to terms al limits Thursday Page 9 October 10, 1996 ISSUES MPAICI Jeformed frogs reate concern Ross Perot Dur elected leaders mi rat serving the Americii 1 i a privilege, notacaiea -four percent oftki m people support teni is time wepassedacoi lal amendment limitii ional terms.” security jnspokei :urity comes up, Presii ouch it. But away HENDERSON, Minn. (AP) — nice Nelson was catching for catfish bait last year lien he realized something as horribly wrong: Some of it frogs had stumps for legs, id others had as many as four ngled hind legs. “You see deformed things all letime in nature, but nothing lethis,” Nelson said. 1 across Minnesota and neighboring Wisconsin, wth Dakota id Quebec, sci- itists and lo lls are seeing esame kind of itesquely mis- lapen limbs, with frogs I tails, miss- gor shrunken es, and small- sex organs. Scientists vehad a hard Be finding itlands in Min- sota with no deformed frogs, ost recently, deformed frogs “You see deformed things all the time in nature, but nothing like this.” Bruce Nelson Fisherman What worries many around the state is whether humans are in danger, too. “There's a reasonable as sumption that if there’s an ex ternal substance influencing amphibian development, it could influence human devel opment,” said David Hoppe, who is on a state-financed team of scientists researching the problem. The federal Environmental Protection Agency plans to do its own study. The fact that the abnormalities are widespread suggests that the problem has more than one source, said Hoppe, a her petologist from the University of Minnesota at Morris. His best guess 5 arguments to makes® f found in Vermont. ent uchecTina scares me, said Judy Hel- |j n, a research scientist with iMinnesota Pollution Con- 1 Agency. “I’m at different els of getting a chill down : spine.” Scientists aren’t sure what’s |iising the deformities. The lories run the gamut from iticides to parasites to radia- mfrom ozone depletion, or le combination of factors. is some sort of water pollution, possibly from some thing airborne. That could come from heavy metals, pesticides or a whole array of things that settle onto the landscape. In researching some 10,000 frogs this summer, Hoppe.found that the most aquatic frogs had the worst abnormalities. “I was very surprised, star tled even,” he said, “because I’ve seen a lot of frogs over the years and I’ve never seen any thing like that.” FDA confirms heart drug’s effectiveness BOSTON (AP) — A new study confirms the safety of one widely prescribed medicine in a controver sial class of heart drugs called calci um channel blockers. These drugs are often given to treat high blood pressure and angi na chest pain. Worries about them arose over a year ago when research suggested they may increase the risk of Heart attacks. In January, an expert panel of the Food and Drug Administration con cluded that newer versions of calci um channel blockers are safe. In the latest study, doctors tested a long-acting calcium channel blocker called Norvasc, .or amlodip- ine, on 1,153 people who were se verely ill with heart failure. Dr. Milton Packer and col leagues from Columbia University published the results in Thursday’s issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. During follow-up ranging from six to 33 months, 33 percent of pa tients getting Norvasc died, com pared with 38 percent taking dum my pills. The difference was not statistically meaningful. While the treatment is not proven to help heart failure patients live longer, the researchers said the study shows the medicine can safe ly be given to these patients for angina or high blood pressure. Pfizer Inc., which makes Nor vasc, said the drug is taken by about 5 million people worldwide. lue-ribbon commissim <• th an earlier crisis ini ranges are pretty muclii NEW YORK (AP) — Six scien- he campaign. The subjet is—five of them Americans — in Nobel Prizes on Wednesday dime Dole adviser onto i discovering soccer ball- 3S on the advisory col iped molecules dubbed “buck- Is" and a strange form of heli- iti’ ithat could shed light on the itrse’s first few instants, k) Texans and a Briton won r-reaching privatizai* of Social Securityi viduals, not theg ) invest the money, signaled an openns'i chemistry prize for discover- m recent interviews^ U.S. government orporations?” both expressed a her. It is now by the advisory l billion of Social Sec® 1 Ives. at forward by the advisi in turn, said re; e and Kemp were billion tax s uld ‘‘blow a hole foil and cause much deef 1 ive Americans win Nobel Prize family of carbon molecules i of Retired Persons,!