SCIENTISTS BELIEVE THERE WAS A BABY BOOM FROM 500-1300 A.D. IN U.S. SOUTHWEST

FROM:  NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 

Press Release 14-082 

Scientists chart a baby boom--in southwestern Native Americans from 500 to 1300 A.D.

Southwest U.S. experience holds lesson in over-population

Scientists have sketched out one of the greatest baby booms in North American history, a centuries-long "growth blip" among southwestern Native Americans between 500 and 1300 A.D.

It was a time when the early features of civilization--including farming and food storage--had matured to a level where birth rates likely "exceeded the highest in the world today," the researchers report in this week's issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Then a crash followed, says Tim Kohler, an anthropologist at Washington State University (WSU), offering a warning sign to the modern world about the dangers of overpopulation.

"We can learn lessons from these people," says Kohler, who co-authored the paper with WSU researcher Kelsey Reese.

The study looks at a century's worth of data on thousands of human remains found at hundreds of sites across the Four Corners region of the Southwest.

"This research reconstructed the complexity of human population birth rate change and demographic variability linked with the introduction of agriculture in the Southwest U.S.," says Alan Tessier, acting deputy division director in the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Directorate for Biological Sciences, which supported the research through NSF's Dynamics of Coupled Natural and Human Systems (CNH) Program.

"It illustrates the coupling and feedbacks between human societies and their environment."

CNH is also co-funded by NSF's Directorates for Geosciences and Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences.

While many of the remains studied have been repatriated, the data let Kohler assemble a detailed chronology of the region's Neolithic Demographic Transition, in which stone tools reflect an agricultural transition from cutting meat to pounding grain.

"It's the first step toward all the trappings of civilization that we currently see," says Kohler.

Maize, which we know as corn, was grown in the region as early as 2000 B.C.

At first, populations were slow to respond, probably because of low productivity, says Kohler. But by 400 B.C., he says, the crop provided 80 percent of the region's calories.

Crude birth rates--the number of newborns per 1,000 people per year--were by then on the rise, mounting steadily until about 500 A.D.

The growth varied across the region.

People in the Sonoran Desert and Tonto Basin, in what is today Arizona, were more culturally advanced, with irrigation, ball courts, and eventually elevated platform mounds and compounds housing elite families.

Yet birth rates were higher among people to the North and East, in the San Juan Basin and northern San Juan regions of Northwest New Mexico and Southwest Colorado.

Kohler said that the Sonoran and Tonto people eventually would have had difficulty finding new farming opportunities for many children, since corn farming required irrigation. Water from canals also may have carried harmful protozoa, bacteria and viruses.

But groups to the Northeast would have been able to expand maize production into new areas as their populations grew.

Around 900 A.D., populations remained high but birth rates began to fluctuate.

The mid-1100s saw one of the largest known droughts in the Southwest. The region likely hit its carrying capacity.

From the mid-1000s to 1280, by which time all the farmers had left, conflicts raged across the northern Southwest but birth rates remained high.

"They didn't slow down," says Kohler. "Birth rates were expanding right up to the depopulation. Why not limit growth? Maybe groups needed to be big to protect their villages and fields.

"It was a trap, however."

The northern Southwest had as many as 40,000 people in the mid-1200s, but within 30 years it was empty, leaving a mystery.

Perhaps the population had grown too large to feed itself as the climate deteriorated. Then as people began to leave, that may have made it harder to maintain the social unity needed for defense and new infrastructure, says Kohler.

Whatever the reason, he says, the ancient Puebloans show that population growth has clear consequences.

-NSF-

EPA OUTLINES GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT OF STORMWATER RUNOFF

FROM:  U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

Stormwater runoff is a major cause of water pollution in urban areas.  When rain falls in undeveloped areas, the water is absorbed and filtered by soil and plants.  When rain falls on our roofs, streets, and parking lots, however, the water cannot soak into the ground.  In most urban areas, stormwater is drained through engineered collection systems and discharged into nearby waterbodies.  The stormwater carries trash, bacteria, heavy metals, and other pollutants from the urban landscape, degrading the quality of the receiving waters.  Higher flows can also cause erosion and flooding in urban streams, damaging habitat, property, and infrastructure.  

