Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have developed a method for crafting some of the most stable glasses ever formed--materials that are strong and durable like crystal yet free of the confining properties of an ordered atomic skeleton.

The new method deposits vaporized glass materials layer by layer onto a surface at an ideal temperature for yielding stable glasses. The research team is working toward possible medical applications for the new stable glass.

By using their method as a general technique to control stability and solubility of molecular glass, it may be possible to develop drug compounds that were previously unusable. They may also be able to use stable glass films to extend the shelf life of existing medical tools like off-the-shelf blood and pregnancy testing kits.

Ever-increasing human mobility is a key cause of the geographic spread of modern epidemics. Bacteria and viruses are now transported across great distances and transmitted to people worldwide.

In order to better understand and predict the spread of disease, NSF-supported researchers from the University of California at Santa Barbara, the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, and the University of Göttingen evaluated data from a popular U.S. Internet game in which participants register dollar bills and monitor their geographic circulation for fun. Like viruses, money is transported by people from place to place.

Surprisingly, the scientists found that the human movements follow "universal scaling laws" and subsequently developed a mathematical theory describing the observed movements of travelers from just a few to thousands of kilometers. Because the mechanisms of disease transmission between humans are already well understood, the scientists can use the new theory to investigate new models which describe the global spread of disease much more realistically.

Amid 70-mile-per-hour winds and freezing Antarctic conditions, an American-Argentine research team recovered the well-preserved fossil skeleton of a juvenile plesiosaur--a marine reptile that swam the waters of the Southern Ocean roughly 70 million years ago.

The fossilized remains represent one of the most-complete plesiosaur skeletons ever found and are thought to be the best-articulated fossil skeleton ever recovered from Antarctica. The creature would have inhabited Antarctic waters during a period when the Earth and its oceans were far warmer than they are today. The NSF and the Instituto Antártico Argentino funded the expedition. See the NSF press release for additional information about this finding.

Plastic nesting cups and Legos™ are more than mere playthings for babies. They are powerful tools in developing an understanding of spatial concepts, according to Marianella Casasola, an associate professor of human development at Cornell University who has received NSF support early in her research career.

She is documenting the connections between language input and human thought processes by studying the building blocks of language acquisition in infants. Her research shows that infants comprehend spatial relationships such as "in" and "on" through language input from caregivers and the babies' own play behaviors.

"Some argue that spatial concepts shape language," said Casasola, who received an NSF Faculty Early Career Development program (CAREER) award and the Presidential Early Career Award for Science and Engineering (PECASE). "But our research suggests that it also may be the other way around. Our specific language can actually help us form particular spatial concepts."

NSF: Please share your early experience with science and how it led to NSF. Hicks: In the late 1950's, Dr. Brown, a representative from the NSF, spoke to selected students at Jim Hill High School in Jackson, Mississippi, about careers in science and math. My classmates and I were energized by Dr. Brown and the seemingly countless number of opportunities in science and math fields that he mentioned. Many of us went on to earn graduate degrees in a number of fields including teacher education, mathematics, physics, engineering, and botany.

NSF: What do you consider to be the biggest challenge to LSAMP? Hicks: The lack of employing best practices and strategies at the colleges and universities in the LSAMP portfolio remains a challenge, but significant progress is being made. Selected states and regions continue making major budgetary commitments to broaden participation. For example, South Carolina contributes greater than $600,000 annually to LSAMP and Alaska-Anchorage opened a $14-million science and engineering facility that houses the LSAMP program.

NSF: What advice would you give undergraduates choosing between graduate school and the workforce? Hicks: Regardless of the size of the institution they attend, I would encourage them to 'Think BIG, Sight Globally, Act Locally, and Work with a Passion!' The best and brightest students must look beyond their individual campuses and regions. They must incorporate a world view in the learning process, get involved in selected community service activities, and work with focused enthusiasm -- fire and fervor!

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