The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, October 14, 1981, Image 13

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    Rational
THE BATTALION Page 13
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1981
^Fireflies ‘light’ the way
to new heart treatment
United Press International
ITHACA, N.Y. (UPI) —
jellies — those winged, noc-
imal creatures which glow
ith a luminescent light — have
used people for ages. They
io have successfully repelled
ds and other predators for
ars with their revolting taste.
Now, researchers at Cornell
iversity say the chemical re-
nsible for the insect’s awful
te may someday he used as a
g to treat certain heart con-
Eisner, who worked on the
project with chemistry profes
sor Jerrold Meinwald, said firef
lies are so distasteful to birds,
jumping spiders, mice and
other predators, that those
animals regurgitated the firefly
immediately if they swallowed
it accidentally.
males fly to the ‘femmes fatales,’
and promptly are eaten by
them.”
It’s what happens next that
could be the key to future
medical research, the scientists
said.
Itions.
This is an example of how
tally unapplied initial dis-
iveries in science can lead to
iforeseen benefits,” biologist
lomas Eisner said.
Prior to Cornell’s revelation,
itural “cardiotonic” agents —
sneficial substances for the
eart muscle — were believed
exist only in certain plants
id in toads used in ancient
hinese medicine.
Fireflies are the only inverte-
ates known to have such a
bstance.
The firefly’s defense mechan
ism is so efiective, the scientists
said, that when they mixed just
a trace of the chemical into
mealworm larvae — considered
a gourmet treat for birds — it
still was rejected.
Once ingested, the defensive
chemical is retained and the
cannibalistic females become as
unappetizing as the lightning
bugs, which naturally produce
the chemicals known as “bufa-
dienolides.”
But Eisner and Meinwald
discovered that the unpalatable
fireflies are pursued actively by
females of another firefly spe
cies that lack the badtasting
chemical.
Those bufadienolides are
presently being studied by re
searchers and pharmaceutical
companies for their medicinal
value.
“These ‘have-not’ females
lure the males who have the de
fensive chemical by imitating
the flashings of the ‘have’
females,” Eisner said.
“Attracted to the signals, the
Eisner said the chemical ex
tract might be used as alterna
tives to chemicals or drugs
already in use, many of which
produce undesirable side
effects.
He also said it had a potential
use in agriculture as a pesticide.
Racial balance in question
e Einxl
igh court rejects case
f condemned Texas man
lack
United Press International
WASHINGTON — The Sup-
e Court Tuesday refused to
1st p into the peculiar case of a con
ned man in Texas, who acting
his own trial attorney, had
ied he was innocent by reason
insanity.
The justices left intact a ruling
holding the conviction and
ath sentence of confessed killer
imuel Christopher Hawkins.
Hawkins was convicted and
tenced to death for killing
onda Keyes, 12, in February
6 during a kidnapping and
:empted rape.
He insisted he was insane and
iject to “uncontrollable sex
;es.”
In his appeal to the Supreme
Court — hand-printed in black
n on notebook paper — Haw-
s challenged whether police
id obtained his confession volun-
The criminal appeals court ini
tially had reversed Hawkins’ con
viction and ordered a retrial based
on the ACLU’s questions about
his mental competence to repre
sent himself. However, the court
later reconsidered, and at the
urgings of both the state and Haw
kins, set aside its decision. Haw
kins had urged the court to act on
.his own appeal, not the ACLU’s.
The legal rights group also
argued the trial court should have
explicitly warned Hawkins of the
problem of trying to represent
himself at the same time he was
basing his defense on insanity.
The state argued that the Texas
Court of Criminal Appeals deci
sion upholding Hawkins’ convic
tion should be left intact.
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He made no challenge of his
ck of professional legal counsel
but that issue was raised in a
|end-of-the-court papers filed by
American Civil Liberties
; “He is a psychotic man whose
ness totally prevents him from
bsting and from accepting help
Sany authority,” one psychiatrist
loted by the ACLU said. “His
gjection of attorneys is a direct
pression of his paranoia,
j The ACLU argued Hawkins is
llitled to a hearing and psychiat-
lit analysis to determine whether
It was mentally competent to
laive his right to an attorney.
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evening.
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1816 Texas Ave. • 823-8930
907 Highway 30 • 693-2484
High court hears busing case
United Press International
WASHINGTON — The Sup
reme Court agreed Tuesday to de
cide an important school desegre
gation question focusing on Cali
fornia’s Proposition 1, which
limits the use of busing and pupil
reassignment to achieve racial ba
lance.
The justices said they will hear
an appeal filed on behalf of minor
ity students in Los Angeles by the
American Civil Liberties Union,
challenging a state appeals court
ruling that declared the ballot me
asure constitutional.
At the same time, the court
agreed to take up a similar case
concerning the constitutionality of
a Washington State ballot initia
tive that bans busing for school
desegregation.
The Los Angeles controversy
dates back to 1970, when a Califor
nia Superior Court ordered the
Board of Education to develop a
plan for desegregating its schools.
The California Supreme Court up
held the decision.
Limited desegregation did not
begin until September 1978. By
the fall of 1979, the Los Angeles
school board decided it wanted to
discontinue the plan, “due in large
part to unprecedented losses of
white students,” and proposed an
“all-voluntary desegregation
plan.”
Proposition 1 declares no state
court may impose a plan for pupil
reassignment “except to remedy a
specific violation... that would also
constitute a violation of the equal
protection clause of the 14th
Amendment.”
The original 1970 ruling against
the school board was not expressly
based on 14th Amendment viola
tions, so passage of the proposition
threw the desegregation case into
legal limbo.
In July 1980, a state court judge
ruled school officials had specific
ally violated the 14th Amend
ment. But a California appeals
court modified that ruling by
allowing the board to exclude
“naturally desegregated schools”
from mandatory reassignments.
In December 1980, the appeals
court upheld the constitutionality
of Proposition 1.
Appealing to the Supreme
Court, the ACLU said: “Preceded
by blatant, overt legislation open
ly discriminatory against Califor
nia’s minorities. Proposition 1 is
but the latest in a series of efforts
by the majority of the state to dis
criminate against racial minor
ities.”
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822-6105
8 a.m.-5 p.m.
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Dennis Ivey's
Lake view Club
The Very Best In Country-Western Music and Dancing'
Thursday
“lYickle Beer
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( Cover Lone Star Draft Beer SC a cup
$2.00 Person or $1.00 a pitcher
(We also serve Lone Star Longnecks!)
Music by Dennis Ivey and “The Waymen”
Tickets for Joe Stampley (Oct. 24)
Now On Sale!
Saturday
DENNIS IVEY
and “The Waymen
Cover
$3.00
Person
For Reservations Call
823-0660
1S-YEAR-OLDN — WE ADMIT MINORS!
3 Miles North of Bryan on Tabor Road
YESTERDAYS
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HOUSE DRESS CODE
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The most professional, most experienced
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Let us plan your trips for business
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Now we offer our clients SABRE, a
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We support the Aggies with an annual donation
for a 12th Man Scholarship