The premier online source for science news since 1996. A service of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. http://www.eurekalert.org en-us Copyright 2009 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:16:01 EST EurekAlert! http://www.eurekalert.org/images/logo.gif http://www.eurekalert.org The premier online source for science news since 1996. A service of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. 1440 webmaster@eurekalert.org (EurekAlert!) A new National Science Foundation report shows an increase in the number of academic degrees awarded to minority students since 2004, the last time such data were published. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-11/nsf-mse110409.php Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-11/nsf-mse110409.php A new study reveals the important role inherited wealth plays in sustaining economic inequality in small scale societies. A team of 26 anthropologists, statisticians and economists based at the Santa Fe Institute in New Mexico amassed an unprecedented data set allowing 43 estimates of a family's wealth inheritance and found that financial inequality among populations largely depends on the "technologies" that produce a people's livelihood. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-10/nsf-pl103009.php Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-10/nsf-pl103009.php A team of Harvard chemists led by X. Sunney Xie has developed a new microscopic technique for seeing, in color, molecules with undetectable fluorescence. The room-temperature technique allows researchers to identify previously unseen molecules in living organisms and offers broad applications in biomedical imaging and research. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-10/nsf-spi102309.php Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-10/nsf-spi102309.php Diverting sediment-rich water from the Mississippi River below New Orleans could generate new land in the river's delta in the next century. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-10/nsf-dsw102009.php Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-10/nsf-dsw102009.php How do humans and their environment interact, and how can we use knowledge of these links to adapt to a planet undergoing radical climate and other environmental changes? http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-10/nsf-nag101409.php Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-10/nsf-nag101409.php The National Science Foundation congratulates the 2009 Nobel laureates, particularly those who have received NSF funding over the years: Jack W. Szostak, who shared the prize in physiology or medicine; Thomas A. Steitz, who shared the prize in chemistry; and Elinor Ostrom and Oliver E. Williamson who earned the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in economic sciences in memory of Alfred Nobel 2009. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-10/nsf-nc101409.php Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-10/nsf-nc101409.php Socially learned behavior and belief are much better candidates than genetics to explain the self-sacrificing behavior we see among strangers in societies, from soldiers to blood donors to those who contribute to food banks. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-10/nsf-sas100909.php Mon, 12 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-10/nsf-sas100909.php