Green infrastructure uses vegetation, soils, and natural processes to manage water and create healthier urban environments.  At the scale of a city or county, green infrastructure refers to the patchwork of natural areas that provides habitat, flood protection, cleaner air, and cleaner water. At the scale of a neighborhood or site, green infrastructure refers to stormwater management systems that mimic nature by soaking up and storing water.

Here we review the range of green infrastructure elements that can be woven throughout a watershed, from the smaller scale elements that can be integrated into sites to the larger scale elements that span entire watersheds.

Downspout disconnection refers to the rerouting of rooftop drainage pipes to drain rainwater to rain barrels, cisterns, or permeable areas instead of the storm sewer.  Downspout disconnection stores stormwater and/or allows stormwater to infiltrate into the soil.  This simple practice may have particularly great benefits in cities with combined sewer systems.

Rainwater harvesting systems collect and store rainfall for later use. When designed appropriately, rainwater harvesting systems slow and reduce runoff and provide a source of water. These systems may be particularly attractive in arid regions, where they can reduce demands on increasingly limited water supplies.
Rain gardens (also known as bioretention or bioinfiltration cells) are shallow, vegetated basins that collect and absorb runoff from rooftops, sidewalks, and streets.  Rain gardens mimic natural hydrology by infiltrating and evapotranspiring runoff.  Rain gardens are versatile features that can be installed in almost any unpaved space.

Planter boxes are urban rain gardens with vertical walls and open or closed bottoms that collect and absorb runoff from sidewalks, parking lots, and streets. Planter boxes are ideal for space-limited sites in dense urban areas and as a streetscaping element.

Bioswales are vegetated, mulched, or xeriscaped channels that provide treatment and retention as they move stormwater from one place to another.  Vegetated swales slow, infiltrate, and filter stormwater flows. As linear features, vegetated swales are particularly suitable along streets and parking lots.
Permeable pavements are paved surfaces that infiltrate, treat, and/or store rainwater where it falls.  Permeable pavements may be constructed from pervious concrete, porous asphalt, permeable interlocking pavers, and several other materials.  These pavements are particularly cost effective where land values are high and where flooding or icing is a problem.

Green streets and alleys integrate green infrastructure elements into the street and/or alley design design to store, infiltrate, and evapotranspire stormwater.  Permeable pavement, bioswales, planter boxes, and trees are among the many green infrastructure features that may be woven into street or alley design.
Many of the green infrastructure elements described above can be seamlessly integrated into parking lot designs. Permeable pavements can be installed in sections of a lot and rain gardens and bioswales can be included in medians and along a parking lot perimeter. Benefits include urban heat island mitigation and a more walkable built environment.

Green roofs are covered with growing media and vegetation that enable rainfall infiltration and evapotranspiration of stored water. Green roofs are particularly cost effective in dense urban areas where land values are high and on large industrial or office buildings where stormwater management costs may be high.

NSF COMMUNITY COLLEGE PROGRAMS TRAIN FUTURE BIOTECH WORKERS

FROM:  NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 

Building it big in Texas: Community college program trains biotech workforce
A multi-faceted training program funded by the National Science Foundation prepares students from a variety of backgrounds for careers in biotechnology
November 20, 2013

Biotechnology companies such as Genentech, Ambion and Life Technologies rely on specially trained workers to keep their research and development (R&D) labs and their manufacturing processes running smoothly. Biotechnicians may grow cells for use in drug development, analyze DNA or monitor biofuel production. The unique equipment and techniques used in the biotech field has often required companies to provide on-the-job training to new employees.

However, an innovative center at the City College of San Francisco in California called Bio-Link has created a network of community college partners throughout the country that tailor their biotechnician training programs to the needs of local biotech industry. Students successfully completing these two-year programs can walk into a job ready to perform essential techniques and operate state-of-the-art equipment.

This approach is key to the success of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program, now in its 20th year. The program funds community colleges, giving them a leadership role in strengthening the skills of STEM technicians. The community colleges work in partnership with universities, secondary schools, business and industry and government agencies to design and carry out model workforce development initiatives in fields as diverse as cybersecurity, advanced manufacturing and aerospace, in addition to biotechnology.

