February Science Picks - Scientific Story Ideas for Almost Every Occasion

[Denver Makle <dmakle@xxxxxxxx>]

USGS Office of Communications
Science Picks—Leads,
Feeds, and Story Seeds 
February 2006 Edition

For Release:  UPON
RECEIPT

It’s a new year, and if your resolution
is to provide readers with fascinating science stories, USGS has a story
for you. Science Picks bring the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) science
to you, helping you cover ongoing earth and natural science research, investigations,
and technology. Photos and Web links are provided to enhance your story.
If you would like to receive Science Picks via email, would like to change
the recipient, or no longer want to receive it, please email dmakle@xxxxxxxx.

January Highlights: 

·        Avian
Influenza—A Little Known Fact, or Is It?
·        Seattle
Slides as Seahawks Ride High
·        Winter
Games are Mineral Wonderland
·        Avoiding
a Crash from Volcanic Ash
·        60
Years — Celebrating an Extraordinary Career
·        Mr.
Earthquake Hangs His USGS Hat; Retires After 51 Years
·        Shaken
Not Stirred — Torino and the Italian Alps
·        Did
you Lose Your Heart in San Francisco?
·        2006
Super Bowl Means GIS Provides Super Security
·        Partnership
Puts Earthquake Science in the Classroom
·        "Preventing
'the Next New Orleans'” Topic for Professional Meeting

LEADS:

Avian Influenza—A Little Known
Fact, or Is It? In May 2005, avian influenza was detected in wild bar-headed
geese in Qinghai, China, for the first time since 1961. During the outbreak,
it is estimated that 5 to 10 percent of the world’s population of bar-headed
geese may have perished. Want to know the facts? USGS has posted brand-new
Frequently Asked
Questions concerning avian
influenza. To learn more about avian influenza research or the comprehensive
surveillance and detection program for 2006, contact Catherine Puckett
at (352) 264-3532 or cpuckett@xxxxxxxx.
Information is also available at www.nwhc.usgs.gov.

Seattle Slides as Seahawks Ride
High: Seattle’s victorious Seahawks are headed for the Super Bowl
as their home city sets its own records for continuous days of rain in
the forecast. Weeks of almost constant rainfall forebode floods and the
inevitable landslides that follow. USGS keeps watch on Puget Sound area
rainfall and slide conditions through the USGS Landslides Hazards Team
located in Golden, Colorado. The group takes advantage of new research
into the causes and effects of landslides on slope stability and more than
70 years of continuous monitoring of rainfall and flood conditions. A number
of helpful Web sites have been created to provide information to first
responders and interested members of the public.  USGS has established
rainfall thresholds based on rain gauges and historic data, noting that
90 percent of landslide activity has occurred after the threshold has been
exceeded. For rainfall gage distribution and thresholds in the Seattle
area, see http://landslides.usgs.gov/monitoring/seattle/rtd/.
During landslide events, check hazard alert status at http://www.usgs.gov/hazard_alert/alerts/landslides.rss.
For more information, contact
Rex Baum at 303-273-8610 or baum@xxxxxxxx,
Edwin Harp at 303-273-8557 or harp@xxxxxxxx,
or Stephanie Hanna at 206-331-0335 or shanna@xxxxxxxx.

Winter Games are Mineral Wonderland:
This year at the Winter Olympic Games, think minerals—aluminum, copper,
zinc. The Olympic torch was originally made of wood, but now it's high-tech,
with an aluminum body and inside fittings of steel, copper, and heat-resistant
polymers. The medals really do contain gold, silver, and bronze (copper
alloyed with zinc). Minerals are everywhere,
including Torino, Italy. USGS collects, analyzes, and disseminates data
on current production and consumption of about 100 mineral-based commodities
and raw materials, such as steel, for the U.S. and about 180 other countries.
Evaluating available mineral resources is the first step in building and
manufacturing nearly everything and understanding the global economy. More
information on minerals
at the Olympic Games is
available on the USGS Web site, or check out the "Mineral
Commodity Summaries 2006."
 This annual report says the value of U.S. nonfuel mine production
rose by double digits; in fact, there was a 13 percent increase from 2004.
For more information, contact Lucy McCartan at (703) 648-6905 or lmccarta@xxxxxxxxx

Avoiding a Crash from
Volcanic Ash: Augustine
Volcano, a 1250-meter-high
stratovolcano in southwestern Cook Inlet, AK, erupted on January 11, 2006.
Although its pyroclastic flows and lahars (volcanic mud flows) posed little
threat to populations on the ground, it did produce a volcanic ash plume
that reached more than 30,000 feet above sea level, posing a serious threat
to jet aircraft and creating the potential for significant disruption to
aviation in the very busy air corridor over Alaska. Costs for the airlines
of severe encounters with the plume range from millions of dollars to refurbish
airliners (e.g., US$5 M for a severity-3 encounter with ash from Mijake-jima
volcano in 2000) to several tens of millions of dollars to replace engines
and other components. The January 11 event was just the beginning of an
eruption phase at Augustine Volcano; the threat of additional explosive,
ash-forming events is far from over.
 Learn how scientists are
aiding the industry in developing strategies for the mitigation of losses.
For more information, contact Stephanie Hanna at (206) 220-4573 or at shanna@xxxxxxxx.

