president
President Obama spurred a dramatic change in the way whites think about African-Americans before he had even set foot in the Oval Office, according to a new study.
Scientists aboard the U.S. research vessel Laurence M Gould, 10,000 miles from Washington off Antarctica, held their own presidential inaugural celebration on Jan. 20. Stopped in desolate, icy seas for three days to do climate-change research, they dubbed their temporary study area Ocean Station Obama.
Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton today announced the availability of a new report that highlights the Bush administration's efforts to increase interest in the development and use of renewable energy resources found on America's public lands. The 26-page report, Renewable Resources for America's Future, show that lands managed by the Department of the Interior provide 48 percent of the nation's geothermal energy, 17 percent of hydropower and close to 10 percent of the nation's wind energy production.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced the tentative approval of a co-packaged antiretroviral drug regimen manufactured by Aspen Pharmacare of South Africa for the treatment of HIV-1 infection in adults. The agency's tentative approval means that although existing patents and/or exclusivity prevent U.S. marketing of Aspen's product, it meets FDA's quality, safety and efficacy standards for U.S. marketing. This action makes this product available for potential procurement by President Bush's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.
President Bush on Nov. 24 officially appointed Arden L. Bement, Jr., as the 12th director of the National Science Foundation (NSF), the independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across nearly all fields of science and engineering. Bement has been NSF's acting director since Feb. 22, 2004. For the time he was acting NSF director, he also held the position of Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) within the U.S. Department of Commerce. He was appointed NIST director in 2001.
Robert Fox Bacher, a renowned California Institute of Technology physicist who headed the experimental physics division at Los Alamos Laboratory during the Manhattan Project, died Thursday, November 18, in Montecito, California. He was 99. Bacher was affiliated with MIT's Radiation Laboratory when the Manhattan Project began, and took a leave of absence to head the experimental physics division and, once the bomb-production phase began, the bomb physics division. After the war he became one of the first members of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, and also served on the President's Science Advisory Committee during the Eisenhower Administration.
Intercepting missiles while their rockets are still burning would not be an effective approach for defending the U.S. against attacks by an important type of enemy missile. This conclusion comes from an independent study by the American Physical Society into the scientific and technical feasibility of boost-phase defense. President George Bush has expressed confidence in U.S. missile defense programs, which are currently planned to include boost-phase defenses as well as other defensive measures, and plans to spend $10 billion on the effort in 2005.
Gordon Cooper Jr., the astronaut who piloted the sixth and last flight of the Mercury program and later commanded Gemini 5, died earlier today at his home in Ventura, Calif. He was 77 years old. ''Gordon Cooper was a pioneer of human space exploration,'' said President George W. Bush. ''He was one of the original seven Mercury astronauts, logging more than 225 hours in space throughout his distinguished career. He also served his country in the United States Air Force and received numerous awards including the Distinguished Flying Cross. Laura joins me in sending our condolences to the entire Cooper family.''
Television viewers don't develop their views about the president and national politics just by watching the news. New research suggests that crime dramas like NYPD Blue and Third Watch may have an influence on political attitudes as well. In three related studies, researchers found that viewers of crime dramas were more likely than others to view crime as one of the top issues -- and often the top issue -- facing our country.
When the federal government issues a terrorist warning, presidential approval ratings jump, a Cornell University sociologist finds. Interestingly, terrorist warnings also boost support for the president on issues that are largely irrelevant to terrorism, such as his handling of the economy.
After years of resisting such findings, the White House acknowledged this week that humans have caused the spike in global warming over the last three decades. The report, "Our Changing Planet," finds that warming in the first part of the 20th century was likely due to natural climate variation, but that the 0.5?C rise over the second half of the century can only be explained by human activity, such as carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions.
Taking to the streets to demonstrate and protest is more effective than working inside the system to influence the passage of pro-environmental legislation in the United States, according to a new study analyzing the impact of the environmental movement. The study also found that a pro-environmental bill has a much better chance of being approved by Congress when Democrats are the majority party, but contrary to public perception, a bill's odds of passage actually decrease slightly under a Democratic president.
Two UCLA economists say they have figured out why the Great Depression dragged on for almost 15 years, and they blame a suspect previously thought to be beyond reproach: President Franklin D. Roosevelt. After scrutinizing Roosevelt's record for four years, Harold L. Cole and Lee E. Ohanian conclude in a new study that New Deal policies signed into law 71 years ago thwarted economic recovery for seven long years.
A skillful mixing of religion and politics helped President Bush silence critics and sell his policies on terrorism and Iraq to the nation, according to a new book that analyzes hundreds of public communications and news reports. As Bush makes his case for a second term, the research by David Domke documents how during his first term the president effectively linked religious terminology with political goals in the turbulent months after the Sept. 11 attacks.
The American National Standards Institute announced today the formation of the Nanotechnology Standards Panel (ANSI-NSP), a new coordinating body for the development of standards in the area of nanotechnology. Nanotechnology refers to research and technology development at the atomic or molecular level aimed at creating and using structures, devices, and systems that have novel properties and functions because of their small size. The panel will convene September 29-30, 2004, at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, MD, to focus its initial work on nomenclature and terminology.
