sciencbStechnology liursday. March Page 6 THE BATTALION I'hursday, March?, Protecting the coral reefs One-fifth of America's coral reefs are to be protected as “ecological reserves" under a Clinton administration proposal announced last week. Here is a look at the coral reefs in national wildlife refuges that are part of the government’s holdings. ,0 . J>,, C ■ .r*. North Pacific Ocean / Northern Mariana Islands Midway Atoll n -- Hawaii Guam Johnston Ato11 BO EH Equator jW'GHtyEA American Samoa AUSTRAt^A B Total acres of coral reefs 1. Hawaiian Islands 2. Midway Atoll 3. Johnston Atoll 4. Howland Island 5. Baker Island 6. Rose Atoll 7. Jarvis Island 8. Guam 9. National Key Deer Refuge 10. Key West 611,914 298,369 119,367 32,984 31,314 39,266 37,569 772 8,542 Limits for species recovery Ecosystem diversity might take longer time to rebound 11. Great White Heron 192,494 12. Crocodile Lakes 13. Buck Island 14. Green Cay 15. Sandy Point 16. Cabo Rojo 17. Culebra 18. Desecheo 19. Laguna Cartagena 20. Navassa Island 208,308 Source: Interior Department AP (AP) — For all practical purposes, when a species is gone, it’s gone. Scientists analyzed fossils and calcu lated that it takes about 10 million years after a plant or animal becomes extinct before anything resembling it reappears. “When we got that result, I was just stunned,” said James Kirchner, a geolo gist at the University of California at Berkeley who conducted the analysis with Duke University biologist Anne Weil. Kirchner and Weil said the analysis confirms the fears of many scientists wor ried about the increasing loss of plant and animal life. Biologists estimate that up to half of the known animal and plant species in the world could be wiped out within a century. “It’s not just, ‘Stop the extinction!’ and things bounce back immediately. Rather, the recoveries required the fabric of the ecosystem to be rebuilt, and it takes a long time,” said Douglas Erwin of the National Museum of Natural His tory in Washington. Stanford University biologist Paul Ehrlich, author of the 1968 best seller “The Population Bomb,” said the research suggests the near future may be grim. “We’re going to turn into weedy- world,” he said. “The kinds of organisms that persist are weeds, rats and insects.” Kirchner and Weil studied a database of marine fossils to track when various species of hard-shelled animals originated and when they disappeared over the past 530 million years. Then they applied mathematical tech niques developed for astrophysics. They reported their findings in Thurs day’s issue of the journal Nature. “The passenger pigeon ain’t coming back,” and neither are the dinosaurs, Kirchner said. Weil and Kirchner said their research shows that Earth may have a “speed lim it” on the rate of recovery and that there is an underlying “heartbeat” to life on the planet that has some some fundamental rhythm. At the rate of recovery they calculat ed, they figured humans themselves could become extinct before Earth re- I covers. “We spent some time debating whether this was the most exciting result we found, or the most depressing,” Weil said. Diverse but shrinking habitats A global inventory shows that more than a third of the Earth’s plantaod animal species exist exclusively on just 1.4 percent of its land surface, Red areas below reflect the original range of these rich habitats. Human activity has destroyed 88 percent of these once-sprawling ecosystems Li. F freshmc lefender in tl feAgg O California Floristic Province © Mesoamerica © Choco/Darien/Western Ecuador ©Tropical Andes © Central Chile © Brazilian Cerrado ©Caribbean Islands © Brazilian Atlantic Forest © Guinean Forests of West Africa <£> Succulent Karoo «T>Cape Floristic Province of South Afr Mediterranean Basin Caucasus Eastern Arc Mountains and Coasts Forests of Kenya and Tanzania Madagascar/Indian Ocean Islands Western Ghats and Sri Lanka South Central China Sundaland stra Wa Phi Pol Net Nov and Micronesia Source: Conservation International FDA announces gene therapy rules WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration is preparing to force bet ter patient safety monitoring in the nation’s 350 gene