Chem Feed
How much water flows into agricultural irrigation? New study provides 18-year water use record
Irrigation for agriculture is the largest use of fresh water around the globe, but precise records and maps of when and where water is applied by farmers are difficult to locate. Now a team of researchers has discovered how to track water used in agriculture.
In a paper published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, the researchers detail their use of satellite images to produce annual maps of irrigation. The findings, the scientists said, will help farmers, water ...
More at https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=243386&WT.mc_id=USNSF_51&WT.mc_ev=click
This is an NSF News item.
A fresh look at fresh water: Researchers create a 50,000-lake database
Countless numbers of vacationers spent this summer enjoying lakes for swimming, fishing and boating. But are they loving these lakes to death?
The water quality of the nation's lakes is threatened not only by the things people do in and around them, but, say scientists, by less obvious factors such as agriculture and changes in climate. Because lakes are as distinct as one snowflake from another, they may respond differently to these challenges.
To better understand the ...
More at https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=243391&WT.mc_id=USNSF_51&WT.mc_ev=click
This is an NSF News item.
Community College Innovation Challenge
Many real world problems can be solved with STEM-based solutions. NSF invites teams of community college students to identify key problems and propose innovative solutions in this national contest.
More at https://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/communitycollege/?WT.mc_id=USNSF_51
This is an NSF News item.
LIGO and Virgo make first detection of gravitational waves produced by colliding neutron stars
Watch the archive video of the press conference at https://youtu.be/AFxLA3RGjnc.
For the first time, scientists have directly detected gravitational waves -- ripples in space-time -- in addition to light from the spectacular collision of two neutron stars. This marks the first time that a cosmic event has been observed in both gravitational waves and light.
The discovery was made using the U.S.-based Laser ...
More at https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=243382&WT.mc_id=USNSF_51&WT.mc_ev=click
This is an NSF News item.
NSF awards $5.3 million in 59 grants to study effects of recent hurricanes
It was August 25, and Hurricane Harvey's intensifying winds were moving onshore in South Texas, bringing torrential rains. No one yet knew that Harvey would eventually swamp Houston in flood waters. Nor that a short time later, powerful Hurricane Irma would do the same in many parts of Florida. Nor that little more than a week after Irma, Hurricane Maria would devastate Puerto Rico.
To help scientists understand how such disasters happen and how we can best respond, the National ...
More at https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=243293&WT.mc_id=USNSF_51&WT.mc_ev=click
This is an NSF News item.
LIGO: Einstein Was Right
A century ago, Albert Einstein predicted gravitational waves -- ripples in the fabric of space-time that result from the universe's most violent phenomena. A hundred years later, NSF-funded researchers using the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) have detected gravitational waves.
More at https://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/ligoevent/?WT.mc_id=USNSF_51
This is an NSF News item.
NSF announces $19.5M in awards to support fundamental research to advance the nations local cities and communities
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has long been a leader in supporting fundamental research to equip U.S. cities and communities with more responsive and adaptive technologies and services. Today, NSF's Smart & Connected Communities (S&CC) program announces its first round of awards totaling approximately $19.5 million. This funding will support 38 projects involving researchers at 34 institutions across the ...
More at https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=243312&WT.mc_id=USNSF_51&WT.mc_ev=click
This is an NSF News item.
Fossil discovery in Tanzania reveals ancient bobcat-sized carnivore
Paleontologists working in Tanzania have identified a new species of hyaenodont, a type of extinct meat-eating mammal. The study is published today, National Fossil Day, in the journal PLOS ONE and funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
After the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs 66 million years ago, hyaenodonts were the main predators on the African continent. The newly discovered animal is called Pakakali rukwaensis, the name derived from the ...
More at https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=243369&WT.mc_id=USNSF_51&WT.mc_ev=click
This is an NSF News item.
Scientists to discuss new developments in gravitational-wave astronomy
WHAT:
Journalists are invited to join the National Science Foundation (NSF) as it brings together scientists from the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and Virgo collaborations, as well as representatives for some 70 observatories, Monday, Oct. 16, at 10 a.m. EDT at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
The gathering will begin with an overview of new findings from LIGO, Virgo and partners that span the globe, ...
More at https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=243379&WT.mc_id=USNSF_51&WT.mc_ev=click
This is an NSF News item.
EarthScope's Transportable Array now spans Alaska, the last frontier
Seismic station A19K, it’s called, and it’s now at the edge of an abandoned airstrip far above the Arctic Circle. The nearest population center is 127 miles northeast in Utqiaġvik (formerly known as Barrow), the northernmost city in the United States. What a way to celebrate Earth Science Week, Oct. 8-14, 2017.
The seismic station is part of EarthScope, a project funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). It's one of hundreds of stations collectively called the ...
