AScribe Science News Service articles from June 2004

AScribe Science News Service archives from June 2004

Duke Statistician Has a Message for Major League Managers: Pitch to Barry Bonds.
June 1, 2004... Byline: Duke University DURHAM, N.C., June 1 (AScribe Newswire) -- With baseball slugger Barry Bonds again among the leaders in batting average and home runs, a lot of managers are falling back on the common strategy of walking the San...

Spitzer Space Telescope Sets Infrared Eyes on Dark Matter.
June 1, 2004... Byline: Jet Propulsion Laboratory PASADENA, Calif., June 1 (AScribe Newswire) -- Ten years ago, a group of astronomers set out to find invisible, or dark, matter in the outer fringes of our galaxy. Long postulated to make up a significant...

Engineers Visualize Electric Memory As It Fades.
June 1, 2004... Byline: University of Wisconsin - Madison MADISON, Wis., June 1 (AScribe Newswire) -- While the memory inside electronic devices may often be more reliable than that of humans, it, too, can worsen over time. Now a team of scientists...

STAR TRAK: Venus to Transit the Sun on June 8.
June 1, 2004... Byline: Indiana University BLOOMINGTON, Ind., June 1 (AScribe Newswire) -- Venus will be sinking below the treetops in the west-northwest at nightfall as June begins. But on June 8 something extremely rare will happen: Venus will pass...

Future Space Scientists Train at Brookhaven Lab.
June 2, 2004... Byline: Brookhaven National Laboratory UPTON, N.Y., June 2 (AScribe Newswire) -- As astronauts spend more time in space, scientists need to better understand the dangers space travelers face from deep-space radiation -- and how to best...

Cassini-Huygens Will Unlock Saturn's Secrets.
June 3, 2004... Byline: Jet Propulsion Laboratory PASADENA, Calif., June 3 (AScribe Newswire) -- The international Cassini-Huygens mission is poised to begin an extensive tour of Saturn, its majestic rings and 31 known moons. After a nearly seven-year...

Mars Rover Opportunity Gets Green Light to Enter Crater.
June 4, 2004... Byline: Jet Propulsion Laboratory PASADENA, Calif., June 4 (AScribe Newswire) -- NASA has decided the potential science value gained by sending Opportunity into a martian impact crater likely outweighs the risk of the intrepid explorer not...

Williams College Team to View First Transit of Venus Since 1882.
June 7, 2004... Byline: Williams College WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., June 7 (AScribe Newswire) -- For the first time in well over a century the planet Venus will pass directly between the Sun and the Earth and Williams College astronomy professor Jay Pasachoff...

New Web Site Celebrates 'Science & the City' in the Big Apple and Environs.
June 8, 2004... Byline: New York Academy of Sciences NEW YORK, June 8 (AScribe Newswire) -- Attend a conference on the future of genome research. Visit the opening of a new bird exhibit at the Central Park Zoo. Take your children on a space shuttle ride,...

National Student Underwater Robot Competition: High School, College Teams From U.S., Canada to Compete June 25 - 27.
June 9, 2004... Byline: Marine Advanced Technology Education Center MONTEREY, Calif., June 9 (AScribe Newswire) -- Underwater what? You heard right - underwater robots - and the teams that built them are set to battle it out in the 3rd annual national...

Chabot Space and Science Center Receives Grant to Encourage Girls in Science, Technology, and Engineering.
June 10, 2004... Byline: Chabot Space & Science Center OAKLAND, Calif., June 10 (AScribe Newswire) -- Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland has announced a $2,090,000 grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to support Techbridge, a...

Tipsheet: Science & Technology News Tips Service From Washington University in St. Louis.
June 11, 2004... Byline: Washington University, St. Louis ST. LOUIS, June 11 (AScribe Newswire) -- The following are news and feature story ideas from Washington University in St. Louis. For more information on any of the stories below or for assistance in...

Renowned Expert in Robotic Manipulation Is Named Director of Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute.
June 11, 2004... Byline: Carnegie Mellon University PITTSBURGH, June 11 (AScribe Newswire) -- Matthew T. Mason, professor of computer science and robotics and a world-renowned expert in robotic manipulation, has been named director of Carnegie Mellon...