therapy experiments — conducting sur prise inspections to make sure scientists follow the rules. The FDA’s move comes after an Arizona teen-ager died as a result of a University of Pennsylvania gene therapy experiment, prompting growing criticism that this promis ing but still-unproven field receives little feder al oversight to ensure the research is safe. Federal regulations already require that re searchers establish a patient safety monitoring system before testing experimental treatments. But the FDA acknowledged Tuesday it has not enforced those rules for gene therapists. Indeed, in the Pennsylvania experiment, re searchers didn’t even have a patient safety mon itoring system, something the FDA uncovered “The patient safety monitoring is the most important ele ment that's been missing in all of this/ — Abbey Meyers President, National Organization of Rare Disorders only when it inspected the research after Jesse Gelsinger, 18, died, FDA gene therapy chief Dr. Kathryn Zoon said. Under FDA’s new initiative, all gene thera py researchers must appoint someone not di rectly involved with their experiments to mon itor patient safety. The monitors could consist of contract re search organizations or other scientists at a hos pital or university. These monitors are not truly independent since the gene therapist hires them. But the FDA pledged to ensure gene thera py monitors are working and know that the law requires them to report patient safety problems to the government — and to conduct random, surprise inspections to make sure. Experiments that don’t comply can be halted. “We believe these are important steps ... to ensure patient safety,” Zoon said. The initiative sparked mixed reaction. “They were supposed t6 be doing that al ready,” said well-known bioethicist George An nas, a Boston University professor of health law. “FDA has let this get out of hand.... They don’t inspire a lot of confidence.” But another critic welcomed the change. “The patient safety monitoring is the most important element that’s been missing in all of this,” said Abbey Meyers, president of the Na tional Organization for Rare Disorders and a former National Institutes of Health gene ther apy adviser. Today, gene therapists can conduct experi ments for years without anyone checking how their patients fared, she explained. So FDA in spections are vital, but the agency lacks the money and people, she said. “Congress has got to give them the money to do this job right,” Meyers said. The FDA employs between 150 and 200 clinical trial inspectors, but they never have been asked to judge patient-safety monitoring in early-stage experiments, or to focus on gene therapy instead of the many other types of hu man experiments now under way. Gelsinger’s death is the only one so far blamed directly on gene therapy, after experi ments on some 5,000 patients in 10 years. But this new field has not cured anyone yet. And the NIH has discovered hundreds of ad verse reactions patients suffered that re searchers delayed reporting to government ex perts who oversee the experiments’ safety. Thus, some critics say gene experiments should temporarily be halted until oversight is better established. “This is very impor tant research. I don't want to see it tar nished in the pub lic's view because it was done wrong/' — George Annas Boston University bioethicist Shell markets robot gas pumps “We’re doing a lot of premature human ex perimentation here that’s more trial-and-error than hypothesis testing,” Annas said. “This is very important research. 1 don’t want to see it tarnished in the public’s view” because it was done wrong. Also Tuesday, the government announced it will bring together the nation’s most experi enced gene therapists to debate how best to en sure patient safety. WESTFIELD, Ind. (AP) —The first robotic- gas pump that lets drivers serve themselves with out leaving their cars is fueling a mix of excitement and skepticism. Its introduction, however, could hardly be more ill-timed. Shell Oil Co. is test-marketing the computer ized pumps in this affluent Indianapolis suburb starting this month — and plans to charge an extra $1 per fill-up —just as gasoline