Starting from scratch

Bio-Link first received funding from NSF in 1998 to create a structure to enhance and expand biotechnology technician programs throughout the nation. Principal investigator Elaine Johnson and her colleagues reached out to every community college in the country to find out whether they had a biotech program or were interested in starting one.

Although Texas's Austin Community College (ACC) didn't have a program, "We knew someone was in Austin with strong leadership skills and we could see a future in Texas for biotech," says Johnson, who sought input from her network to find the right person to develop the Texas program. That person was Linnea Fletcher.  Fletcher started the biotechnology department at ACC and in 1999 became a key partner in the Bio-Link network.

The program offers a range of degrees and certificates for students from high school to college and beyond. Through a series of strategic partnerships with local biotech companies, school districts, the Texas state government and national biotech consortia, Fletcher has built a dynamic program that addresses student and teacher development as well as industry needs.

Because the education structure in Texas encourages collaboration, "Linnea is in a state where she can make a difference both locally and nationally," says Johnson, who notes that the foundation Fletcher laid "continues to be very important for all of us."

Fletcher's task at the outset was to develop a program that would become a model biotech training program. Initially, she designed and implemented a professional development program for high school teachers. With few resources to buy equipment, Fletcher ran some of the courses out of a friend's lab at the University of Texas at night. But grants from both NSF and the Texas Education Agency allowed her to enlist the help of area teachers and expand the program.

Together this group formed an advisory committee made up of academic and industry representatives that reviewed the course curriculum and made suggestions for keeping it current. They also initiated a summer institute so that undergraduates working toward education degrees could connect with novice and veteran teachers to improve both teaching and laboratory skills.

These original program components remain integral to ACC's biotech program, which now offers an associate's degree in biotechnology, a post-baccalaureate degree for students with bachelor's or advanced degrees and a certificate in biomanufacturing. Next fall, Fletcher will add an entry-level certificate that high school students can earn. Over the past 10 years, about 225 students have graduated from the program and roughly 10,000 students have taken the high school advanced biotech course.

Strengthening the workforce

As the ACC biotech program has grown, Fletcher has cultivated her relationships with local industry representatives as well as school districts. Through these connections, she has created a vibrant internship program that complements classroom and laboratory learning.

"This is a wonderful gateway into working with a company," says Michael Douglas, executive director of the Texas Life-Sciences Collaboration Center. He notes that companies benefit, too, because the internship offers an opportunity to see the students in action. In the three years since ACC Biotech began offering internships, all 20 of the students who participated were hired.

A skilled biotech workforce also becomes a drawing card for the state as it tries to recruit businesses from other geographic areas. Douglas says that recently a company from California committed to relocating in the Austin area because of the readily available pool of trained biotechnicians.

Two years ago, to expand its role within the business community, ACC Biotech established a contract research organization (CRO). Local companies can take advantage of ACC's specialized equipment and faculty expertise to fulfill their R&D needs.

"This is a win-win situation for everyone," says Sulatha Dawarakanath who directs the effort. With increased exposure among local firms, Dawarakanath says the CRO "has taken off." The CRO also offers students an additional opportunity for hands-on experience and interaction with industry.

Expanding the network

The ever-growing community of practice spawned by the ACC program allowed Fletcher to reach out to the state's six other community colleges. All of the biotech programs now follow the same skill standards and assessments and share curricula and equipment through their own network.

The next step is to "make these community colleges hubs for mentoring high school teachers," Fletcher says. Through a Texas Higher Education Coordinating grant, Fletcher and her colleagues are developing a Biotech Mentoring Network for that purpose. The mentoring component is crucial because three years ago, the state changed the status of the introduction to biotechnology course from an elective to one of the core courses students can take for science credit.

In the ACC mentor model, new teachers are paired with two mentors: One who has just finished the professional development program and a second who is several years removed from the training program. During the three-year collaboration the teachers share equipment, approaches to teaching and ways to master biotech lab techniques.

One teacher who has worked closely with the ACC program since its start is Jennifer Lazare. Now an ACC adjunct faculty member, Lazare first connected with the biotech program through a summer institute while in graduate school. For the last decade she's taught a dual-credit, advanced biotech course at Anderson High School in Austin.