60 Years — Celebrating an Extraordinary
Career: If you ask Chandler Robbins, retiring USGS research biologist,
about his 60 year career at USGS, he’ll tell you it was for the birds!
In the late 1940s, Robbins pointed out the deadly effects of DDT on bird
populations that led to the 1972 U.S. ban on DDT as a pesticide.
He has authored or co-authored more than 500 papers, books, and reports
on ornithology. Need a feature story? Join Chan in Laurel, Md. as fellow
scientists and officials celebrate an extraordinary government scientist.
For more information, contact Marilyn Whitehead at (301) 497-5503 or marilyn_whitehead@xxxxxxxx.

Mr. Earthquake Hangs His USGS
Hat; Retires After 51 Years: After five-plus decades of educating audiences
around the globe about earthquakes, USGS scientist Waverly Person is calling
it quits. Person, a long-time Boulder, Colo., resident, is well-known among
media circles as “the person” to call when an earthquake happens anywhere
in the world; he is a fixture whom many people recognize as Mr. Earthquake.
Before becoming a government scientist, he served in both World War II
and the Korean War with the U.S. Army. He then took his bachelor's in mathematics
to a position as a science technician with the Department of Commerce,
which oversaw Federal seismic monitoring in the 1950s.  Behind the
public view, Person has some historical feats to boast.  He marched
alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and has been coined the nation’s
first black earthquake seismologist. His last day at USGS will be Friday,
Feb. 3. For more information, contact Heidi Koontz at (303) 202-4763 or
at hkoontz@xxxxxxxx.
 

FEEDS:


Shaken Not Stirred — Torino
and the Italian Alps: When watching the upcoming Olympic Games from
the comfort of one’s home or from the stands of Torino, Italy, one might
wonder how those beautiful mountains got there. The answer? Layers of liquid
rock called "mantle." The Earth's crust is broken up into many
pieces that float on the mantle, and Italy is at the edge of one of those
pieces. In fact, it's colliding with the African continent. As a result,
the region has experienced many earthquakes, but the magnificent Alps have
been the payoff. When will the next earthquake hit this corner of Italy?
Could it happen during the games?  No one can answer that question
for sure, but USGS has made real-time earthquake information available
on Italy
and other national
and international locales.
For more information, contact Lucy McCartan at 
(703) 648-6905 or lmccarta@xxxxxxxxx

Did You Lose Your Heart in San
Francisco?  Is your heart in the mountains or at the beach?  Or
is your heart's delight in a swamp? That's right; Hearts Delight Pocosin
is a swamp in Bertie, N.C.  Hopefully, it isn't smack in the middle
of Dead Heart Slough in Morton, N.D.
Search for your Heart’s Content  (hint: see Warren, Pa.) and you'll
find a piece of your heart in each of the 50
states and four of the territories
with 1,704 features classified using the term "heart" in the
Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). Check holiday-related geographic
names at http://geonames.usgs.gov/.
For more information on GNIS, contact Karen Wood at (703) 648-4447 or kwood@xxxxxxxx.


STORY SEEDS:

2006 Super Bowl means GIS Provides
Super Security: During the 2006 Super Bowl XL game in Detroit, MI,
there will be players, a stadium full of fans, and many memorable images
and moments. What aren’t seen are the behind-the-scenes natural hazard
information, imagery, and geospatial data that is scrutinized by emergency
responders and decision makers as the game floods television screens across
the nation. These data are studied by GIS professionals, just as closely
as viewers who follow
the game. Find out how GIS information
plays a critical role in public safety by maintaining situational awareness
and analysis during high profile events. For more information, contact
Sherry Durst at (303) 202-4333 or at sldurst@xxxxxxxx,
or Denver Makle at (703) 648-4732 or dmakle@xxxxxxxx.

Partnership Puts Earthquake
Science in the Classroom: The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is releasing
two new educational resources to help teachers explain earthquake science.
The educational tools are part of commemoration activities for the 100th
anniversary of The San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. A new USGS publication
"Earthquake
Science Explained,"
highlights how scientists study earthquakes, what evidence they collect,
and what they have learned since “The Great Quake.” “The
Teaching Box” contains
earthquake instructional materials complete with fully developed curriculum,
teaching points, and easy-to-reproduce handouts. For more information,
contact Stephanie Hanna at (206) 220-4573 or at shanna@xxxxxxxxx A complete
list of events, exhibits, lectures, and publications are available at the
1906 Centennial
Alliance Events Web site.

"Preventing 'the Next New
Orleans'” Topic for Professional Meeting: The American Association
for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) will host its annual meeting Feb.16-20,
in St. Louis, Mo. USGS Scientist Dr. Robert Jacobson will discuss “Design
of the Spring Rise on the Lower Missouri River,” Feb. 18, during the conference
press briefing. The briefing topic is "Preventing the Next New Orleans.”
 For more information, contact A.B. Wade at 703-648-4483 or abwade@xxxxxxxx.