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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 30, 2000)
:s Thursdayjiu V R. DElli SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY A]/)^ Vou TfMK CM 6£T 7| f Here chmed Before he Gets the niKM* N & BARR lursday, March 30, 2000 THE BATTALION Page 7 Back to the Big Bang The new Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), a massive atom smasher, should help researchers simulate what the newborn universe may have looked like just after the Big Bang, The RHIC complex A look inside the collider Hoping to approximate a 13 billion-year flash back, scientists try to re create the primordial soup that existed before the universe took form. In the RHIC, gold ions flatten out as they speed toward each other at almost 186,000 miles per second. 1} Jr rifi * Work on the RHIC complex began in 1970, but the latest addition, the 2.4-milo RHIC ring, was recently completed. Beam energy increases Protons are polarized for the accelerators. A smaller particle accelerator injects beam into RHIC. This junction splits beam in two. sending naif clockwise and half counterclockwise Beams race around this 2.4-mile “racetrack'' at nearly the speed of light They collide at six intersections, generating temperatures 10.000 times hotter than the sun. As they collide and pass through each other. If conditions are nght. th© protons and neutrons “'molt” and briefly liberate quarks and gluons, forms of matter thought to have existed ten-millionths of a second after the Big Bang. .. .they generate intense heat and new particles. Beyond birth control Women should consider therapy risks and benefits AP/ N Davis, J. Jurgensen Johnnyu Astronomers discover planets WASHINGTON (AP) — Astronomers searching for planets orbiting distant stars have found the smallest planets vet beyond the solar system, an important step toward being able to detect Earth-sized worlds that would have the best chance of containing life. More than 30 planets have been found in orbit of stars out side the solar system, but the two planets announced Wednesday are the first to be smaller than Jupiter, as tronomers said at a news con ference. “We have discovered the first Saturn-sized planets out side of the solar system,” said Geoffrey W. Marcy of the Uni- ersity of California, Berkeley. The new planets are thought to be hot, gaseous giants, rapid ly orbiting their stars and are probably devoid of life, he said. “This is an important mile post” in the search for Earth sized planets that orbit stars other than the sun, said R. Paul Butler, a staff scientist at the Carnegie Institute in Washing ton. “This suggests there will be many more small planets out there.” A team led by Marcy, Butler and Steve Vogt of the Universi ty of California, Santa Cruz, found the new, smaller planets in orbit of stars more than 100 light years away. Both of the new planets are slightly smaller than Saturn, a gas giant that is the second largest planet in the solar sys tem after Jupiter, with 95 times the mass of Earth. All previously discovered extrasolar planets, including 20 others found by the Marcy team, have been as big or big ger than Jupiter, which is 318 times more massive than Earth. Butler said a new instru ment attached to the Keck Tele scope in Hawaii enabled the team to detect the smaller plan- ets.The team is five years into a survey of about 2,000 stars and Marcy said there are six to 10 other star systems that “look promising” for planets. “The discovery of Saturn- sized object is an extremely critical step toward finding ter restrial-sized planets orbiting other stars,” said Heidi B. Hammel, a scientist at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. The terrestrial planets are Earth, Venus, Mars and Mercury. The Marcy team finds ex trasolar planets by observing and measuring the gravitation al wobble that orbiting planets impart to the host star. BY NONI SR1DHARA The Battalion A freshman, who came to Texas A&M in the fall, was frequently consumed by intense lower abdominal pains and thought she had appen dicitis. Doctors’ tests showed that she had en dometriosis, a disease common to many women in America, which could be treated with hor mone therapy through birth control pills. The pills helped to stabilize her menstrual cycle, which was causing her abdominal pains. The replacement of lost hormones — estro gen and progesterone — for women in their 40s and 50s is a common medical practice. People often mistake hormone replacement as a thera py only for women going through menopause. However, doctors often prescribe its use to younger women and say that both generations need to know the risks and benefits. Dr. John Green, a visiting cardiovascular physiologist in the Department of Health and Ki nesiology, helped dispel myths and offer insight into the the role of reproductive hormones and hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in female physiology in the final lecture