Recently, with a Texas Education Agency grant Lazare and Angela Wheeler, a former high school teacher and now adjunct in the ACC Biotech program, developed an online Advanced Biotechnology Teacher certification system. The site provides training information as well as biotech lesson plans and other resources to teachers around the state. Lazare points out that her ACC connections provide access to many resources that enhance her approach to teaching, such as workshops, conferences and curriculum development opportunities.

Making a difference

Developing a robust, local biotech workforce has helped make the ACC Biotech program a highly regarded program. But Fletcher also likes to consider how the program makes a difference in her students' lives.

"For many of them, this is more than just biotech. You see that you can make a real difference in their lives and that you're giving them more than just a job. That's what gives you energy."

-- Susan Reiss, National Science Foundation

FIFTH ASSESSMENT OF INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 

Release of the Fifth Assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Press Statement

John Kerry
Secretary of State

Washington, DC

September 27, 2013

---

This is yet another wakeup call: Those who deny the science or choose excuses over action are playing with fire.

Once again, the science grows clearer, the case grows more compelling, and the costs of inaction grow beyond anything that anyone with conscience or common sense should be willing to even contemplate.

Boil down the IPCC report and here’s what you find: Climate change is real, it’s happening now, human beings are the cause of this transformation, and only action by human beings can save the world from its worst impacts.

This isn’t a run of the mill report to be dumped in a filing cabinet. This isn’t a political document produced by politicians.
It’s science.

It builds on the most authoritative assessments of knowledge on climate change produced by scientists, who by profession are conservative because they must deal in what is observable, provable and reviewable by their peers.

If this isn’t an alarm bell, then I don’t know what one is. If ever there were an issue that demanded greater cooperation, partnership, and committed diplomacy, this is it.
What one country does impacts the livelihoods of people elsewhere – and what we all do to address climate change now will largely determine the kind of planet we leave for our children and grandchildren.

With those stakes, the response must be all hands on deck. It’s not about one country making a demand of another. It’s the science itself, demanding action from all of us.
The United States is deeply committed to leading on climate change. We will work with our partners around the world through ambitious actions to reduce emissions, transform our energy economy, and help the most vulnerable cope with the effects of climate change.
We do so because this is science, these are facts, and action is our only option.

LANL WARTIME DIVISION LEADER WILLIAM "DEEK" PARSONS FOCUS OF NEXT 7OTH ANNIVERSARY LECTURE

FROM:  LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LABORATORY 

Little Boy weaponeer William “Deak” Parsons, wartime Los Alamos division leader, focus of next 70th anniversary lecture

Former Laboratory historian Roger Meade to talk about life, career, contributions to Lab, the nation by “The Last Commodore”

LOS ALAMOS, N.M., Aug. 8, 2013—Los Alamos National Laboratory historian emeritus Roger Meade talks about William S. “Deak” Parsons, one of wartime Los Alamos’ first division leaders and the contributions he made as an ordnance engineer to the success of the Lab — including his role as the Little Boy weaponeer — at 5:30 p.m. Aug. 14, at the Bradbury Science Museum. The talk is part of Los Alamos’ 70th anniversary lecture series.

Meade said Los Alamos’ first director, J. Robert Oppenheimer, described Parson’s work by saying, “I believe it is impossible to overestimate the value which Capt. Parsons has been to the project to which he is engaged, nor the loss we should have incurred without his services.”

Parsons, the leading military ordnance expert at the beginning of World War II, came to the Lab to oversee the engineering of Fat Man and Little Boy to be combat weapons. Parsons also served as one of the first two associate directors of the Laboratory. Meade also will discuss Parsons’ experience arming Little Boy aboard the Enola Gay.

Parsons also was instrumental in the first post-war atomic bomb test, as well as Operation Crossroads and the 1948 Sandstone tests. He served on the Department of Defense’s Military Liaison Committee and was Deputy Commander of the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project. Parsons died in 1953.

Meade retired from the Lab in 2007 after working for 25 years as the Laboratory archivist historian. He is the co-author of “Critical Assembly,” a technical history of the Laboratory’s World War II years, and is presently working on a book-length study of atmospheric weapons testing.

