met Office Hadley Centre in the United Kingdom and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C.

Hansen said he expects record-breaking global average temperature in the next two to three years because solar activity is on the upswing and the next El Nino will increase tropical Pacific temperatures. The warmest years on record were 2005 and 2010, in a virtual tie.

"It's always dangerous to make predictions about El Nino, but it's safe to say we'll see one in the next three years," Hansen said. "It won't take a very strong El Nino to push temperatures above 2010."

For more information on the GISS temperature analysis, visit http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp.

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Hummingbird Courtship Displays and Acoustics (Image 3)

2012-01-19T16:31:00.000-08:00

A composite of an Anna's hummingbird (Calypte anna) diving to a female. The tail is spread to make a loud sound at the bottom of the dive. Chris Clark, a postdoc at the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University, is studying how hummingbird feathers produce various sounds during their courtship displays.

When Clark attended graduate school, his Ph.D. work focused on the roles of sexual selection and flight performance in shaping hummingbird tail morphology. In 2008, he published a paper titled "The Anna's Hummingbird Chirps With It's Tail," which received wide publicity and helped launch his current research focus. Clark's paper described how Anna's hummingbirds (Calypte anna) make a loud sound with their tail feathers during courtship displays rather than vocally.

After completing his doctorate, Clark and his advisor, Richard Prum, were awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation to study the physics of the sounds feathers make. Clark traveled to Latin America, where he recorded the courtship displays of a number of hummingbird species that produce distinctive sounds with their tail feathers including sheartails and woodstars. He then took his research into the lab, where he used a wind tunnel to reproduce the sounds feathers make when the birds are in flight in the wild, and studied how feathers produce sounds over a range of air speeds. [Research supported by National Science Foundation grant IOS 09-20353.] (Date of Image: unknown)

Credit: Christopher Clark, Yale University

Hummingbird Courtship Displays and Acoustics (Image 2)

2012-01-19T16:29:00.000-08:00

Chris Clark, a postdoc at the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University, searches for Lucifer hummingbirds in Big Bend National Park in west Texas. Clark is studying how hummingbird feathers produce various sounds during their courtship displays.

Credit: Anand Varma

Public Safety Technology in the News

2012-01-18T22:41:00.000-08:00

Dobbs Ferry Students Experience Texting-and-Driving Simulator
RivertownsPatch.com, (01/06/2012), Lizzie Hedrick

Students at New York's Dobbs Ferry High School recently participated in a Westchester County texting-and-driving simulation. "Driving" a mock police cruiser, the students tried to follow another police car, drive in heavy traffic and respond to text messages, all at the same time. Most had minor accidents; a few ran over pedestrians or had head-on collisions. The Westchester County Police Department has used the simulator since 2005, and recently began an initiative using it to educate students about the dangers of texting and driving.
Link to Article

Evansville Police Department Issues Tasers to All Patrol Officers
CourierPress.com, (01/07/2012), Richard Gootee

The Evansville (Ind.) Police Department has used grant funds to purchase Tasers for the agency's 130 patrol officers. The department's SWAT and field training officers had used the less lethal devices for several years. The weapons cost $800 each and the cartridges, $20. All officers will go through initial training and refresher sessions in appropriate use of the devices.
Link to Article

South Bend Police Department to Create Online Crime Information Website
WNDU.com, (01/09/2012), Terry McFadden

By the time spring rolls around, residents of South Bend, Ind., will have access to information about crime in their neighborhoods via the Internet. The agency's records department will provide the information to the public within no more than 24 hours of a reported incident, and residents can view the information from their computers or their smart phones. Available information will include type of incident, time and location. Access will be through the department's website.
Link to Article

Arkansas Law Enforcement Using Social Media to Fight Crime
TodaysTHV.com, (01/12/2012), Meredith Mitchell

In Arkansas, a growing number of law enforcement agencies have begun using social media such as Facebook® to help with their policing efforts. For example, the Garland County Sheriff's Department posts arrest pictures and community alerts on Facebook, and the Conway County Sheriff's Department has its own Facebook site as well. Garland County has more than 3,500 followers and a department spokesperson says there have been no issues with the site to date.
Link to Article

Maine Town Adds Shotgun-Style Tasers to Arsenal
SeacoastOnline.com, (1/14/2012), Associated Press

The town of Sanford, Maine, recently purchased two shotgun-type Tasers for shared use by its 41-member police force. The more powerful weapons have a range of up to 100 feet and deliver a 20-second charge. Hand tasers have a range of 20 feet and a five-second charge.
Link to Article

Software Keeps Dogged Watch Over Kids� Cellphone Activity
SunSentinel.Com, (01/14/2012), Nicole Brochu

