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cientists clone
uman embryo
BOSTON (AP) — A research
[ompany reported Sunday it
|ad cloned the first human
|mbryo, a development it
aid was aimed at producing
ienetically matched replace-
ent cells for patients with a
ide range of diseases.
But the news from
Idvanced Cell Technology
If Worcester, Mass., drew
Iwift protests from religious
Ind political leaders who
law it as a step toward
lloning human beings.
I Several states, including
Jlalifomia, have banned
uman cloning, and Congress
k considering such a ban. But
[ompany officials insisted
Iheir work is the first step in
roviding hope for people with
pinal injuries, heart disease
|nd other ailments.
"These are exciting prelim
inary results,” said Dr.
Robert P. Lanza, one of the
esearchers at Advanced
Sell Technology.
Lanza and the company's
top executive Michael West
aid they had no interest in
transplanting such early
mbryos into a woman's
womb to give birth to a
cloned human being, nor was
it clear that their embryo
would be capable of that.
PUBLIC EYE
leverage student
expenditures
for 2001-2002
On-campus
$11,593
Off-campus
$12,233
AGGIELIFE
Page 3
Put your
hands up
Police officers give
the nitty-gritty of
the risks, benefits
of their job
r graduationi
mt students. If
i, please visit®
imes ’
ler at 862-tl
etired Texas Ail
ie WOC toi Si
nts of Texas Ad
) for a large W
Event Dif
Jan. 3—Jan.
I TAMU Outdo*
Page 7
Aggies
cruise, 91-70
Second half outburst
gives A&M third win
OPINION
Page 9
A proud
tradition
Returns to A&M
- As Bonfire fades,
Fish Drill Team a
welcome addition
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TODAY
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TOMORROW
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FBI looks at international students
By Emily Peters
THE BATTALION
Federal agencies have
requested information about
international students from col
leges and universities in the
aftermath of the Sept. I I terror
ist attacks and following
anthrax investigations, but
Texas A&M officials said no
private A&M student informa
tion has been released.
More than 220 schools
reported that law enforcement
officials had requested student
information as part of their
investigation into the Sept. I l
terrorist attacks, according to a
survey of l,188 private and pub
lic institutions by the American
Association of Collegiate
Registrars and Admission
Officers. Recent anti-terrorist
legislation has made it easier for
federal agencies to obtain court
orders for an individual’s private
information.
A&M officials said they have
not received any court order
requests for private international
student information. It is typical
for the FBI to request public
information, said Director of
International Student Programs
Suzanne Broleskey.
“It has always been true that
the FBI has questioned various
international students, faculty
and staff and other non-interna
tional individuals on campus,”
Broleskey said. “These types of
inquiries are made on a fairly
regular basis.”
Bryan FBI officials said the
requests are normal and only
come into the spotlight now
that there is new legislation and
the agency has been searching
more stringently.
“We just make sure a student
is a student,” an agent from the
Bryan office said.
FBI headquarters spokesper-
FBI’s SEARCH FOR
TERRORISTS
* THE FBI HAS REOUESTEO INFORMATION ON
INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS AT 220 UNIVERSITIES.
* A&M HAS 3,500 INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
* FBI HAS NOT REQUESTED P R1V AT E I N FO R M A Tl O N
ON ANY A&M STUDENTS.
* INFORMATION WAS SUBPOENAED ON ONE UNIVERSITY
OF TEXAS STUDENT.
sons would not comment on
what the agency is seeking
through the inquiries, or why
inquiries are made into particu
lar individuals.
Survey results show that most
law enforcement inquiries
requested directory information
See Students on page 2.
Guiding light
CODY WAGES* THE BATTALION
Jeryl Hamilton, a sophomore environmental design project for an Environmental Design 205 class project
major, installs a light bulb into a conceptual light house Monday night in the Langford Architecture Center.
Website developed to help
students with homework
Radiation
a possible
terrorist
weapon
By Tanya Nading
THE BATTALION
The possibility that terrorists may use radioactive
materials as weapons against the United States means
that first responders, such as emergency crews, fire
fighters and law enforcement, should be prepared,
according to a study released this month by the
National Council on Radiation Protection and
Measurement.
First responders need to know how to identify the
biological and medical effects of radiation and must
be trained to handle situations where radiation con
tamination has occurred, said health physicist John
W. Poston Sr., a nuclear engineering professor at
Texas A&M and an author of the council’s report.
“Our intent was to provide assistance to first respon
ders, to give them tools for the kinds of events they
might face: events concerning weapons of mass destruc
tion or improvised nuclear weapons,” Poston said.
The possibility of using radioactive exposure as
a terrorist weapon seems more likely than terrorists
using nuclear weapons, Poston said, because
radioactive materials can be released in small loca
tions and amounts.
“A terrorist organization is more likely to release a
small amount of radiation, possibly with an explosion
likely caused by dynamite or another explosive,
rather than use a nuclear weapon,” Poston said. “It is
an unlikely case that a nuclear weapon would be
used. We know countries have nuclear weapons, but
hopefully there is a strong safeguard around them.”
Poston said he believes some terrorists will use
the threat of nuclear weapons against the United
States as a scare tactic.
See Radiation on page 2.
USPS to radiate
mail, kill anthrax
By Tanya Nading
THE BATTALION
By Eric Ambroso
THE BATTALION
College students across North
America have access to an online
service that allows them to pose
exact academic problems and
receive answers from graduate stu
dents. Grant Goodwin, creator of the
Ridethebellcurve.com, said it is
designed to assist students with 42
subjects any time of the day.
Graduate students from across
Canada and the United States oper
ate 24 hours a day to give step-by-
step solutions for the specific needs
of the students.
“We want to work with universi
ties to improve the quality of educa
tion for undergraduates,” Goodwin
said. “Eventually, we plan to use
real-life professionals to assist stu
dents with problems they are having
in their field. We also plan to hire
undergraduates to tutor high school
students’online.”
A $3 fee is charged when the stu
dents accept the solution to their
problem, 80 percent of which pays
the graduate student that posted the
solution. The company currently is
working on a solution bank that
would allow students to view previ
ously posted solutions to problems
that are similar to their own.
Ridethebellcurve.com has also cre
ated an essay-review service
enabling students to have their
papers edited by graduate students.
Many university officials in the
United States have speculated that
the Website will promote cheating.
“Undergraduates will cheat and
are cheating now,” Goodwin said.
“We figure that if they cheat using
our system that they would have
cheated anyway. It is our intent to
allow students to use the service to
gather sample solutions from the
site as they study for their examina
tions, thus relieving university
teaching assistants (TA’s) of some of
the burden during these hectic peri
ods of the academic year. If students
are willing to pay money and spend
time learning how to solve the prob
lem. then they will want to learn the
material anyway.”
See Homework on page 2.
With an increase in anthrax being sent through
the mail, the U.S. Postal Service has announced
that it will use radiation to kill traces of the bacte
ria before mail is distributed.
The results from radiation tests performed by
Dr. Leslie Braby. a Texas A&M nuclear engineer
and research professor, show that electronic-beam
radiation will not damage most mail.
“Our results show that radiation has not caused
error in CDs or CD-RW” Braby said. “I suspected
that the radiation would bleach the colors of a pho
tograph, but there was no change in the coloring of
the photographs or of ink-jet materials.”
Braby said the study did reveal that certain
materials were harmed by the radiation waves.
“Unprocessed film will be ruined by overexpo
sure to the radiation. Plant seeds and plant cuttings
will be damaged as well,” Braby said. “Any other
mail screening processes, as opposed to radiation
to eliminating bacteria spores, would be equally
See MAIL on page 2.