U.S. Department of Defense Armed with Science Update: Transplant Spinal Ceramic

U.S. Department of Defense Armed with Science Update

LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LABORATORY HONORED IN R&D 100 COMPETITION

FROM:  LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LABORATORY 
X-Ray Imaging, Spacecraft Nuclear Fission and Cosmic Ray Contraband Detection Score R&D 100 Awards

Los Alamos and partner technologies honored for innovation and utility

LOS ALAMOS, N.M., July 8, 2013—R&D Magazine today announced the winners of its annual “R&D 100” competition, commonly known as the “Oscars of Innovation,” and three technologies from Los Alamos National Laboratory and its partners are among the honorees.

“The innovation and creativity shown in this year’s awards is truly inspiring. It gives me great confidence in the Laboratory’s intellectual vitality and ongoing role in national security science. Congratulations to our researchers and their partners,” said Los Alamos National Laboratory Director Charles McMillan.

A Digital X-ray Imager for Field Use

 MiniMAX is a battery powered, digital x-ray imaging system that is completely self-contained, lightweight, compact and portable. Its applications include homeland security (postal inspection of suspicious packages and explosive ordnance disposal), nondestructive testing, weld inspection, disaster relief (to triage broken bones and confirm dental X-rays) and for field and veterinary medicine. (Joint entry with Los Alamos, Leica Camera AG, JDS Uniphase and JENOPTIK Optical Systems LLC.)
Nuclear Fission for Spacecraft

KiloPower uses a nuclear fission system as a heat source that transfers heat via a heat pipe to a small Stirling-engine-based power convertor to produce electricity from uranium. With KiloPower, it is possible for NASA and other government and industrial organizations to continue developing probes and spacecraft for the exploration of deep space. (Joint entry with Los Alamos, NASA Glenn Research Center and National Security Technologies, LLC.)
Cosmic Ray Muons for Contraband Detection

Multi-Mode Passive Detection System (MMPDS) is a scanning device using muon particles from cosmic rays for quickly detecting unshielded to heavily shielded nuclear and radiological threats as well as explosives and other contraband. (Joint entry with Los Alamos and Decision Sciences International Corporation.)
But wait, there’s more. . .

Los Alamos was also a joint winner with Sandia National Laboratories, which led the work, on

Mantevo Suite 1.0: This suite of software prototypes or small sections of code allows computational scientists to measure the performance of new computing environments and helps in the design of future computing applications. (Joint entry with Sandia, Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories, the United Kingdom-based Atomic Weapons Establishment and Santa Clara-based NVIDIA Corp.)
A History of Success

Since 1978 when it first competed, Los Alamos has won 129 of the prestigious R&D100 awards that celebrate the top 100 proven technological advances of the year as judged by R&D Magazine. These technologies include innovative new materials, chemistry breakthroughs, biomedical products, consumer items, testing equipment, and high-energy physics.

In the years since 1995, winning innovations have returned more than $45 million in funding to Los Alamos in the form of Cooperative Research and Development Agreements, Work for Others, User Facility Agreements and licenses. An estimated 80 patent awards have been associated with winners with many more patents pending. Some 25 percent of LANL's commercial licenses and 35 percent of noncommercial licenses can be attributed to R&D 100 winners.

INEXPENSIVE HANDHELD TESTS FOR DISEASES ARE IN SIGHT

Inexpensive handheld tests for diseases are in sight

IMPROVED MEDICAL IMPLANTS COMES FROM NANORESTRUCTURING

Improved medical implants comes from nanostructuring

RESEARCHERS DEVELOP IMPROVED BOOTS FOR MOUNTAIN MILITARY MISSIONS

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Face of Defense: Researchers Develop Better Mountain Combat Boot

By Bob Reinert
U.S. Army Garrison Natick

NATICK, Mass., June 21, 2013 - What it all comes down to is keeping soldiers' minds on their missions in Afghanistan, rather than on their feet.


That's how Ben Cooper views the development of the Hot Weather Mountain Combat Boot, at the U.S. Army's Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center here.

Development of the new boot began in early 2011, and Cooper thought it was so important that he got permission to continue working on the boot after leaving the Footwear Performance Laboratory to become a senior materials engineer for the Air Force, still located at Natick.