According to a 2010 Pew Research Center study, some three-quarters of teens and preteens have cell phones, the majority of them smart phones, and law enforcement agencies recommend that parents use some type of monitoring/blocking software to protect their children from potential predators and even themselves. A variety of apps allow parents to monitor, texts, e-mails and photos received; apps downloaded; and Internet searches performed. Some apps alert parents when their children receive a call from an unapproved number or have a GPS feature that allows parents to track children's movements.
Link to Article

Frederick Police Use Data-Sharing Program
Gazette.Net, (01/16/2012), Katherine Heerbrandt

The Frederick (Md.) Police Department is one of many law enforcement agencies in the country using Law Enforcement Information Exchange [LInX], a U.S. Department of Defense data-sharing application to which local, state and federal agencies upload reports daily. LInX operates 10 regional information sharing databases around the country, including the one for the National Capital Region in which Frederick participates. Federal partners involved in the project include the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the U.S. Marshals Service and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. The system provides information on criminals and known associates such as booking data, photographs, search warrants and more. Participating agencies are required to have appropriate technology in place.
Link to Article

Salem Police to Begin Using Twitter Social Media Site
StatesmanJournal.com, (01/17/2012), Stacey Barchenger

The police department in Salem, Ore., recently began using Twitter to send crime prevention messages to local residents who have signed up as "followers." Citizens can use the link
Twitter.com/salem_police to become followers. The department plans to use Twitter to send out breaking news alerts and educational tips.
Link to Article

'Hands-Free Bozeman' Cell Phone Law Now In Effect
NBCMontana.com, (01/17/2012), Lauren Maschmedt

January 17 marked the implementation of a new law banning the use of hand-held devices (including cell phones and laptops) while driving in Bozeman, Mont. However, a spokesman for the Bozeman Police Department said drivers may still use MP3 and iPods. Drivers may also answer their phones by using a hands-free device. During the first 30 days, police will hand out warnings rather than actual tickets; after that, a $100 fine takes effect. Using a prohibited device while driving is a primary offense.
Link to Article

Biometric Standard Expanded to Include DNA, Footprints
Information Week, (12/09/2011), Elizabeth Montalbano

The identification of DNA, footmarks and specific fingerprint information has been added to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) biometric data standard. Released in November 2011, the latest revision to Data Format for the Interchange of Fingerprint, Facial, & Other Biometric Information includes the first international standard for the exchange of DNA biometric data. The standard is used by federal agencies, including the FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, in addition to international law enforcement agencies. NIST says plans call for adding methods of identifying voices, bitemarks and dental characteristics in future revisions.

Link to Article

Hummingbird Courtship Displays and Acoustics (Image 1)

2012-01-18T16:33:00.000-08:00

A male Anna's hummingbird (Calypte anna). Chris Clark, a postdoc at the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University, is studying how hummingbird feathers produce various sounds during their courtship displays.

[Research supported by National Science Foundation grant IOS 09-20353.] (Date of Image: unknown) [Image 1 of 3 related images.]

Credit: Christopher Clark, Yale University

Testing Colonists' Water at Historic Jamestowne

2012-01-18T16:30:00.000-08:00

Inside the reconstructed palisade of the fort at historic Jamestowne, geologists (left to right) Doug Rowland, Greg Hancock and Jim Kaste from the College of William & Mary prepare to draw water from one of the wells used by the original colonists of John Smith's Virginia Company. They're analyzing the water from the colonists' aquifer for a slate of impurities that starts at salt and ends at arsenic.

Drinking water with high levels of arsenic, high salinity, various metals and fecal contamination from the colonists' latrines is a possible contributing cause of the deaths at Jamestown Island during the Starving Time of 1609 and 1610. (Date of Image: 2011)

Credit: Stephen Salpukas, College of William & Mary

Field of Skin Cells Magnified

2012-01-18T16:28:00.000-08:00

A field of skin cells magnified one thousand-plus times. At this level of magnification, the stages of Mitosis, as well as skin cells and stem cells, can be viewed.

This image appears in the app Powers of Minus Ten (POMT), an innovative app that brings users into a microscopic 3-D world. The app was developed by Green-Eye Visualization, which was awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program (grant IIP 10-14425) to develop and evaluate an interactive, contextual learning tool suitable for 21st century education. The program engages students in free exploration as well as guided study through timed mini games and other content-dependant activities.

There is strong potential for apps like POMT to revolutionize the way biology is taught to students. Initial studies on the effectiveness of POMT as an educational tool are promising. After just 12 minutes of play, certain groups of students demonstrated significant learning gains in their biology content knowledge, with many students reporting that they were more interested in science after playing POMT.

