NSF's public investment in science, engineering, education and technology
helps to create knowledge and sustain prosperity. Read here about the Internet,
microbursts, Web browsers, extrasolar planets, and more... a panoply of discoveries
and innovations that began with NSF support.
![Thermal infrared image of Brazilian free-tailed bats in Texas.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/news/mmg/media/images/aeroecology1_l1.jpg) |
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'Gone Bats' Over Aeroecology New scientific discipline studies bats, birds, other animals in atmosphere closest to Earth's surface Released
October 28, 2008
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![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/images/x.gif) |
![Photo of basmatii rice before harvest.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/news/mmg/media/images/rice1_l.jpg) |
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/images/x.gif) |
Using Your Computer to Grow More Nutritious Rice for a Hungry World Computational biologists use a powerful distributed computing network to research rice genome for increased yields of more nourishing rice varieties Released
October 14, 2008
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![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/images/x.gif) |
![2007 In Review](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/news/mmg/media/images/2007_review_text_l.jpg) |
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/images/x.gif) |
2007: Year in Review A look back at some of the NSF-supported advances and activities reported last year Released
January 30, 2008
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![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/images/x.gif) |
![woman seated on rug next to blue, circular device labeled Roomba](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/news/mmg/media/images/forlizzi_robot_l.jpg) |
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/images/x.gif) |
Helpful Robot Alters Family Life A relationship with your vacuum cleaner? Robotic vacuums are warming their way into homes and even taking on a personality for some families. Released
June 8, 2007
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![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/images/x.gif) |
![Portrait of Benjamin Franklin by artist David Martin (1737-1797)](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/news/mmg/media/images/benfranklin2_l.jpg) |
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/images/x.gif) |
Ben Franklin Web Portal Brings the Man to the Masses
Driven by search-engine technology, site highlights three centuries of revolutionary influence Released
January 9, 2006
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![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/images/x.gif) |
![Fingerprint image quality through subsequent generations of genetic algorithm evolution.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/news/mmg/media/images/fingerprint_l.jpg) |
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/images/x.gif) |
Man Against Machine Computer-generated method outperforms human-designed program for fingerprint improvement Released
September 1, 2005
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![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/images/x.gif) |
![Portion of Digital Libraries I logo.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/news/mmg/media/images/google_l1.jpg) |
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/images/x.gif) |
On the Origins of Google Even in the early days of the Internet, people saw the need for better interfaces to growing data collections. A graduate student supported by an NSF digital library project at Stanford University uncovered the missing links in Web page ranking. Released
August 17, 2004
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![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/images/x.gif) |
![graduate student Robert Dalton listens to an MTB recording](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/news/mmg/media/images/sound3_l.jpg) |
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/images/x.gif) |
Hearing It Like It Was Your ears not only tell you what you're hearing, but also a lot about where you're hearing it. A new recording and playback method developed at the University of California, Davis, keeps your head in the mix, so you can hear it like it really was. Released
July 30, 2004
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![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/images/x.gif) |
![icon of a hand and www](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/news/mmg/media/images/internet3_l1.jpg) |
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/images/x.gif) |
Detecting Hidden Groups on the Internet In the free-form clamor of the Internet's discussion groups and other public forums, researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute want to listen for the whispers of groups trying to stay hidden. Released
July 30, 2004
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![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/images/x.gif) |
![several views of pterosaur skulls](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/news/mmg/media/images/pterosaur_skulls_l.jpg) |
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/images/x.gif) |
Pterosaur Heads Were Uniquely Adapted for Flight Taking a high-tech look at fossil skulls, scientists examined the brains of ancient pterosaurs. They found key structures to be specialized and enlarged, a discovery that could revise views of how vision, flight and the brain itself evolved. Released
July 30, 2004
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![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/images/x.gif) |
![screen capture from eSkeletons home page and comparison of crania](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/news/mmg/media/images/eSkeletonscompara_l.jpg) |
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/images/x.gif) |
eSkeletons: "The Hip Bone's Connected to the …" Web Bone Cyberskeletons are now a click away at an interactive and expanding digital library of human and primate anatomy. Released
July 6, 2004
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![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/images/x.gif) |
![VRD animation.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/news/mmg/media/images/mrs_screenshot_l.jpg) |
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/images/x.gif) |
Virtual Display Beams Images Directly into the Eye Researchers have developed a display that beams full-color images directly onto your retina. Released
June 3, 2004
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![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/images/x.gif) |
![network cables](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/news/mmg/media/images/networkcable_l.jpg) |
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/images/x.gif) |
Data Mining Pinpoints Network Intrusions Vipin Kumar and colleagues at the University of Minnesota are developing data-mining techniques to detect rare events, such as computer break-ins, that are difficult to detect using methods that recognize attacks only through pre-defined patterns. Released
April 19, 2004
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![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/images/x.gif) |
![X-ray image of teeth at one angle](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/news/mmg/media/images/matchedrotated_a_l2.jpg) |
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/images/x.gif) |
An Automatic System for Matching Dental Records By matching bicuspid to bicuspid and filling to filling, forensic investigators use dental records to give a John Doe a real name. Researchers are combining advanced image-processing techniques with elements of logic to get accurate matches faster. Released
March 29, 2004
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![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/images/x.gif) |
![RoboCup 2002 in Fukuoka, Japan](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/news/mmg/media/images/cmu_2002_pack_l1.jpg) |
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/images/x.gif) |
Researcher Founds a Robot Soccer Dynasty Since receiving her doctorate in 1992, Manuela Veloso's research interests in artificial intelligence have focused on duplicating the success with which humans plan, learn and execute tasks. Founding a robot soccer dynasty was purely coincidental. Released
March 24, 2004
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![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/images/x.gif) |
![One of the search and rescue robots.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/news/mmg/media/images/spearinuktun_l.jpg) |
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/images/x.gif) |
Shoebox-sized Robots Deployed in Rescue Effort at Ground Zero Graduate students and the experimental robots they helped to develop were among the early responders who joined the search and rescue efforts shortly after the Sept. 11 collapse of the World Trade Center towers. Released
March 24, 2004
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![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/images/x.gif) |
![Generic Discovery Image](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/news/mmg/images/disc_generic.jpg) |
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/images/x.gif) |
NSF Researchers Improve Barcode Scanners; Advances Lead to Widespread Use of the Technology From tracking the sale of chewing gum to following the movements of penguins in one of the world's harshest environments, barcode systems automatically capture all kinds of data, thanks in part to NSF-supported improvements in scanner technology. Released
July 18, 2003
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![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106002648im_/http://www.nsf.gov/images/x.gif) |
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