Suzanne Clancy

REGIONAL GROUPS

by Suzanne Clancy

D.C. Science Writers Association

DCSWA went underground this fall to find out how and why researchers hunt down dark matter and those pesky little particles called neutrinos. Panelists for the September event were microbiologist/biogeochemist Tullis Onstott of Princeton University, who is looking for exotic subterranean microbes in South African gold mines; hydrogeologist Brian McPherson of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, who works on sequestering greenhouse gases from the atmosphere in subsurface aquifers; and astrophysicist Francis Halzen of the University of Wisconsin in Madison, who studies high-energy neutrinos below Antarctic ice.

Indian summer lasted long enough for a pleasant October canoe tour of the D.C.-area’s Anacostia River ecosystem. The five-mile paddle was led by a member of the Anacostia Watershed Society.

To better appreciate Thanksgiving dinner and other holiday traditions, DCSWAns learned about the biology, chemistry, and physics of cuisine from anthropologist David Guillet of Catholic University, as well as nutrition and food scientist Richard Ahrens and biological anthropologist Fatimah Jackson, both from the University of Maryland.

Northern California Science Writers Association

At a September dinner, NCSWA members heard husband-and-wife geologists Mark and Mary Lou Zoback discuss a subject of personal as well as professional interest to those who live in the Bay Area-earthquakes. Mary Lou, a research geophysicist at the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, discussed how she assesses the risk of earthquakes in the Bay Area, and indicated that previously announced risks of quakes along major faults may soon be revised. Mark, geophysics professor at Stanford University, spoke about an international research collaboration to drill a 1.4-mile-deep pilot hole along the San Andreas Fault near the Central California town of Parkfield-site of one of the longest ongoing earthquake experiments in the world. Drilling was completed this summer, and instruments installed in the hole are helping scientists better understand seismic activity along the 800-mile fault. The pilot hole will provide data for an even more ambitious project that requires Congressionally approved funds: the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth (SAFOD). This 2.4-mile bore hole parallel to the pilot hole will cross the San Andreas Fault and determine the amount of stress required to make the fault slip.

In November, NCSWA sponsored a day-long workshop on freelance writing (see story). The workshop was NCSWA's latest effort to help members with professional development.

San Diego Science Writers Association

San Diego-area science writers turned out to support NASW authors Mitch Waldrop and Tom Siegfried when they recently came to southern California. Waldrop was on tour promoting his book The Dream Machine, which just came out in paperback. (The hardcover book tour fell victim to Sept. 11. That saga is recounted in the Spring 2002 issue of SW). Siegfried signed copies of his new book, Strange Matters, at the Midnight Special bookstore in Santa Monica. Both San Diego- and L.A.-area science writers were on hand to ask embarrassing questions.

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Suzanne Clancy is a science writer with The Burnham Institute in La Jolla, Calif. Send information about regional meetings and events to sclancy@burnham.org.