® itspawned a new field of study, tain reservations.DA anally known as fullerenes and ormally called buckyballs, the ■shaped molecules were led for architect R. Buckmin- rFuller because of their resem- nceto his geodesic domes. Hid The prize was shared by Harold Kroto, 57, who teaches at Sussex other two plans wotildi iversity in England, and Robert id, Jr., 63, and Richard E. SmaJ- 53, of Rice University in Hous- 1 fairly dramatic just aifi, The three discovered bucky- institute, a group pustt IsatRicein 1985. Buckyballs haven’t become a tical part of daily life, but emists predict that fullerene hnology is on the horizon, mong other things, they are rking on using buckyballs to $550 billion t^cscW J( | uct electricity without re- tance or to deliver medicine othe body. Scientists might dedicate, Medicaid,etW ; n g e a fii e to turn buckyballs the environment.” o diamonds, promoted Clintonsit does is it gives you a eted tax cuts to helpfe jiiding block that can be em- ddle-class families^ y e dfor a number of possibili- 'g e - i,”said Stuart Staley, a chemist o countered that govt® Carnegie Mellon University in lould not engage in ■ tsburgh. “There’s certainly a lot gineering” bypicW acitement.” s and losers through- Fullerenes were thought at first cy. In any event,^ bean exclusively manmade in- vas “four years too 1« I: ition, but after the chemists cre- ton to be promisingi® dthem in the laboratory, the s tax cuts. ilecules were found in natural ) fudged when asked^gs on Earth and in space vith Dole’s call for a ref David M. Lee, 65, Robert C. mily leave law. ‘Two# hardson, 59, and Douglas C. ed for it,” Kempsaid, beroff, 51, were honored with a iw is popular with W# , a critical constitud 11 e sensed an opening, lould n’t be repealed o be extended," the' 1 it said. Nobel in physics for finding that at temperatures within two thou- sandtlis of a degree of absolute zero, the isotope helium-3 can be made to flow essentially without slowing down. The phenomenon is known as superfluidity. Lee and Richardson teach at Cornell University in New York. Osheroff is a professor at Stan ford University in California. Their research was done at Cor nell in the 1970s. “Superfluid helium-3 just popped up. We weren’t really looking for it,” Osheroff said from his home in Redwood City, Calif. The research has recently shed light on the first moments of the universe. The physical transitions that oc cur as helium becomes frictionless are similar to processes believed to have taken place a fraction of a second after the big bang, accord ing to the Nobel citation. The discovery of superfluidity in helium-3 also helps physicists explore the rules that govern the behavior of subatomic matter. With almost all of the heat sucked out of it, helium-3 behaves ac cording to weird quantum rules that are hard to discern under normal conditions. No technological applications have resulted from the discovery yet, but the possibilities are great. Among other things, the research could help scientists understand superconductivity, the phenome non whereby some substances at very low temperatures conduct electricity without resistance. The winners will split the chemistry and physics Nobels, worth $1.12 million this year. The prizes will be bestowed on Dec. 10, the anniversary of the death of dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel, whose will created the prizes. N O B EL Chemistry • 1996 Winners since 1986 1996 Harold W. Kroto, Britain and Robert F. Curl Jr. and Richard E. Smalley, United States 1995 Paul Crutzen, Netherlands and Mario Molina and F. Sherwood Rowland, United States 1994 George A. Olah, United States 1993 Kary B. Mullis, United States and Michael Smith, Canada 1992 Rudolph A. Marcus, Canadian-born American 1991 Richard R. Ernst, Switzerland 1990 Elias James Corey, United States 1989 Sidney Altman and Thomas Cech, United States 1988 Johann Diesenhofer, Robert Huber and Hartmut Michel, Germany 1987 Donald J. Cram and Charles J. Pedersen, United States Jean-Marie Lehn, France 1986 Dudley R. Herschbach and Yuan T. Lee, United States John C. Polanyi, Canada Follow the bouncing man. Fred and his partner, ballerina Daielma Santos, will inflate your spirits and make your eyes bug out in amazement! With air-filled props that whirl and dance, Fred Garbo puts you in a trance. And while he roles and glides and shakes You’ll laugh until your belly aches. J ,JR. FOR THE YOUNG AT ARTI http://opas.tamu.edu MSC Box Office: 845-1234 Persons with disabilities please call 845-8903 to inform us of your special needs. We request notification three (3) working days prior to the event to enable us to assist you to the best of our ability. Now accepting AggieBucks.™ Saturday / October 12,1996 / Texas A&M's Rudder Auditorium / 6:30pm O The Dslav Sistas' Fist 100 Yeas 1 .ftIt 4s,-.. 4 JBBh. K--; I b L Mm Opera & Performing Arts Society 0NAL BESTSELLER IS NOW AMERICA S BEST-LOVED PLAY! “Having Our Say”chronicles the lives of Sadie and Bessie Delany, two pioneering women who have stood witness to 100 years of American life. Born a generation after the Civil War, the Delany Sisters, played by Lizan Mitchell and Micki Grant, invite the audience into their home for a remarkable narrative journey, revealing their memories of the past, their secrets of the present, and their hopes for the future. October 20th. 3:00 p.m. Rudder Auditorium For Tickets Call 845-1234 http://opas.tamu.edu Now accepting Aggie Bucks'" t_ Persons with disabilities please call 845-8903 to inform us of your special needs. We request (3- notification three (3) working days prior to the event to enable us to assist you to the best of our ability. Dew Drop Inn Tour ‘96 with special guest: JOSH CLAYTON-FELT MONDAY, OCT. 28 • Rudder Auditorium Tickets at Foley's, Randalls and Texas MSC Box Office or charge by phone : 409-268-041 4 1 Produced by MSC Town Hall and PACE Concerts Persons with disabilities please call 845-1515 to inform us of your special needs. We request notification three (3) wc ing days prior to the even to enable us to assit you to the best of our abilities.