prices hit new highs, and the end of winter removes a big incen tive for staying snugly behind the wheel. Despite the obstacles, project manager Jerry Buri said Wednesday that more than 1.000 cus tomers have already signed up to use the pumps in the handful of stations where they will be available. “Obviously we’re looking at the system being a more popular product in bad weather conditions because people would be more inclined to want to stay in their car then,” he said. “The other features would still make it advantageous.” For example, a mother would not have to leave her children alone in the car while she pumped gas. Patrons wouldn't be exposed to gas fumes or risk spillage. Shell Oil and HR Textron spent eight years de veloping the SmartPump, which uses a combina tion of cameras, sensors and robotics to guide the fuel pump into a vehicle’s gas tank. First a motorist places a coded computer chip containing vehicle information on the windshield. The car must also be equipped with a special, spring-loaded gas cap, which costs $20. As the driver approaches the SmartPump, cameras read the computer chip and let the robot ic arm know what type of car to fuel. The motorist then drives up to the terminal, which adjusts to the height of the driver’s window, swipes a credit card and selects the preferred fill! grade. The robotic arm then gels to work. A soft, suction- like device extends and opens the gas tank’s dooranJ the pump enters the tank and begins fueling. Some motorists remained wary Wednesday, c M , Rob Krakora, an electrical engineer who has theUniversi worked with robots, docs not trust the SmartPum to work properly. “No way. i ain't gonna scratch this haby cha BY JAS Th. In a season ighest high — ioma State Uni ow — being d«. University — t jasketball team ive conclusion. Thursday nil gies(8-19,4-12 seeded Univer; faloes (17-12,1 round of the Phi ment. The Aggies rst-everBig 12 ,m. in Kansas < Despite stru ence action, th shout their chan A&M defeal st Reed Arena ei coming off a 81 ‘No way. I ain't gonna scratch this baby. — Rob Krakora j wary engineer, SUV owner i Krakora said, patting his sport utility vehicle. Shell’s Buri said the soft. Ilexible extensions! on the robotic arm make scratches unlikely. Seven al other companies, including Exxon Mobil, areex- perimenting with different versions of rc pumps. Buri would not specify when the technology ! would be introduced in other cities. Despite gasoline prices that now average bet- : ter than $1.50 per gallon across the country,|e doubted the extra dollar per fill-up would makeaj difference. Tom Osborne, spokesman for the Society! Independent Gasoline Marketers of America,: the concept could eventually become as popular] as pay-at-pump systems that allow drivers to] swipe a credit card. BEAUTIFUL JEWELRY § GIFTS FROM AROUND THE WORLD 2 16 N. Bryan —EP Hours: Mon. ■ Sat. IOam • 6 pm Historic District Downtown 779-8208 Celtic Crosses • Religious Art Museum Reproductions 33% off selected Lamps Gothic Architectural Wall Hangings I IT € a 5 s y s cot I n Town HOLLYWOOD USA 6A Hwy 30 @ Earl Rudder Frwy (9) 764-7592 KTSR Late shows Thursday, Friday, and Saturday Nights. All shows after 11:00 pm are only '4.50 BARGAIN MATINEE: All shows before 6 p.m. are only ‘4.50 Adults: ’6.50, s 6.00 (Sun.-Thurs) Children and Seniors are ’4.50 at all times. ATM IN LOBBY STEREO SURROUND SOUND IN ALL AUDITORIUMS 1 3 STRIKES (R) 12:45 3:05 5:20 7:55 10:20 12:30 DROWNING MONA (PG13)* 11:50 2:15 4:30 7:20 9:55 12:20 MY DOG SKIP (PG)* 11:35 1:55 4:25 7:05 9:35 NEXT BEST THING (PG13)- 11:35 2:15 4:50 7:40 10:20 12:55 PLANET ARE YOU FROM (R)‘ 11:45 2:10 4:40 7:15 10:10 12:35 AMERICAN BEAUTY (R) 11:30 2:05 4:40 7:20 10:00 12:45 BOILER ROOM (R) 1:30 4:35 7:30 10:15 1:00 HANGING UP (PG13) 12:20 2:30 4:45 7:15 9:45 12:10 PITCH BLACK (R) 12:00 2:30 5:00 7:35 10:25 12:55 REINDEER GAMES (R) 11:30 1:50 4:20 7:10 9:50 12:25 SCREAM 3 (R) 11:50 2:25 5:00 7:45 10:25 1:05 SNOW DAY (PG) 12:30 2:45 5:05 7:30 10:05 THE BEACH (R) 8:00 10:30 1:00 CIDER HOUSE RULES (PG13) 1:00 4:00 7:00 9:50 12:40 THE TIGGER MOVIE (Q) 11:45 2:00 4:15 6:05 THE WHOLE 9 YARDS (R) 11:55 2:25 4:50 7:25 10:10 12:35 WONDER BOYS