Future versions of POMT will be expanded to encompass other subjects including physics and chemistry, allowing users to further explore the relationship of scale in new microscopic worlds from the human level down to the nanoscale. [Text taken from Research in Action article, provided to LiveScience, in partnership with the National Science Foundation.] (Date of Image: 2011)

Credit: Laura Lynn Gonzalez, Green-Eye Visualization

NASA Hosts DC Tweetup With Space Station Astronaut Ron Garan

2012-01-18T15:39:00.000-08:00

Stephanie L. Schierholz
Headquarters, Washington

WASHINGTON -- NASA invites its Twitter followers to a special Tweetup with NASA astronaut Ron Garan at 1:30 p.m. EST on Tuesday, Feb. 14. The event will take place in the James E. Webb Memorial Auditorium at NASA Headquarters, 300 E St. SW in Washington.

Garan spent 164 days in space during the Expedition 27/28 mission to the International Space Station. He and his crewmates launched April 4, 2011, and returned to Earth on Sept. 15, 2011. Aboard the station, the crew worked on a variety of microgravity experiments and hosted two space shuttle missions, including the last shuttle to visit the station. Garan also participated in the last space-shuttle-based spacewalk during the STS-135 mission.

During his time in space, Garan shared his experiences and images he took of Earth from the station via his Twitter account and Fragile Oasis blog.

A Tweetup is an informal meeting of people who use the social messaging medium Twitter. This NASA Tweetup is an opportunity to meet and speak with Garan, the people behind NASA's Twitter account and other space-exploration-minded participants.

Registration for the event is open to @NASA followers and their guests from 12 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 20, until 12 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 24. NASA will select 150 total participants by lottery from those who register online. For more NASA Tweetup information and to sign up, visit http://www.nasa.gov/tweetup.

Garan's Twitter account is http://www.twitter.com/Astro_Ron.

Garan's biography is available at http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/garan-rj.html.

To find all the ways to connect and collaborate with NASA, visit http://www.nasa.gov/connect.

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Montana Students Submit Winning Names for NASA Lunar Spacecraft

2012-01-18T15:36:00.001-08:00

Dwayne Brown
Headquarters, Washington

DC Agle

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Whitney Lawrence Mullen

Sally Ride Science, San Diego

WASHINGTON -- Twin NASA spacecraft that achieved orbit around the moon New Year's Eve and New Year's Day have new names thanks to elementary students in Bozeman, Montana. Their winning entry, "Ebb and Flow," was selected as part of a nation-wide school contest that began in October 2011.

The names were submitted by fourth graders from the Emily Dickinson Elementary School. Nearly 900 classrooms with more than 11,000 students from 45 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, participated in the contest. Previously named Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory, or GRAIL A and B, the washing machine-sized spacecraft begin science operations in March.

"The 28 students of Nina DiMauro's class at the Emily Dickinson Elementary School have really hit the nail on the head," said Maria Zuber, GRAIL principal investigator from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "We were really impressed that the students drew their inspiration by researching GRAIL and its goal of measuring gravity. Ebb and Flow truly capture the spirit and excitement of our mission."

Zuber and Sally Ride, America's first woman in space and CEO of Sally Ride Science in San Diego, selected the names following the contest, which attracted 890 proposals via the Internet and mail. The contest invited ideas from students ages 5 to 18 enrolled in U.S. schools. Although everything from spelling and grammar to creativity were considered, Zuber and Ride primarily took into account the quality of submitted essays.

"With submissions from all over the United States and even some from abroad, there were a lot of great entries to review," Ride said. "This contest generated a great deal of excitement in classrooms across America, and along with it an opportunity to use that excitement to teach science."

GRAIL is NASA's first planetary mission carrying instruments fully dedicated to education and public outreach. Each spacecraft carries a small camera called GRAIL MoonKAM (Moon Knowledge Acquired by Middle school students). Thousands of students in grades five through eight will select target areas on the lunar surface and send requests for study to the GRAIL MoonKAM Mission Operations Center in San Diego.

The winning prize for the Dickinson students is to choose the first camera images. Dickinson is one of nearly 2,000 schools registered for the MoonKAM program, which is led by Ride and her team at Sally Ride Science in collaboration with undergraduate students at the University of California in San Diego.

"These spacecraft represent not only great science but great inspiration for our future," said Jim Green, director of NASA's Planetary Science Division in Washington. "As they study our lunar neighbor, Ebb and Flow will undergo nearly the same motion as the tides we feel here on Earth."

Launched in September 2011, Ebb and Flow will be placed in a near-polar, near-circular orbit with an altitude of about 34 miles (55 kilometers). During their science mission, the duo will answer longstanding questions about the moon and give scientists a better understanding of how Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., manages the GRAIL mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The GRAIL mission is part of the Discovery Program managed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver built the spacecraft.

To read the winning submission visit https://moonkam.ucsd.edu/about/spacecraft_names.

Information about MoonKAM is available online at https://moonkam.ucsd.edu.

For more information about GRAIL visit http://www.nasa.gov/grail or http://grail.nasa.gov.

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