PrincetonUniversity Communications Office, Stanhope Hall,
Princeton, NJ 08544 USA The End Astrophysicists say that now they can finally tell us how
the universe will expire--and it's not with a bang! Will the galaxies continue to fly apart forever, their
glow fading until the cosmos is cold and dark? Or will the
expansion slow to a halt, reverse direction and send the
stars crashing back together in a final, apocalyptic Big
Crunch? Despite decades of observations with the most
powerful telescopes at their disposal, astronomers simply
haven't been able to decide. But thanks to a series of remarkable discoveries--the
most recent just two weeks ago--the question may now have
been settled once and for all… According to Einstein, the universe's curvature is
determined by the amount of matter and energy it contains.
The universe we evidently live in could have been flattened
purely by matter--but the new discoveries prove that
ordinary matter and exotic particles add up to only about
35% of what you would need. Ergo, the extra curvature must
come from some unseen energy--just about the amount, it
turns out, suggested by the supernova observations. "I was
highly dubious about dark energy based only on supernovas,"
says Princeton astrophysicist Edwin Turner (no
relation to Michael, though the two often refer to each
other as "my evil twin"). "This makes me take dark energy
more seriously…" The Baltimore Sun, June 23, 2001 Nonprofit groups looking to suburbs Murphy personifies the shifting landscape of Maryland's
nonprofit sector. Once concentrated primarily in Baltimore
and other cities, nonprofit groups have sprouted and grown
so vigorously in the suburbs over the past 20 years that, in
the Baltimore area at least, they now employ more people
than their urban counterparts… "A good deal of charitable giving goes into building and
providing that infrastructure rather than providing
services," says Julian Wolpert, a professor at Princeton
University who has studied the suburbanization of
nonprofits. "Its impact is felt more by the building
industry than by the recipient of services..." The Herald, June 22, 2001 Scientists sink US emissions stance A group of leading American scientists have published
findings that directly undermine President George W Bush's
stance on global warming… The study, by an international consortium of scientists
led by Princeton University, reconciles the
conflicting scientific measurements on the size of the US
carbon sink… The Associated Press, June 21, 2001 New estimates show U.S. part of global warming New estimates of the United States' contribution to
global warming show that forest growth, crops and rivers
absorb a quarter to a half of the nation's yearly 1.5
billion tons of carbon dioxide emitted from burning fossil
fuels. But that cushion against a buildup in atmospheric
greenhouse gases will likely disappear over the next century
as forests mature and absorb less carbon, said Stephen
Pacala, a Princeton University researcher. "That means the greenhouse problem is going to get worse,
not better, because fossil fuel emissions are going up at
the same time," said Pacala, lead author of one of two
carbon absorption studies appearing Friday in the journal
Science…. Pacala said his study shows the amount of carbon dioxide
emissions absorbed through natural processes in the United
States is higher than many estimates though less than a
previous Princeton-led study. That 1998 study, saying
the lower 48 states, southern Canada and Mexico absorb 1.5
billion tons of carbon per year, was criticized by many
scientists as inflated… The Associated Press State & Local Wire, June 20,
2001 Forecasters trying new techniques to improve predictions,
tracking Weather experts are trying some new things this year that
are expected to produce vast improvements in tracking
hurricanes and predicting their intensity. NASA jets will be
dropping measuring devices into a storm from above, and
flying robotic drones could be measuring the hurricane from
below… Researchers now believe that warm ocean temperatures feed
hurricanes. But as hurricanes spin in place, they cool the
waters below them and become weaker. "Until this year, that effect wasn't in our hurricane
model," says Morris Bender, research meteorologist at the
federal Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory at
Princeton University. "And, as a result, it caused our
model ... to overpredict how strong storms are going to
get…" Environmental News Network, June 20, 2001 U.S. Schedules Launch of Space Probe Designed to Study
Formation of Universe A new American space probe scheduled for launch at the
end of June, is designed to answer some of the most basic
questions about how the universe was formed… The Microwave Anisotropy Probe (MAP), a $ 145 million
mission scheduled for launch June 30, will capture the
afterglow of the Big Bang, an event that is believed to have
given birth to the universe. This afterglow, measurable
light, comes to us from a time before there were any stars,
galaxies or quasars, NASA says… The MAP hardware and software were produced by scientists
at Goddard and Princeton… "The cosmic microwave light is a fossil," says MAP team
member Professor David Wilkinson of Princeton
University. "Just as we can study dinosaur bones and
reconstruct their lives of millions of years ago, we can
probe this ancient light and reconstruct the universe as it
was about 14 billion years ago." Salon.com, June 20, 2001 High noon for the morning-after pill With the medical establishment pushing to make it
available over the counter, and anti-abortion groups
fighting to stop it, little-known emergency contraception
could be the next battle in the reproductive wars… As for the medical community, it has been aware of the
existence of emergency contraception since the 1970s. But it
wasn't until the early 1990s, when Dr. James Trussell,
professor of economics and public affairs at
Princeton University, began studying emergency
contraception, that doctors truly realized the pill's
potential. "We decided that promoting emergency contraception was
the single best way to reduce the incidents of unwanted
pregnancy in the U.S., because it involved nothing new --
the technology was already there, it was merely a matter of
educating providers and women about it," explains Trussell,
who, a decade later, has authored a dozen studies on the
subject… USA Today, June 18, 2001 Boeing's Sonic Cruiser: Gambling on speed In 1958, Boeing bet its future on a sleek jet unlike
anything that had come before. The 707 flew higher, faster,
farther and quieter than the propeller planes of the day.