"Ben was so involved in the early phases of this and had been really running this project superbly, I thought that it was a good idea that he was able to continue on this project," said Bob Hall, the current Army footwear engineer for the boot.

"Obviously, in these fiscal times, being able to join together and work toward a common goal for the warfighter and for our country, I think, is the most important thing," Cooper said. "My supervisors have been very supportive about me taking time to help out and support the Army with this effort, and we're all happy to do it.

"The Air Force has been a team player in this," he continued. "It's a sister service -- one team, one fight."

Cooper and Hall are working with Program Executive Office Soldier and Product Manager Soldier Clothing and Individual Equipment to unveil phase two of the boot. Phase one -- a lighter, more breathable version of the popular Mountain Combat Boot -- has been issued to every soldier deploying to Afghanistan for the past year. As many as 200,000 pairs of the boots have been fielded with great success.

"[For] the amount of boots that are out there, we've had very, very few complaints," Hall said.

"Soldiers will give you honest feedback," Cooper said. "We haven't heard bad things. In this business, silence is a great thing."

Cooper pointed out that nothing like the HWMCB existed before soldiers in Afghanistan began asking for it two years ago.

"We were trying to develop and identify the salient characteristics of a Hot Weather Mountain Combat Boot," Cooper said. "Since it was a new item, it's not commercially available. We evaluated three different material solutions at that time from three different manufacturers."

Using soldier feedback from phase one, which included requests for more breathability, Cooper and Hall confidently strode into phase two.

"We cherry-picked the very best features on each of the boots, and we provided that feedback to industry," Cooper said. "They responded and provided new solutions, updated solutions."

Three new styles are now being evaluated at the National Training Center, Fort Irwin, Calif., by units from the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, based at Fort Carson, Colo. Each boot is nearly a half-pound lighter than the original mountain boot.

"Due to Afghanistan's unique climate and environment, they needed a boot that not only would provide them ankle stability and traction and durability, but they also needed greater breathability," Cooper said. "It's a balancing act. We were constantly walking that fine line. I think that we have worked with industry tirelessly on trying to make sure that we accomplish exactly what the warfighter wants and needs."

Industry made the boots more breathable by including moisture-wicking linings, perforating the leather, and inserting textiles wherever possible between the leather and rubber, without compromising stability.

"It took some creative approaches to be able to do that," Cooper said. "If you're kicking rocks, and you're crawling, and you're in the prone position, you need to be able to not have this thing rip."

Cooper will travel to Fort Irwin at the end of June with Chris King, of the Operational Forces Interface Group at Natick, to collect data from soldiers on the 285 pairs of boots that had been issued to them.

"We're going to go meet them as soon as they get out of the box at NTC," Cooper said. "I think the phase one boots were fairly well received. We would expect to find more positive feedback. We're hopeful that we're going in the right direction."

The goal is a technical specification for a boot that could be supplied by any manufacturer. When it's achieved, it will be because of the collaborative atmosphere at Natick, Cooper said.

"I can walk down the hall and speak with the foremost expert in [fire-resistant] clothing and apparel," he said. "I can walk down the other end of the hall and talk to the foremost expert in cold-weather equipment, in mountaineering gear, in footwear.

"I think that's just part of the culture that is here, and I'm proud to be a part of that," Cooper continued. "We were able to leverage all the resources that we have available to us."

U.S.-JAPAN MEET ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COOPERATION

FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
U.S.-Japan Joint High-Level Committee Meeting on Science and Technology Cooperation
Media Note
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
April 30, 2013

　

Dr. John P. Holdren, Assistant to the President and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Ichita Yamamoto, Minister of State for Science and Technology Policy, and Hakubun Shimomura, Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology convened the twelfth Joint High-Level U.S.-Japan Committee (JHLC) meeting in Washington, DC, on April 30. Drawing on over twenty-five years of science cooperation under the U.S.-Japan Science and Technology Agreement, the JHLC provides a regular opportunity to exchange views on some of the most important science and technology endeavors in our countries, and to prioritize future collaboration.