Monterey Bay Aquarium Creates Center for the Future of the Oceans, Selects Michael Sutton as First Director.
June 14, 2004... Byline: Monterey Bay Aquarium MONTEREY, Calif., June 14 (AScribe Newswire) -- The Monterey Bay Aquarium has taken a major step into the ocean policy arena, establishing a new Center for the Future of the Oceans and naming marine...

James K. Erickson Takes Rover Reins As Richard A. Cook Joins 2009 Mission.
June 14, 2004... Byline: Jet Propulsion Laboratory PASADENA, Calif., June 14 (AScribe Newswire) -- At NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., James K. Erickson becomes project manager for the Mars Exploration Rover Project today as his...

First Direct Measurement of the Mass of Ultra-Cool Brown Dwarf Binary.
June 15, 2004... Byline: European Space Agency - Hubble GARCHING, Germany, June 15 (AScribe Newswire) -- An international team of astronomers using the world's biggest telescopes have directly measured the mass of an ultra-cool brown dwarf star and its...

NASA Unveils Anatomy of a Comet.
June 15, 2004... Byline: Jet Propulsion Laboratory PASADENA, Calif., June 15 (AScribe Newswire) -- Findings from the historic encounter between NASA's Stardust spacecraft and a comet will be discussed during the next Space Science Update. The event,...

Nobel Laureate Steven Chu Named Director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
June 17, 2004... Byline: University of California OAKLAND, Calif., June 17 (AScribe Newswire) -- The University of California Board of Regents today (June 17) named Steven Chu, professor in the physics and applied physics departments at Stanford University...

Cassini-Huygens Mission Status Report: Cassini Spacecraft Is on Its Final Approach to Saturn, Operating Normally.
June 17, 2004... Byline: Jet Propulsion Laboratory PASADENA, Calif., June 17 (AScribe Newswire) -- After completing a successful trajectory correction maneuver on Wednesday, the Cassini spacecraft is now on its final approach to Saturn. The spacecraft is...

Raptor Program Releases Great Horned Owl Back Into Wild After University Vet Saves Eyesight With First Known Surgery of Its Kind.
June 17, 2004... Byline: Colorado State University FORT COLLINS, Colo., June 17 (AScribe Newswire) -- Colorado State University today released the following advisory. --- What: Release of a great-horned owl back into the wild after the raptor was...

UC Davis Expert Sources on Wildfires Are Available for Comment.
June 17, 2004... Byline: University of California, Davis DAVIS, Calif., June 17 (AScribe Newswire) -- The following UC Davis faculty members have expertise regarding forest management, monitoring, suppression and recovery. Also listed are University of...

NASA Data Offer Safari Into Vast African Topography.
June 17, 2004... Byline: Jet Propulsion Laboratory PASADENA, Calif., June 17 (AScribe Newswire) -- Newly released topographic data from NASA and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency provide 21st century explorers new ways to traverse the wonders of...

Carnegie Mellon University Announces 2004 Inductees Into Robot Hall of Fame.
June 17, 2004... Byline: Carnegie Mellon University PITTSBURGH, June 17 (AScribe Newswire) -- Five robots will be inducted into Carnegie Mellon University's Robot Hall of Fame in a ceremony to be held on October 11, 2004, at the Carnegie Science Center in...

UC Irvine Chancellor Wins Prestigious Einstein Award; Award Recognizes Ralph J. Cicerone's Contributions to Atmospheric Chemistry.
June 18, 2004... Byline: University of California, Irvine IRVINE, Calif., June 18 (AScribe Newswire) -- UC Irvine Chancellor Ralph J. Cicerone has won one of the most prestigious awards in science, the Albert Einstein World Award of Science. The award...

Wichita State Alumnus Part of Historic Privately Financed Space Flight.(Matt Stinemetze and SpaceShipOne)
June 18, 2004... Byline: Wichita State University WICHITA, Kan., June 18 (AScribe Newswire) -- A Wichita State University alumnus and McPherson native is part of a team planning to launch the first private spacecraft into suborbital altitude on Monday,...

FUSE Satellite Celebrates Five Years in Orbit; Project Marks Unique Collaboration with NASA.
June 21, 2004... Byline: Johns Hopkins University BALTIMORE, June 21 (AScribe Newswire) -- NASA's Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) satellite will reach a major milestone on Thursday, June 24, 2004 - the five-year anniversary of its launch atop...

