Computing Discoveries

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.

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		From Moonbounce to Hard Drives: Correcting More Errors Than Previously Thought Possible What does a Nobel laureate need to bounce a radio signal off the moon? A good error-correcting code, for one thing. Now, a breakthrough error-correction method has turned almost 40 years of conventional wisdom in digital communications on its head. Released  August 11, 2004
		Ogling Distant Stars An NSF-funded project that monitors the brightness of stars has given astronomers a potent tool for discovering planets far beyond our part of the galaxy. We can expect to find more "exoplanets" in the decade ahead. Released  August 9, 2004
		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
		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
		Triangles, Not Circles, Make Optimal Faucets It had long been assumed that circular nozzles, such as those used by ink-jet printers to deposit tiny droplets of ink, were the best shapes for the job. Now, mathematicians at Harvard University have shown that triangular may be the way to go. Released  July 30, 2004
		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
		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
		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
		Exterminating Bugs in Spreadsheets and Web Applications A spreadsheet error sounds harmless enough, unless your retirement funds or medical treatment rely on that faulty calculation. A six-campus team is working to exterminate the bugs that infest spreadsheets and other programs created by computer users. Released  May 17, 2004
		Grid Community Pulls Together to Battle SARS in Taiwan Grid-computing researchers around the Pacific Rim mobilized to fight the SARS epidemic by helping to establish a cutting-edge communication network, called the Access Grid, among quarantined hospitals across Taiwan. Released  May 17, 2004
		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
		Mosaic Launches an Internet Revolution In 1993, the world's first freely available Web browser that allowed Web pages to include both graphics and text spurred a revolution in business, education, and entertainment that has had a trillion-dollar impact on the global economy. Released  April 8, 2004
		Wireless Network Helps Astronomers Observe Elusive Gamma-Ray Bursts A gamma-ray burst (GRB) is one of the universe's most mysterious and explosive events. The High Performance Wireless Research and Education Network has given Palomar Observatory the speed astronomers need to pinpoint GRBs and catch them in the act. Released  April 8, 2004
		Graduate Student Invents'Printer' for Low-Cost Eyeglasses MIT doctoral student Saul Griffith is an old-fashioned inventor with high-tech style. His inventions include a 'printer' for low-cost eyeglass lenses and electronic goggles to diagnose a person's eyeglass prescription. Released  April 5, 2004
		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
		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
		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
		United States, Russia, China Link Up First Global-Ring Network for Advanced Science and Education In December 2003, the United States, Russia and China announced the start of operations for the first round-the-world computer network ring. The ring involves the first-ever fiber network connection across the Russia-China border. Released  March 19, 2004
		NSF Shapes the Internet's Evolution With funding from NSF and other government agencies, the Internet has become a fundamental resource in science, engineering and education. It has spawned vibrant commercial enterprises and changed the way people communicate. Released  July 25, 2003
		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