The JHLC brought together representatives from a wide range of government agencies in both countries to discuss three key topics: research and researcher exchanges; risk communication and scientific analysis for policy decision-making; and leveraging science and technology for economic growth. Among the experts making presentations, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), and Japan’s Cabinet Office discussed lessons learned in emergency management following Hurricane Sandy and the Great East Japan Earthquake. During the meeting, the U.S. Department of Energy and Japan’s MEXT signed an Implementing Arrangement on cooperation in research and development in energy and related fields.

At the JHLC, the United States and Japan reaffirmed the importance of human resource development and international research exchanges, and agreed to continue to enhance research cooperation and exchanges in science and technology. Both sides also endorsed several priority areas for continued research cooperation, including initiatives to enhance energy and natural resource research, develop supercomputing software, increase the use of big data to support disaster prevention and mitigation, and continue to work together to develop critical and advanced materials.

The JHLC participants also reaffirmed the benefit of industry-academia collaboration for innovation, and decided to explore possible cooperation through programs such as MEXT’s Center of Innovation Science and Technology based Radical Innovation (COI STREAM), MEXT’s Entrepreneurship Program, and the National Science Foundation's Innovation Corps (I-Corps).

The United States and Japan also agreed to continue to advance robust collaboration in science and technology-related fields, including exchanging views on possible future partnerships to promote the use of scientific knowledge in policy decision-making and exploring mechanisms to address common challenges in the Asia region.

Following the morning government-to-government meeting, the U.S. Department of State and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace hosted an Open Forum to extend the U.S.-Japan discussion to include participants from universities, think tanks, and the private sector. JHLC Open Forum participants noted the important societal benefits that accrue from cross-sectoral exchanges and emphasized the importance of continuing these kinds of dialogues.

DEFENSE INVESTMENTS AND INNOVATION, INDUSTRY

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Science, Technology Investments to Focus on Innovation, Industry

By Amaani Lyle
American Forces Press Service

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md., April 24, 2013 - To meet the Defense Department's 21st century security objectives, its science and technology funding will focus on innovation and industry, the acting assistant secretary of defense for research and engineering said here today.

In remarks at the National Defense Industrial Association's 14th annual science and engineering technology conference, Alan Shaffer said mitigation, affordability and surprise technology lay the foundation for the DOD's science and technology commitments.

Shaffer noted a rise in the commons known as technology enablers that include space, cyberspace and the oceans. "These are the places that no one owns and yet enable all our operational systems," he said.

In electronic warfare, Shaffer explained, the United States has enjoyed pre-eminent electronic detection systems with its allies, but now must maintain balance in the electromagnetic spectrum for its systems to operate.

"Increasingly, a space communications layer is vulnerable to being jammed," he said. "Space is contested. Space is no longer assured -- nobody owns cyber, but it certainly will [affect] how we're thinking about the world."

In cyberspace, research and resilience of data are key, Shaffer said. "We need robustness and ... the ability to operate through any type of cyberattack," he added.

And considering cyberspace as a science is critical, he said.

"I can go out and measure warheads," Shaffer said. "How do you measure cyber as to whether or not you're improving?" DOD also must continue countering weapons of mass destruction through sensors, network analytics, data integration and predictive tools, he told the audience.

Developing new tools and more prototyping within DOD and throughout industry are important to affordability, Shaffer said.

"Right now, it [takes] roughly 20 years to field a new weapon system," he noted. "The requirement cycle cannot envision where you're going to be in that period of time." The services are using a program called Engineered Resilient Systems, which develops predictive tools to execute an open system design and perform thousands of system trades with larger, more complex systems within a computer, Shaffer said.

Typically, he explained, technology investment involves money and a lot of time in early basic research before encountering a concept, then learning about a capability that grows rapidly before flattening out.

"I don't want to continue to have to invest in older, mature technologies where we flattened out some," Shaffer said. "I want to create surprise for other folks. That means the DOD must continue to invest in a lot of concepts in basic research, look for the maturation, and then put some big bets behind things to hit the high part of the growth curve."

DOD science and technology also will encompass human systems, he said, from realistic and immersive training to better man-machine interface.

Analysts will further research how humans can better interface with platforms, and how DOD can reduce time for a human to better operate a system, he added.

