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"Discovery Files" Features from the National Science Foundation
"Beetlemania"
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LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE BEETLES! THE "DISCOVERY FILES": NEW ADVANCES IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, FROM THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION. THIS ISN'T "MEET THE BEATLES"; IT'S MORE LIKE "SEEK THE BEETLES". A TEAM OF ENTYMOLOGISTS FROM MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY IS ON A GLOBAL SEARCH FOR RARE BEETLES, TO HELP FILL IN GAPS IN BEETLES' EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY. THE INTERNATIONAL PROJECT IS CALLED, "BEETLE TREE OF LIFE". RESEARCHERS HOPE TO COLLECT AS MUCH D-N-A, LARVAE, AND ADULTS AS POSSIBLE. THIS SCIENTIFIC SCAVENGER HUNT IS TAKING THEM TO ITALY, MALAYSIA, INDIA, VIETNAM, KOREA, AND POSSIBLY BORNEO, ON A QUEST FOR THE LITTLE BUGGERS. ARMED WITH CLUES FROM PAST DISCOVERIES, THESE DEDICATED SLEUTHS WILL LEAVE NO LIKELY STONE UNTURNED--AND NO PROBABLE HABITAT UNCHECKED. BUT, NO MATTER HOW DILIGENT THEY ARE, SOME SPECIES ARE SO RARE AND ELUSIVE THAT THESE BEETLE-MANIACS SAY THEY'LL BE LUCKY TO FIND 10-PERCENT OF THE SPECIMENS THEY'RE MOST INTERESTED IN LOCATING. IT'S KIND OF LIKE SEARCHING FOR A BEETLE IN A HAYSTACK. THE "DISCOVERY FILES" COVERS PROJECTS FUNDED BY THE GOVERNMENT'S NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION: FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH BROUGHT TO YOU BY YOU! LEARN MORE AT "N-S-F"-DOT-GOV.
For additional "Discovery Files" features from the National Science Foundation, click here.
