SCIENC
ECHNOLOGY
ay, April 4,2000
THE JBATTAHON
Page 7
Science Briefs
four A the \Jom\t Comet
Zero gravity experiments test movement in space
Tuesday, 12:30 p.m.. Rumours Coffeehouse
Dr. Jim Wild, Texas A&M Dept, of Biochemistry & Biophysics
"Bioethical Issues in a Changing World"
Wednesday, 12:30 p.m.. Rumours Coffeehouse
Dr. John Howard, CEO, ProdiGene, Inc.
Dr. Susanna Priest, Texas A&M Dept, of Journalism
"Genetically-Modified Foods: Fears and Facts"
Thursday, 5:00 p.m., Rumours Coffeehouse
Community religious leaders
"Biotechnology and our Religious Faith"
Friday, 5:00 p.m., Wehner 159 (Ray Auditorium)
Dr. Glenn McGee, University of Pennsylvania and
Editor-in-chief, American Journal of Bioethics
"A Little Prozac, a Fat Vacuum, and I Will Be
Beautiful: Is it Ethical to Enhance Human Beings?"
.
BY BETH AHLQUIST
The Battalion
Al
Forum raises bioethics awareness
iThe Texas A&M Bioethics Forum
Jsponsoring "Bioethics Aware-
less Week,” through Friday, with
-iStores and debates on topics
Ich as cloning, genetically modi-
liri foods, gene therapy and the ge-
ifitic enhancement of humans.
[■Spencer Davis, president of the
Hum and a junior genetics major,
id the group encourages open dis-
sion of ethical questions pertaining
to genetics research. “We avoid en
dorsing any particular viewpoint on these
issues,” Davis said.
The Forum is also planning a
two-day conference for Fall 2000
to look at religious perspectives
about biotechnology issues. “It
will examine arguments presented
by major religious faiths against
certain areas of biotechnology,”
Davis said.
Nobelist to speak on ozone loss
H Dr. Shen/vood Rowland, a chemist
11 ■m the University of California- Irvine,
[■ speak about "Ozone Depletion and
Global Warming in the 21st Centu-
guy rogers im Bw fy,' at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, as part
of the Texas A&M Distinguished
ido. This area, most lecture Series.
Tica International
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■ The lecture, which is free and
open to the public, will be held in
the Presidential Conference Cen
ter at the Bush School. Tickets are
available at the Rudder Box Office.
■ Rowland and two other scien-
jtilts shared the 1995 Nobel Prize
in chemistry for their research on
the deterioration of the stratos
pheric ozone layer and its role in
global warming.
The stratospheric ozone layer pro
tects the earth from solar rays by ab
sorbing ultraviolet radiation before it
reaches the ground.
In the 70s, Rowland and his col
leagues showed that chlorofluoro-
carbons (CFOs), chemicals used for
decades in refrigerators as a coolant
and in aerosol cans as a propellant,
destroy ozone molecules.
As a result, “ozone holes” developed
that allowed more radiation to reach and
warm the earth’s surface.
nned with powdered donuts to
prevent nausea, three Texas
.A&M students recently
stepped aboard NASA’s Vomit Comet.
The KC-135 airplane, used to sim
ulate the zero-gravity conditions of
space flight, earned its nickname for
causing motion sickness in many of
its passengers.
Last month, Susan Ramsey, a se
nior biomedical engineering major. Bo
Beeman, a senior industrial engineer
ing major, and Bowie Hand, a senior
industrial engineering major, rode the
KC-135 as part of the NASA Reduced
Gravity program, in which they per
formed zero-gravity experiments.
Ramsey, Beeman and Hand per
formed tests of Fitts’ law, which de
scribes the amount of time it takes a
person to make a specific movement.
Movement time is affected by both
distance from a target object and the
Susan Ramsey, a senior biomedical engineering ma
jor, and Bo Beeman, a senior industrial engineering
major, on board a NASA KC-135 airplane preparing
the cockpit.
size of the object. Hand said.
But the team wanted to find out if
movements are slower or faster in
zero gravity.
Fitts’ law has been tested before,
but not in a zero-gravity environment,
Ramsey said.
To test the law, the students creat
ed a cockpit with 20 buttons of vari
ous sizes. They measured the time it
took for the test subject’s hand to
leave a start button and touch the tar
get button. They took the cockpit
aboard the KC-135, which flew in a
specific wave pattern to create the
feeling of weightlessness.
The flight on the Vomit Comet was
the culmination of months of work.
Ramsey, Beeman and Hand submitted
a 50-page proposal detailing their
plans for the project. Hand said stu
dents from all over the country sub
mitted proposals, but only 48 spots
were available.
The team’s project also had to get
past A&M’s Institutional Review
Board to ensure
no one would be
harmed during
the experiment.
“Even though
we are our own
subjects, they
wanted to be sure
it would be safe
for us to do this,”
Beeman said.
Once past the
review board, the
team confronted
a challenge fac
ing many scien
tists. They had to
raise enough mon
ey to finance the
cockpit’s con
struction.
PHOTO COURTESY OF NASA
And then they had to
build it.
The cockpit contains
a display screen to show
the test subject which
button to push, target
buttons and a chair for
the tester to sit in.
Ramsey, Beeman
and Hand travelled to
Houston in February to
prepare for the flight.
Beeman and Hand had
to undergo physiologi
cal preparations to get
their bodies used to the
zero-gravity environ
ment of the KC-135,
Beeman said. Ramsey
co-oped at NASA last
year, so she was able to
bypass the training.
Their cockpit also
underwent last-minute
readiness tests to be
sure no one would be
injured if someone
bumped it during the
flight, and NASA en
gineers scrutinized the
electronics to make
sure everything was
functioning correctly.
The team flew on
March 10 and 11 with
Ramsey and Beeman
flying the first day, and Ramsey and
Hand the second day.
Ramsey and her teammates said
their experiment may impact astro
naut training by helping to describe
the way zero-gravity affects astro
nauts’ movements.
Most pilot research is done by the
Air Force, and little information per
taining to astronauts is available, she
said. Training might be more effec-
PHOTO COURTESY OF NASA
Susan Ramsey holds on to the cockpit where
Bo Beeman performs an experiment to com
pare movements at zero gravity.
tive if scientists knew how astro
nauts are affected when they go into
space.
Ramsey stressed their study will
not be definitive.
But she said they expect their
study of movement in zero-gravity
will aid other researchers — with
more time and money — to contin
ue this line of research to enhance
astronaut training.
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their commitment to recreation, leisure and
healthy lifestyles. We thank you for your
commitment and want you to know that we,
the Department of Recreational Sports, are
committed to you. We will use the money
raised through the Recreational Sports Fee to
maintain and operate the Student Recreation
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grams including fitness, outdoors, intramu
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quality and accessible manner that you
enjoy today. Because of you, future Aggies
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tained and beautiful surroundings.
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