TRACKING AVIFAUNA IN CHILE'S THORN-SCRUB

FROM: NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Into the Matorral: Scientists Track Avifauna in Coastal Chile's Thorn-Scrub

Camanchaca, or coastal fog, drapes the mountains of coastal north-central Chile, supporting remnants of a Valdivian temperate rainforest. The forest is a legacy of the last glacial period.

Surrounding the rainforest is coastal matorral habitat. In this thorn-scrub zone, shrubs brandish spines to protect themselves from being eaten by herbivores.

Meros, or giant shrike-tyrants; degus, small mammals active in daytime; and giant hummingbirds live in the matorral's tangled vegetation.

The Chilean matorral is part of a biome known as "Mediterranean forests, woodlands and scrub." It covers central Chile, with the Pacific Ocean just to its west. To its north lies the dry-as-dust Atacama Desert, which separates the matorral from the tropical forests of northern South America.

Braving the thorn-scrub are scientists Douglas Kelt, Andrew Engilis, Jr., and Robert Walsh of the University of California at Davis; Peter Meserve of Northern Illinois University; Juan Monardez of the Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity in Santiago, Chile; and Julio Gutierrez of the Universidad de La Serena in Chile.

They work in the coastal matorral, making their way through low, soft scrublands that extend from La Serena in the north to Valparaiso in the south.

Coastal mattoral, says Kelt, is similar to the coastal sage scrub of southern California. Typical flowers are daisies and wild fuchsias.

The team is studying the seasonal patterns of birds in the matorral of Chile's Bosque de Fray Jorge National Park. The park is perhaps best-known for its Valdivian temperate rainforests. The camanchacas that hang on the mountain slopes allow the forests to survive despite their arid surroundings.

Birdlife in the rainforests--and in the matorral--is abundant in this biodiversity hotspot.

The scientists published results of six years of research on the avian fauna of Bosque de Fray Jorge's matorral in a recent issue of the journal The Condor.

Birds identified as permanent residents, summer or winter visitors, or migrants passing through included the dark-faced ground tyrant, band-winged nightjar, giant hummingbird and green-backed firecrown. In total, the researchers recorded 56 bird species.

In a comparison of summer and winter seasons, the researchers discovered that bird diversity varied greatly in the park. "Eighteen species constituted a core group of residents in almost all our surveys," says Kelt, the paper's lead author, "but at least another 15 species were nomadic or migratory."

The site supported more insect-eating birds in winter, but more seed-eaters and generalist-feeders during the breeding season.

The avifauna of the Fray Jorge thorn-scrub may be largely made up of insectivores and seed-eaters, but it also includes some birds that are carnivorous, among them the aplomado falcon, cinereous harrier and short-eared owl.

Last but certainly not least, says Engilis, a single piscivore, or fish-eater, was spotted: the Peruvian booby. "This marine forager isn't a typical element of the thorn-scrub fauna, however," he says.

Rainfall at the site fluctuated over the study's six years, "but the change was minor compared with that caused by El Nino over the 20-year duration of our research," says Engilis.

"This study relies on long-term observations to reveal key ecological characteristics of bird communities in a biodiversity hotspot in northern Chile," says Saran Twombly, program director in the National Science Foundation (NSF)'s Division of Environmental Biology, which funded the research.

"The results provide the foundation needed to evaluate the effects of climate variation, such as El Nino events, and of human-induced climate change, on both local and global biodiversity."

Although the scientists documented many species that are seasonally abundant, says Kelt, "what's not clear is whether these species are nomadic wanderers or truly migratory--or where they go when they leave the park."

Migration isn't as common in South America as in North America, says Meserve, in part because of the smaller area of temperate habitat. But many species in Chile move "latitudinally, altitudinally, or across the Andes with the seasons."

Birds at Fray Jorge likely migrate across both altitudes and latitudes. Some species, such as the white-crested elania and rufous-tailed plantcutter move across latitudes. During banding efforts in 2008, both species were found with large fat reserves reminiscent of North American migratory species covering long distances, says Engilis.

Learning more about South American migration patterns should be a priority, say the scientists.

The effects of climate change are on the horizon. New insights are important, the researchers believe, for current and future conservation and management decisions for Bosque de Fray Jorge National Park, and for other such biodiversity hotspots