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A team of paleontologists recently discovered that an ancient seascape known for its diverse assemblage of exceptionally preserved fossils represents an unexpected oceanic setting, placing the fossils in an environmental context that is dramatically different from other fossil assemblages of the Cambrian age. The team published their findings in the journal, ScienceAdvances.
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The U.S. National Science Foundation today announced the addition of three new NSF Innovation Corps (NSF I-Corps™) Hubs that will scale the NSF-led National Innovation Network (NIN), accelerating the translation of discoveries into new solutions that benefit society and the economy. Each NSF I-Corps Hub may receive up to $3 million per year for five years and comprises a regional alliance of at least eight universities. Combined with the existing 10 NSF I-Corps Hubs, these 13 NSF I-Corps Hubs presently span 48 states. See the interactive NSF I-Corps Hubs map.
NSF I-Corps Hubs provide experiential entrepreneurial training to researchers across all fields of science and engineering. I-Corps Hubs form the operational backbone of the NIN, a network of universities, NSF-funded researchers, established entrepreneurs, local and regional entrepreneurial communities, and other federal agencies, that collectively help researchers learn to investigate the commercial potential of fundamental discoveries in science and engineering. The NSF I-Corps Hubs work collaboratively to build and sustain an innovation ecosystem that engages all Americans throughout the U.S.
“The goal of the I-Corps program is to deploy experiential education to help researchers reduce the time necessary to translate promising ideas from laboratory benches to widespread implementation that in turn impacts economic growth regionally and nationally,” said Erwin Gianchandani, assistant director for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships. “Each regional NSF I-Corps Hub provides training essential
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Last week, Director Sethuraman Panchanathan engaged in meetings that deepened U.S. National Science Foundation’s relationships with current international partners and expanded NSF’s global network.
On Monday, Oct. 21, Panchanathan and NSF representatives virtually greeted a senior delegation from NSF counterpart funding organizations in Portugal. The delegation was led by Maria Madalena dos Santos Alves, president of the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, and António Grilo, professor and president of Agência Nacional de Inovação. The meeting focused on Portugal’s interest in learning more about how NSF sets priorities, integrates research and innovation, and approaches research security. Portugal’s willingness to learn from the U.S. and deploy similar policies and procedures, especially research security guidelines and guardrails, will ease the collaboration between U.S. researchers and Portuguese counterparts.
On Thursday, Oct. 24, Panchanathan met with Chairman Martin Galstyan of Central Bank of Armenia and delegates at NSF headquarters. The director and the Armenian delegation discussed opportunities for U.S.-Armenia collaboration and the potential of a U.S.-Armenia Science Foundation.
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Most news reports about wildfires include the number of acres a given fire has burned, but according to a new study by U.S. National Science Foundation-supported researchers, they should also note how fast the fire is moving. The research found that fast-growing fires caused 88% of the fire-related home destruction between 2001 and 2020, even though they accounted for less than 3% of the fires on record.
‘Fast fires’ thrust embers into the air ahead of rapidly advancing flames and can ignite homes before emergency responders can intervene. The research team, led by Jennifer Balch, associate professor of geography at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder), used satellite imagery and a novel algorithm to analyze the daily change in the perimeter of over 60,000 fires in the contiguous U.S. over the first part of this century.
When comparing the perimeter change information with data on fire impact, Balch — who is also executive director of the NSF Environmental Data Science Innovation and Inclusion Lab located at and managed by the CU Boulder Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences — and the team found that fires that destroyed more than 100 structures grew as fast as 32.8 square miles per day.
Not only were the fast fires found to cause outsized amounts of damage, but they also got faster over time across the Western U.S. Looking
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