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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 8, 2000)
I "esday, February? SCIENCE8TECHNOLOGY Tuesday. February 8, 2(KK) THE BATTALION Page 5 ape station enture Sony ricci excuse to I lesion imper- nan heads in and me asylum for ioy meets mon- Monkeys be-! > back in time to ■ evolution in the on. \rmed with iih tiiat Iwks like ! )t other really ; I must recapture man race from , really. backs to -I/jcEs- >u to use the joy- | •oiler to move j \ capons. Not getting used to, -school playeR r controllers upa i time period to e monkey quota might seem like vhile. the mon- up v\ ith nev Science Briefs Boston hospital suspends trials BOSTON (AP) — A Boston med ical center has suspended its gene therapy tests because of safety concerns arising from a stu dent's death last year in a similar trial program in Pennsylvania. “We are temporarily halting (the trial) because there is a national discourse on this, and we would like to benefit from it," Dr. Michael Rosenblatt, interim president of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, said. The death in September of the 18-year-old patient in Pennsylva nia triggered a government inves tigation, the suspension of eight gene therapy trials in that state and a Senate hearing last week. In halting their program last week, Beth Israel officials said they had encountered no prob lems with it. The trial involved implanting ge netically altered cells into patients with hemophilia, an inherited bleeding disorder. Last summer, Beth Israel halt ed a different gene therapy trial af ter three of the first six terminally ill cancer patients died. Officials at the hospital said an internal review concluded that at least two of the deaths were not related to the treatment. Gene therapy attempts to re pairer replace broken genes in se riously ill patients by transferring normal genes into the body. Study says brain needs stimulation DALLAS (AP) — You better keep those brain cells from get ting bored, otherwise they might kill themselves, according to a new study. The findings point out how im portant it is for nerve cells in an embryonic brain to keep transmit ting signals to neighboring cells in the brain. If they don’t, then the non-active cells actually engage in a mass suicide, according to Thomas Sudhof of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. “If we can figure out how neu rons die, we can think about how to prevent that,” Dr. Sudhof told The Dallas Morning News. Nerve cells transmit signals mainly by feeding neighboring nerve cells a batch of messenger chemi cals called neurotransmitters. There are many types of mes senger chemicals, including sero tonin, which directly affect those the parts of the brain which trigger depression. In the new study, Dr. Sudhof and a crew of other researchers studied mice brains that were no longer being fed the messenger chemicals as they were being developed in the womb of an other mouse. The mice's brains developed normally up to a point, then nerve cells in the brain engaged in a mass suicide so severe that the developing brain shrinks. The developing spinal cord ac tually disappeared and the mice die at birth. Their findings appear in the latest issue of the journal Science. Astronauts return for 2nd attempt CAPE CANAVERAL. Fla. (AP) — Astronauts returned to the Kennedy Space Center on Monday for their second attempt at lifting off on an Earth-mapping mission. “We’re real glad to be back,” said space shuttle Endeavour’s commander, Kevin Kregel, flanked by his five crew members. “The weather looks like it’s go ing to be favorable for a launch at tempt on Friday. he ants go marching ... Texas researchers introduce natural enemies for ant control BY SCOTT JENKINS The Battalion S ome ships steaming into tlie GulfolTVIex- ico from South America in tlie 1930s brought mon.' titan exotie produce. Soil shoveled by tlie ton into South American ships for ballast also carried pop ulations of red lire ants — unwitting im migrants to the southern United States. The ants, non-native to the U.S., be came a future menace to U.S. ecosystems. But some scientists say that carefully introducing natural enemies of the import ed red tire ant into tlie Texas ecosystem could help control the species. Research on so-called biological con- trol of the ant make up several of the 35 pro jects underway as part of the Texas Fire Ant Research and Management Plan, directed by Dr. Bart Drees oftheTexas A&M Department of Entomology'. The imported red fire ant spread into large chunks of many southeastern states after arriving as an unwanted stowaway. In addition to disrupting the ecology ofthe region, tlie red fire ant is a danger to humans and livestock and acause ofdamage to landscape and electrical equipment Efforts at controlling the ants have been expensive and largely unsuccessful. The introduction of tlie ants to this area was a “huge ecological disaster,” Drees said. Tlie lack of natural enemies in the U.S. is thought to be an im portant factor in allowing tlie red imported lire ant to spread quick ly, displacing native species. In South America, several natural enemies keep tlie fire ant populations in check. Some of tliese — including a lly whose larvae are parasites to the ant, and a strain of ftuigus whose spores grow on tlie ants’ bodies — are being looked at as candidates for introduction into the local ecosystem as a sustainable so lution to mitigate the fire ant problem. “We are trying to re-establish the bal ance of nature,” Drees said. He cautioned that tlie research is aimed at control, not eradication. It is thought that biological control of tlie insects could he a self-sustaining way to control the tire ant population and elim inate the need for insecticides and other measures that could have a greater impact on tlie environment. “[Bio-controls] are self-generating and usually rather specific, so they can be gen tler on native species,” said Dr. Bradleigh Vinson, professor of entomology. Biological control of insects is not with out hazards. “Tlie challenge for researchers is to en sure that tlie newly introduced species do not become problems themselves,” Drees said. Several institutions from across the state are participating in the plan including Texas A&M, Uni versity of Texas and Texas Tech University. At A&M, Vinson and his group are investigating a micro scopic protozoan called Theloha- niasolenopsae that infects red tire ants and shortens their life span. Over a period of months, an infected colony will decline dramatically. “Thelohania has great potential if we can learn how to produce it in large amounts,” Vinson said. ROBERT HYNECEK/Tm Battalion hack. Ifi mi > shooting von cdless lo say. it The game play “Mario 64-es-_ nu out an over- ibers. What more ak adventure, Wl TexpIoringthisWJ mid effectivelyr e,, | c extent of expl^l s should be liniiKJ thers who have eTI ;s’ s: :h C 231 Vlarch 9 & 23 'mission! nts served!j f Islam >n ? Ready to Begin Your Future Today? Today’s employers are looking for applicants with real-world work experience. Don’t get left behind! Come join the nearly 400 Ags who are currently working for a proven industry leader! These posi tions offer $7.00 an hour to start. 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Buck Weirus Spirit Award Applications are now available for undergraduate and graduate students at the following locations: President’s Office, 8 th Floor Rudder The Association of Former Students Reception Desk Vice President for Student Affairs, 10 th Floor Rudder Office of the Dean of each College Office of Graduate Studies Student Activities Office, Suite 125 Koldus Building Multicultural Services Department, Suite 137 MSC Commandant’s Office, 102 Military Sciences MSC Student Programs Office, 216 & 223 MSC This award recognizes students for their outstanding contributions to the quality of student life programs at Texas A&M and honors Richard “Buck” Weirus ‘42 whose dedication and leadership established this award to promote the success of our students in “the other education” while completing their academic education. Questions regarding application completion may be directed to Sandy Briers (862-1973). Applications are due by 5 p.m., TODAY! Tuesday, February 8th, 2000, at the Clayton Williams Alumni Center Reception Desk.