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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 21, 2000)
Page 2 scienc TECHN Wednesday, June 21 THE BATTALION What makes us tick A&M biologists conduct evolutionary study of biological clot Patrice Pages The Battalion It is 7:50 in the morning, the alarm was set for 8 a.m. but a student wakes up 10 minutes early for an exam. The process just described is possible because of the student's circadian rhythm, or internal biological clock. Researchers at Texas A&M recently received a $5 million grant from the National Institute of Health to study the gears driving such biological clocks. Professors Dr. Vincent Cassone, Deborah Bell-Pedersen, Susan Golden, Terry Thomas and Mark Zoran of the Department of Biology and Dr. David Earnest of the Department of Human Anatomy have pooled their efforts to study the genes involved in biological clock functioning in different types of organisms, ranging from bacteria to mammals. All living organisms have an internal biological, or circadian clock, which allows organisms to tell time. A&M is ready to do comparative studies to analyze these circadian clocks us ing an integrated approach, combining the different features of their model or ganisms to understand the nature of the circadian clocks that drive people and animals alike. Scientists now know clocks are regulated at the cellular level. In mice and rats, these clock cells are mainly located in a region of the brain called the Supra-Chias- matic Nucleus (SCN). In birds and chicken, clock cells are in the pineal gland, a pea sized structure in the center of the brain. The circadian clock in these animals follows a light-dark cycle. During the day, light hits the eyes and is converted to electrical signals that trav el through optic nerves to the clock cells. In the clock cell, the electrical signal acti vates proteins that switch on genes called clock genes, which make other proteins: the clock proteins. When night begins, these clock proteins turn the clock genes off, stopping clock protein production. Thus circadian clock functions as a loop, where initial proteins activate clock genes, which create clock proteins, which in turn inhibit clock genes later. Earnest studies circadian clocks in rats. He _ _ showed that the SCN releases a chemical, the fi I III K INPUT Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF). During the day, the SCN re leases BDNF to make connections with the op tical nerve, but not during the night. Cassone and his group are working on the circa- (LIGHT) dian rhythm mechanisms in the chicken pineal gland. Like in rats, the pineal gland secretes a chemical, melatonin, during the day. They also have identified proteins that activate the clock genes during the day. However, the details of the mecha nisms have to be better understood. "We do not know how the [clock] protein neg atively regulates the clock genes. We do know that it happens, but we have to es tablish that there is also a loop from the clock protein to the clock genes," Bell-Ped- ersen said. Studies of circadian clocks in other organisms all show both internal and external effects of circadian rhythms. The first is in the form of an internal loop in the cell, and the second is an effect visible from outside, like the secretion of BDNF or melatonin. Agood analogy is your watch," Bell-Pedersen said. "If you opened up the back components of the clock loop. They keep everything running at the com: C IT* I | What they regulate are the hands that you look at. Thatb |_ put of the clock." Comparing the results obtained with ganisms also shows that the involved clockge: similar from one organism to another, thoui number of genes increases with the size andco: ity of the organism. Many questions remain unanswered, said Sts: pert, a Harvard Medical School researcher worfe cadian clocks in mice. "Even if we have a handful of genes now,w the beginning stages in terms of understanding!, :ru d a few gu gene products interact with each other to mak loops," he said. Earnest said that studying how p. I | -r p | i-T- rhythms control physiology and ^ I i LJ I mammals could help scientists ► sleep disorders of aging people, or thei alcohol on the 24-hour rhythm of dev dnesday, June 2 0< Every Augu: :asA&M fear 22 new Aggi i-ins with up hmen will b< it and challei ore. These 2 cM football ti Tim Cassidy, 1 operations tments incor ning into a c He said the; ndpoint, aca< away from 1 : at a school c best of the fc Football coa uries and ot RUBEN DELUNA/The Battalion brains in infants. Bell-Pedersen said cii rhythms also effect medications. (Melatonin in chicks, " Most asthma attacks occurin r-. , . ■ r -v momine. So if patients take one doi Development in fungi) rightbe 6 forethoy gotosl ^. the * drug is much better," she said. Bell-Pedersen is enthusiastic ala out the future perspectives in the?, | Fitzpatrici biological clocks. Shaun of your watch, you would see these gears that go through each other. They are the 'What is particularly exciting is that we will get information on hot appropriate w evolved, by being able to compare from a prokarvote to a low eukaryote to*® of probab to a mouse. This is unique in tire field," she said. y Hindows. R 2. It is nece Industries attempt to end music piracy with watermarkitt sive bonfires: not only see tl windows, but of senseless k ning around 1 Jennifer Bales The Battalion Metallica is not the only group that dislikes pirated MP3s. MPEG,4 > l l ayer,3,. files, ,cqm- monly known as MP3s, are used by hundreds of thousands of peo ple across the United States and the world as a way of acquiring their favorite songs by down loading them to their computers instead of paying the price of a store-bought CD. Over 180 music and technolo gy companies have recently banded together to prevent the "pirating," or stealing, of music through this means by attempt ing to ensure that only legal MP3s with a specific code, or "water mark," can be played by software and