Almost overnight, it catapulted Boeing to the top of the
commercial aviation business… Now Boeing is gambling it can finally build an
economically viable passenger jet that can fly on the verge
of the sound barrier… Jerry Grey, a visiting professor at Princeton
University and nationally known aerodynamics authority,
says, "If I had to guess, I would have to say that it will
probably never be developed and never fly..." The Associated Press State & Local Wire, June 17,
2001 State program aims to help businesses by fighting global
warming Using the best of incentives - money - New Jersey is
recruiting businesses, utilities, colleges and other groups
to fight global warming… [M]any companies and groups pledging to help the
DEP are doing much more, and most of the first ones to sign
on already had an energy-saving program… Princeton University is installing systems that
recapture heat or cool air from exhaust systems in
dormitories and laboratory buildings as they are built or
renovated, and is designing new buildings to use less
energy. It previously replaced its central power plant with
a co-generation system that uses waste heat from making
electricity for heating buildings and water… The Boston Globe, June 17, 2001 Supreme Court's rulings weaken church-state wall Generally, the high court is in step with public opinion.
In a survey conducted in April by the Pew Forum on Religion
and Public Life, 75 percent of respondents said they would
not object to public schools making their facilities
available after regular hours for use by religious
organizations. Among other respondents, 22 percent said they
would object. Robert Wuthnow, a sociologist at Princeton
University who studies attitudes toward religion, said
that most Americans see religion as a good thing in their
personal lives, that they say they want more cooperation
between government and churches, that they support aid to
faith-based institutions, and that they approve of recent
Supreme Court decisions on aid and access for sectarian
groups. "However, when you interview them in depth, people aren't
so sure they want every religion to have the same access,"
Wuthnow said. "The minute a Muslim organization or the
Scientologists come in asking for space in the school,
people will say, 'No, we don't want that to happen…'
" The Columbus Dispatch, June 17, 2001 Teens' vocabulary isn't shrinking -- it's changing [H]ow can anyone suggest that the teen vocabulary
is shrinking? A number of people have, citing this statistic: The
working vocabulary of the average American adolescent had
declined to 10,000 words by 1990, compared with 25,000 in
1945… Princeton University linguist George Miller
speculates that the figure has become an urban legend of
sorts… Measuring the vocabulary of a group as large as American
teens, Miller said, isn't easy. "First of all, it's hard to define what it means to know
a word,'' he said. What it usually means "is the ability to recognize it on
a multiple-choice test, the sort of thing Readers Digest
does each month,'' Miller said. "They give you the word and
four alternative definitions, and you pick the one that's
closest...'' Topeka Capital Journal, June 17, 2001 Aside from figure of speech, what is this thing called
love? For months, a booklet has been drowning in the litter of
my desktop, but now it can help answer the question. Titled "Some Mysteries of Love," it contains the most
recent Lindley Lecture in philosophy at The University of
Kansas. Its author is Harry Frankfurt. He's a professor of philosophy at Princeton
University. His words about love are cool ones. He writes: "Roughly
speaking, love is a disinterested concern for the
flourishing of what is loved." It is not, he says,
infatuation, lust, obsession or dependency. The heart of it
is not even feeling! It is volition and will…
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Time, June 25, 2001