Inez Fung Wins Nobel Peace Prize?

Well, not exactly. But sort of. This year’s 2007 Nobel Peace Prize was given to former Vice President Al Gore, Jr., and to an important group of scientists. The group of scientists is called the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC for short. Inez contributed to the IPCC. She was one of the authors of an important report about the physical science of climate change.  
Read more about it.

Bones Found in Russia Might be Missing Romanovs

Remember the chapter about the Romanov family in Bone Detective: The Story of Forensic Anthropologist Diane France? The bones of two of the Romanov children were missing. The Russians said the missing skeletons were the son, Alexis, and the daughter, Maria. But Diane France disagreed. After looking at the skeletons, she believed Anastasia (the youngest) was missing, not Maria. In August 2007, authorities found two skeletons that they believe are the missing Romanov children! Diane would love to take a look at the bones but she’s not sure she’ll be invited to do that. Determining the identities should be pretty simple, she says. “The thing is—after DNA identifies them as Romanovs, the rest is easy—you just have to see whether or not the girl's bones are older or younger than the ones they already have. If they are younger, they are Anastasia. If they are older, they are Maria.”

Cynthia Breazeal Debates Star Wars’ C-3PO

Ever wonder what it would be like to debate a robot about robotics? Robot designer Cynthia Breazeal does just that in a traveling exhibit called Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination.  In one part of this far-out exhibit, visitors step inside a model of a Jawa Sandcrawler and meet C-3PO and Cynthia. (She’s not really there—it’s a video projection of her.) The two debate the strengths and weaknesses of R2-D2 and talk about how researchers build certain traits into robots. Check out the schedule to see where the exhibit will be next.

Equinox for Uranus

This stuff is SO out of this world!! You probably remember from reading Beyond Jupiter that equinoxes on Uranus are about 42 Earth years apart. December 7, 2007, was the last one and Heidi Hammel kept a close eye on the planet. She and other astronomers saw exciting things happen, including an eclipse of Ariel, one of Uranus’ moons (above), the sudden appearance of a dark spot (which reminds a lot of people of the Great Dark Spot Heidi discovered on Neptune), and colors—red and blue—for two newly discovered rings. Author Fred Bortz tracks Heidi’s latest and greatest discoveries about Uranus and Neptune. To get all the 411 and stay in the know, visit his Web site.

What Do Nancy Wexler and Ben Franklin Have in Common?

Nancy now has an award named after him! The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, PA, awarded Nancy the 2007 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Science. The medal is for her role in discovering the gene responsible for Huntington’s disease. As she worked on Huntington’s disease, she developed a model that’s now used to investigate the genetic side of other inherited diseases.

iWASwondering.org Scientists Sign Free Copies of Their Books

Mimi Koehl, Shirley Ann Jackson, and Inez Fung met fans and signed free copies of their biographies during Family Science Day at the AAAS Annual Conference in San Francisco, CA, on February 21, 2007. Enthusiastic readers of all ages lined up for the chance to chat with these amazing women. There were so many fans, in fact, the scientists added an extra half hour to their signing time so they could meet everyone.

iWASwondering.org Finalist for AEP Award

How much does this rock? In March 2007, the American Association of Educational Publishers selected www.iWASwondering.org as one of four finalists for a Distinguished Achievement Award in the category of educational science Web sites for grades 6 to 8. Even though the site wasn’t selected as the winner, it was such an awesome honor to be nominated!

Breazeal Featured on NOVA scienceNOW

The PBS program NOVA scienceNOW profiled Cynthia Breazeal on their November 21, 2006, program. They focused on her cutting edge work in robotics and what her life—at work and at home—is like. Check out the video and read the transcript of the online question and answer session.

iWASwondering.org Gets Rave Review in Discover

The June 2006 issue of the popular science magazine Discover included a terrific review of iWASwondering.org and the Women’s Adventures in Science book series. “Most important… both the Web site and book series dismantle the stereotypes of women scientists as spectacled spinsters locked in a lab.” Yeah! That’s right! Read the full review.

It's a Launch!

When the paperback version of the Women’s Adventures in Science series came out, the National Academy of Sciences wanted to celebrate! On April 28, 2006, four scientists from the series—Cynthia Breazeal, Diane France, Heidi Hammel, and Adriana Ocampo—plus a few other notable women in science met in Washington, DC. First they were part of a panel that talked about what it's like to be a woman in science. Then Adriana (shown above), Cynthia, and Diane led demonstrations of their work with 60 students from local DC schools.