More at https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=243286&WT.mc_id=USNSF_51&WT.mc_ev=click
This is an NSF News item.
Funding the future of materials science
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has issued eight new 2017 Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) awards that will drive cutting-edge science and engineering.
Totaling $145 million, these six-year grants will support innovative work in materials science and help train the next generation of materials researchers.
"These awards are representative of the incredibly broad, highly multidisciplinary research portfolio spanning all Division of Materials ...
More at https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=243377&WT.mc_id=USNSF_51&WT.mc_ev=click
This is an NSF News item.
Statement on the Nobel Prize for Economics 2017
The 2017 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel has been awarded to Richard H. Thaler of the University of Chicago "for his contributions to behavioral economics." Thaler's research incorporates findings from psychology into the analysis of economic decision-making. Examples include the examination of extreme sensitivity to losses relative to gains on financial decisions and how perceptions of fairness affect consumers' purchase decisions and limit the ...
More at https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=243372&WT.mc_id=USNSF_51&WT.mc_ev=click
This is an NSF News item.
Nobel Prizes--The NSF Connection
When a scientist who has received federal funding is awarded the Nobel prize, the public can share both the pride and the research benefits. More than 200 laureates have been supported by the public through NSF.
More at https://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/nobelprizes/?WT.mc_id=USNSF_51
This is an NSF News item.
Statement on impact of Hurricane Maria on Arecibo Observatory
With winds of 155 miles per hour, Hurricane Maria devastated the island of Puerto Rico Sept. 20. The eye of the storm passed over Arecibo Observatory, which is operated and managed for the National Science Foundation (NSF) by SRI International, Universities Space Research Association (USRA), and Universidad Metropolitana (UMET).
While Arecibo Observatory suffered some damage, initial indications are that the damage was less severe than might have been expected from a storm ...
More at https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=243248&WT.mc_id=USNSF_51&WT.mc_ev=click
This is an NSF News item.
Statement on the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2017
The Nobel Assembly has awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Jacques Dubochet of the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, Joachim Frank of Columbia University and Richard Henderson of MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, United Kingdom "for developing cryo-electron microscopy for the high-resolution structure determination of biomolecules in solution." The National Science Foundation (NSF) supported Frank through several awards over the course of three decades. NSF also provided ...
More at https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=243292&WT.mc_id=USNSF_51&WT.mc_ev=click
This is an NSF News item.
NSF-funded LIGO pioneers named 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics laureates
Three scientists who led the development of the National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) have won the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics for their work detecting gravitational waves -- ripples in space and time created by the motion of massive objects in the universe.
The discovery was made using the sensitive instruments of LIGO, in which NSF invested $1.1 billion. ...
More at https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=243280&WT.mc_id=USNSF_51&WT.mc_ev=click
This is an NSF News item.
Statement on the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2017
The Nobel Assembly has awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly to Jeffrey C. Hall and Michael Rosbash of Brandeis University and Michael W. Young of Rockefeller University in New York for "their discoveries of molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm." The National Science Foundation (NSF) has provided support to the research of these three researchers, including grants from the Office of International Science and Engineering for Hall and Robash and ...
More at https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=243275&WT.mc_id=USNSF_51&WT.mc_ev=click
This is an NSF News item.
Statement from NSF Director France A. Córdova on G7 Science Ministerial
National Science Foundation (NSF) Director France A. Córdova represented the U.S. at the 2017 G7 Science Ministerial.
I'd like to thank Minister Fedeli and the government of Italy for their warm welcome and exceptional work hosting the G7 Science Ministerial here in Turin. It has been my pleasure to represent the U.S. science and engineering research community in this international venue.
The United States recognizes that science and technology are critical to ...
More at https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=243246&WT.mc_id=USNSF_51&WT.mc_ev=click
This is an NSF News item.
LIGO and Virgo observatories jointly detect black hole collision
In August, detectors on two continents recorded gravitational wave signals from a pair of black holes colliding. This discovery, announced today, is the first observation of gravitational waves by three different detectors, marking a new era of greater insights and improved localization of cosmic events now available through globally networked gravitational-wave observatories.
The collision was observed Aug. 14 at 10:30:43 a.m. Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) using the two National ...
More at https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=243239&WT.mc_id=USNSF_51&WT.mc_ev=click
This is an NSF News item.
Lost continent of Zealandia: Scientists return from expedition to sunken land
After a nine-week voyage to study the lost, submerged continent of Zealandia in the South Pacific, a team of 32 scientists from 12 countries has arrived in Hobart, Tasmania, aboard the research vessel JOIDES Resolution.
Researchers affiliated with the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) mounted the expedition to explore Zealandia. IODP is a collaboration of scientists from ...
More at https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=243192&WT.mc_id=USNSF_51&WT.mc_ev=click
This is an NSF News item.