US Santa Cruz Scientist Leads Expedition to Establish Seafloor Observatories for Studying Water Flow in Upper Oceanic Crust.
June 21, 2004... Byline: University of California, Santa Cruz SANTA CRUZ, Calif., June 21 (AScribe Newswire) -- An international team of scientists will investigate how water flows through rock formations beneath the seafloor during an eight-week expedition...

Johns Hopkins Professor Wins First Francis Bacon Award; Prize Includes $20K Grant, Visiting Professorship at Caltech.
June 21, 2004... Byline: Johns Hopkins University BALTIMORE, June 21 (AScribe Newswire) -- Lawrence Principe, a professor of the history of science and technology and of chemistry in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences at The Johns Hopkins University,...

HESTEC Brings National Attention to Lack of Hispanics in Science, Engineering, Technology Fields.
June 21, 2004... Byline: University of Texas-Pan American EDINBURG, Texas, June 21 (AScribe Newswire) -- What do Michael Dell, actress Rita Moreno and Animal Planet host Jeff Corwin share in common? They have all participated in the national Hispanic...

As Stem-Cell Debate Heats Up, Public Still Uninformed, Undecided.
June 22, 2004... Byline: Ohio State University COLUMBUS, Ohio, June 22 (AScribe Newswire) -- Public opinion about stem-cell research appears to be very volatile, and could be swayed in either direction, according to a researcher who recently studied poll...

University of Florida Geologists: New Technique Sheds Light On Maya History.
June 22, 2004... Byline: University of Florida GAINESVILLE, Fla., June 22 (AScribe Newswire) -- There are elaborate hieroglyphs, burial objects and other clues. But the recent application of a geological technique to an archaeological problem may offer...

Cassini Opens A Cosmic Time Capsule.
June 23, 2004... Byline: Jet Propulsion Laboratory PASADENA, Calif., June 23 (AScribe Newswire) -- Like a woolly mammoth trapped in Arctic ice, Saturn's small moon Phoebe may be a frozen artifact of a bygone era, some four billion years ago. The finding is...

Dark Days Doomed Dinosaurs, Say Purdue Scientists.
June 23, 2004... Byline: Purdue University WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., June 23 (AScribe Newswire) -- Though the catastrophe that destroyed the dinosaurs' world may have begun with blazing fire, it probably ended with icy darkness, according to a Purdue...

NASA Announces Saturn Mission Coverage.
June 24, 2004... Byline: Jet Propulsion Laboratory PASADENA, Calif., June 24 (AScribe Newswire) -- At approximately 7:36 p.m. PDT (10:36 p.m. EDT), June 30, 2004, the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft arrives at Saturn. After nearly a seven-year journey, it will...

Cassini Getting Closer to Titan.
June 25, 2004... Byline: Jet Propulsion Laboratory PASADENA, Calif., June 25 (AScribe Newswire) -- Irregular bright and dark regions of yet unidentified composition and character are becoming increasingly visible on Titan's surface as Cassini approaches...

DOE Scientists Sample the Skies.
June 28, 2004... Byline: Brookhaven National Laboratory UPTON, N.Y., June 28 (AScribe Newswire) -- This summer, scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), and Pacific...

Next Up: All There Is to Know About Epigenetics; Hopkins to Found First Center for Comprehensive Study of Epigenetics.
June 28, 2004... Byline: Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions BALTIMORE, June 28 (AScribe Newswire) -- With a $5 million, five-year federal grant, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine is establishing what is believed to be the first...

Aura Ready for July 10 Launch on Delta II Rocket.
June 29, 2004... Byline: Jet Propulsion Laboratory PASADENA, Calif., June 29 (AScribe Newswire) -- NASA's Aura spacecraft, a next-generation Earth-observing satellite that will supply the most complete information yet on the health of Earth's atmosphere,...

Star Trak: Cassini Spacecraft Arrives at Saturn.
June 30, 2004... Byline: Indiana University BLOOMINGTON, Ind., June 30 (AScribe Newswire) -- Saturn will pass behind the sun during July, reappearing at the end of the month very low in the east-northeast to the lower left (north) of brilliant white Venus...

Cassini Set to Ring Saturn Today.
June 30, 2004... Byline: Jet Propulsion Laboratory PASADENA, Calif., June 30 (AScribe Newswire) -- After nearly seven years of asking, "Are we there yet?" the Cassini-Huygens mission is poised to enter Saturn's orbit this evening. "Getting into orbit...