portable MP3 players. First generation SDMI compatible portable devices will enable users to play MP3S unconditionally This watermarking technique is called tire Secured Digital Music Initiative (SDMI). structure developed by MPEG to compress the audio portion of the data. MP3s work by compressing a track on a CD, creating a compression ratio of about 11 to one! This compressed data pro duces sound that is almost indis tinguishable from a CD's. With the pending case against Napster, Inc., and the constant me dia attention to digital-music con troversies, there has been pressure for all parties involved to find an amicable agreement. "We're in the middle of a 'nev er-never land' right now. We have large numbers of people breaking the law and saying they don't care," said Thomas Putnam, direc tor of computing and information services at Texas A&M. "We're hoping that somebody qomes up with something workable that MWPPMMMPHHIW I 1 rTS afn £ T f ¥ 11 See related column on Page 5 The Motion Pictures Experts Group (MPEG) developed a method of compressing audio and visual content. The com pression of data allows users, to save space and time when dealing with large files. Rather than working with a large file that uses between 30 and 50 megabytes of memory, compression allows for the ma nipulation of data into five megabytes or less. MP3 utilizes the walks that fine line between allowing artists to make money off of their art and allowing people to listen to the music and not paying excessive amounts for it." SDMI resulted from a forum of more than 180 companies and organizations representing various members of the mu sic and technology fields that have collaborated to develop open technology specifications to protect the distribution of digital music. SDMI focuses its efforts on providing record companies with a way to distribute high-quality music without allowing illegal copies to be spread among listeners. However, watermarking is only a small component of the solution. The primary goal of SDMI is the prevention of ca sual piracy — not the elimination of piracy by professionals. SDMI intends to publish guidelines explaining how digital music security tasks should be performed rather than strict implementation procedures. On June 28,1999, SDMI completed Phase I of the project which detailed initial specifications for portable devices (PD). Popular PDs among consumers include Diamond Multime dia's Rio 500 and Creative Lab's Nomad DAP-3201. These PDs allow users to listen to dig ital music while away from their computers — much like a portable CD player. Phase I SDMI-compliant de vices will enable users to play both protected and unprotect ed music, meaning that MP3s created before the launch of SDMI technology can be played on first generation SDMI-compliant devices. Pnase II will begin when technology that filters out ille gally copied music is available to device manufacturers. Mu sic that is released with a wa termark that identifies it as SDMI-compliant will be the Consumers will be allowed to make an infinite me® 12 Lord of the 3. Therioti copies as long as they retain the original disc fromwte music file was originally produced. Three additional: i are permitted from each copy stored on the user'sctp m If the consumer needs more copies, the CD can be* Allows users to play unprotected digital music including MP3S released before Phase Two in addition to music released with a watermark identifying it as SDMI-compliant A copy permission counter may also be ample usage rules will define how many times a file may lb and show the number of times the content wasrepW The user may "check out" the content a sperificfi of times, and the identification associated withthct mark will enable the file topi portable devices installedf user's computer only. # technology, SDMI is wok force all copies to be created the original, decreasing the® of pirated material. SDMI protocol merely guidelines for manufacture: corporate security measure distributing digital music. "My attitude is that tie only files able to be played by this technology. However, PDs will also retain the ability to play music that is unprotected, such as the current MP3 format, which was re leased before the implementation of Phase II. dard should define a that is neutral. It is up to® layer to set rules about tk the technology. SDMI is at ogy platform where even! possible, but it's up to socf the technology, to decide right and what's wrong," said Dr. Leonardo Chiarij T the founder of MPEG and executive director of SDH interview with Wired News, an online news Website focuses on science and technology issues. ^ a Sundays: 9:30 a.m. 10:50 a.m. 6:00 p.m. Summers at First Baptist, Bryan College Bible Study Worship Service Worship & Fellowships Class of 2004! We have a special class for you this summer! Sundays, 9:30 a.m. Located on Texas Ave., 4 miles North of Univ. Drive • www.fbcbryan.org Sponsored by Compass College Ministries pro you exp a c 20% Summer Savings apa Hoi loCE froi On Routine Health Maintenance an Elective Surgery for Cats and Doc £3 £3 Fridcty Juno 23rd Rodeo 2000 Presents URflSFIN COUJROV Tickets On Sole Nouj $8.00 fldvounce $10.00 Rt The Door T~lc=K« ■ i—i <=d o rs ► -f-s n?< I—i «s» r Si E3- era Lc s :OCDCD 1 <±>CDCJB. S. 111 era fcr> I «=» i-l-'y' 1 ^ OCIO rV" • >0 1 cu r V'' e=»V' . 1 ~l r \ i u Physical Examinations ‘.Vaccinations Heart Worm Examinations and Treatme Parasite Control • Spays and Neuters Dental Examinations and Treatments TAMUS faculty, staff or students call the Veterinary Medical Teaching Host* (979) 845-9062 for information or to schedule an appointment. Discount af only to services performed in June, July or August 2000. Please identify V 0 '- as TAMUS faculty, staff or student when making an appointment in order to r* t e discount. The capacity of the teaching hospital is limited and appointmen- be scheduled on a first-come first-served basis. Veterinju-y Medical Teaching Hospital College of Veterinary Medicine 77843-4457