of the Healthy Living Lecture series Wednesday at the Student Recreation Center. In his lecture, Green covered the risks and benefits of hormone replacement for women of all ages. The first type of HRT Green discussed was the birth control pill, which regulates leutinizing hormone, the hormone that causes ovulation. Without the hormone, no ovulation will occur. The benefits of birth control as a means of hormone replacement are decreased risk of ovar ian cancer, endometrial cancer and ovarian cysts, the decreased risk of pelvic inflammatory dis ease and lighter or more regular periods. “This is considered by many to be the most socially significant medical advance in history,” Green said. Dr. Ann Reed, associate director of clinical services at A.P. Beutel Health Center agreed with Green on the positive aspects of HRT. “Although the risks are slightly increased for certain cancers such as cancers that affect the lin ing of the uterus, overall the benefits outweigh the risks,” Reed said. Green said there were many concerns with the birth control pill in the ‘60s because of increased risk of blood clotting, heart attack and stroke. But he said this risk is minimal in today’s pill and where it does exist, it is linked to smoking. Other risks from the pill include a slight in crease in risk of breast and cervical cancer and a small increase in the risk of coronary artery dis ease in women over the age of 40. Regarding menopause, Green said there is a common misconception among older women that menopause happens overnight. It is actually a pro longed process. The World Health Organi zation defines menopause as the permanent cessation of menstruation resulting from loss of ovarian function. The average age that menopause strikes most women is 51.4 years, according to Green. Green said cardiovascular risks in menopause include increased LDL cholesterol, decreased HDL cholesterol, increase in triglycerides, in crease in vascular wall dys function and arterial stiffness. He said honnone replace ment of a low dose of estro gen, along with progesterone, reduces the risk of cardiovas cular disease by half. “One thing people should be warned about, however, is that this ‘magic’ form of HRT is not so magical for people who already have cardiovas cular disease,” he said. Green said exercise, in ad dition to HRT, further helps to fight the symptoms and health risks associated with menopause. “Women who exercise and take hormone re placement increase their blood flow and loose their arterial resistance,” Green said. “The combination of HRT and exercise offer the ‘bang for the buck’ in re ducing disease risk.” Green said he urges women to take responsibili ty' for knowing the information of their condition when deciding whether or not to take HRT before consulting their doctors. “In times of managed health care, it is very im portant that you go in [to your doctor] anned with the information about the pros and cons of HRT, and then make the final decision in consultation with your physician,” he said. , USING BIRTH CONTROL PILLS AS A HORMONE REPLACEMENT THERAPY Benefits ^ • Decreased risk of ovarian cancer, endrometrial cancer and ovarian cysts • Decreased risk of pelvic inflammatory disease • Decreased heavy or irregular periods Risks • Slight increase in risk of breast and cervical cancer • Small increase in the risk of coronary artery disease in women over the age of 40 JEFFREY SMITH/Thk Battalion • 1600 em] majors and Juding sale counting, c support f< gional offia nd visit wi h 30, 2000 :00 p.m. Circle on, TX h refreshments pK E. If you are un* please fax or nia ]om purer Systenj 734 y Circle tion, 1X 77845 609 613-fax Mark Ehesnutt i hooting his new video at Qiilifest Come Represent AGGIELAND Video to be released in May www.chimest.ori ow it Systems IGHT SCHOOL tion Jrport 322 com Easilf awa# studed wad a g priv# advad 1 trainM a pilot ^ M apP r0<i schoo 1 Don't Forgfet Team Sign - Up Due April l s ^ No Foolin www.chimest.org Director Applications Available 2 —m mw T U D E IM T1 FOUNDATION Applications may be picked up at the 12th Man Student Foundation Cube located in the Student Activities Department inside Koldus. Interviews will be conducted on April 12-13. Applications are due April 7! Questions* E-mail us at: student@twelfthman.tamu.edu V. tine 20%OFF EVERYTHING —SALE — FRIDHY315T SRTURDHYIST SUHDBY2ND v noli uaiiti m any oDtier mscoyntis or coupons y Post Oak Hall (409)764-4444 PRESENTS A 7:00 pm April 1,^^ 2000 Rudder Auditorium STARRING: nBO/OFags • AMC/ZOA • ZX/AXO • AAA/OA0 • BOO/KA© • ZTA/nK<D • AXA/KA Will honor any tickets purchased for fall performance. Tickets s 6 - Available at MSC, Wehner, or any Chi Omega. VOTE 1ZI TODAY Complaining is Nothing. voviny is iijvicy 12riiriy . Vote at one of the following convenient locations: MSC, Evans Library, Blocker, Kleberg, Wehner, All Faiths, Commons, Rec Center, Duncan, Zachry, and Bush Or participate in the newest Aggie Tradition. . . ON-LINE VOTING!