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First National Bank has been here since 1876 when TAMC
began classes, and is still going strong offering complete
banking services for yon.
Aggies doing business with Aggies!
Our long history of working with Aggies qualifies us as your
best choice for financial services.
979-779-1111
2807 S. Texas Ave* 1862 Rock Prairie Rd. • Texas at Harvey Rd • Post Oak Mall* Karl Rudder Frwy. at Huy. 21
uiupw.fnb-bcs.com
Howdy!
The Department Of Student
Activities is accepting
applications for the
Margaret Rudder
Service Award!
Visit http://vsc.tamu.edu for
more information.
Applications are due Friday,
March 29th!
$enwr<$
Aggieland Printing sells
Graduation Announcements
2 Choices
See our brand new format
with A&M seal
New this semester!
We sell
Order by April 2
& receive them April 5
• Graduation Announcements • Graduation Remembrance Displays
• Thank You Notes • Personalized Graduate Notepads
Aggieland Printing
1902 Texas Ave South, C.S. (in front of the new HEB)
693-8621 M-F 8:30-5:30
Order and pay online:
www.aggielandprinting.com
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•Effective on tuxedos beginning at $89-95 through April 18, 2002. No other discounts of promotions
offer
apply. Limit one per customer. See store for details. -JOn a similar product or offer.
6B
Thursday, March 28, 2002
SCIjTECH
the battalion
Scientist crack
egg phenomenon
Hard>boiled
physics
NEWS IN BRIEF
(AP) — Just in time for
Easter, mathematicians have
cracked the mystery of why a
hard-boiled egg spun on a table-
top rises on one end and whirls
like a top.
The explanation, in an
eggshell: friction.
Mathematicians from
England and Japan spent six
months filching eggs from their
families’ refrigerators and trying
to explain the mysterious forces
controlling this behavior. Their
findings appear in Thursday’s
issue of the journal Nature.
Keith Moffatt of the
University of Cambridge in
England and Yutaka Shimomura
of Keio University in Japan
believed that demonstrating how
this effect works would be a
simple, fun exercise. Instead, it
“turned out to be very subtle and
quite tricky,” Moffatt said.
Their report contains no
fewer than 16 equations in less
than two pages.
Here is an explanation for the
spinning Easter egg conundrum,
without the mathematics:
Imagine an egg spinning on
its side on a tabletop. Because
of the curve of its shell, it is
touching the table at only one
point. But the contact point is
not fixed; it slides in a small
circle around an imaginary
vertical axis.
As the egg slides across the
table, the friction created slows
the egg’s rotation slightly, and
the contact point with the table
moves off-center. The egg
begins to twist as it spins. One
end slowly rises until the egg
stands vertically. For a few sec
onds, anyway.
The egg can be any size or
type. It must be hard-boiled.
“When you try to spin a soft
egg on a table the liquid fluid
inside lags behind the shell,”
Moffatt said. “You set the shell
in motion but the fluid doesn't
want to spin up. By the time the
fluid is spinning at the same
time as the shell, it’s lost a lot of
kinetic energy and it’s just not
got enough remaining to stand
up on its end.”
Or in non-scientific terms:
Splat.
In Thursday’s issue of the journal
Nature, mathematicians explain,
in a series of heady equations,
the physics of why a hard-boiled
egg rises up like a top when it’s
spun on its side.
Rotational
axis
Man with artificial
heart released
k
Circle
contact
The contact point between the egg
and the surface is not fixed. It moves
In a small circle around the egg’s
rotational axis.
Surface friction pushes the contact
point away from the rotational axis,
causing the contact circle to expand
The egg must be hard-boiled to
achieve this result. The liquid inside
a soft egg will not maintain the same
Kinedc energy as the shell.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - The
longest-living recipient of a sell-
contained artificial heart has
been released from the hospi
tal, doctors said Wednesday.
Tom Christerson, the second
recipient of the AbioCor artifi
cial heart and one of only two
still living, is now residing at a
hotel one block from Jewish
Hospital.
According to a statement
from the hospital, where he
underwent the surgery Sept.
13, Christerson was discharged
March 20.
Doctors said Christerson's
move to the hotel is a first step
in allowing him to return to his
home in Central City, about two
hours southwest of Louisville.
“The rest of Mr. Christerson's
routine, such as twice daily
rehab and occasional lab tests
will remain the same," said Dr.
Laman Gray, one of the
University of Louisville surgeons
who implanted the artificial
heart.
Part of the transition
includes training hospital
emergency staff in and near
Central City on the type of care
a patient with an artificial heart
might need.
El
ENOI
SOURCE: Nature
AP
Estrogen could decrease heart disease
(AP) — Testing women for a common
genetic variation may help doctors predict
which patients can lower their risk of heart
disease by taking estrogen.
Millions of women take estrogen supple
ments to relieve hot flashes and other symp
toms of menopause, and it was long
assumed the pills also prevented heart dis
ease by improving cholesterol levels.
Recent studies have raised doubts about an
across-the-board benefit, adding to the con
fusion about who should get estrogen and
for how long.
Now researchers say there could be a
way to zero in on those women who might
lower their risk of heart disease by taking
estrogen. They found that a specific ver
sion of a gene appears to enhance estro
gen’s effect on HDL, the so-called good
cholesterol.
Women with the gene variant had double
the increase of HDL when taking estrogen,
according to the study in Thursday’s New
England of Journal of Medicine.
“We don’t yet know for sure whether this
dramatic increase in HDL translates into a
reduction in risk for heart disease. But it cer
tainly is very promising,” said Dr. David M.
Herrington, one of the researchers at Wake
Forest University School of Medicine.
If the heart benefits are confirmed,
Herrington said, doctors could do a simple
genetic test to find out if their patients
have the gene variant. The results could
help them decide whether to recommend
hormone supplements and how much to
prescribe/ '
“Hormone replacement therapy may no
longer be considered a one-size-fits-all
proposition,” Herrington said. “This may
actually really help doctors individualize the
way they treat women.”
The researchers analyzed DNA from 309
postmenopausal women with heart disease
who were given either hormones or a
dummy pill and followed for three years.
They looked for variations in a gene
plays a key role in how the body's cells react
to estrogen.
One particular variant was found in near
ly 20 percent of the women taking hor
mones. Those women had a 27 percent
increase in good cholesterol, compared witlt
a 13 percent increase in the other womer
taking hormones. LDL, the bad cholesterol,
decreased but the gene variant did
appear to make a significant difference.
Herrington said the study was toi
small to show whether the higher levels
of good cholesterol actually helped the
women’s hearts.
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Another issue is whether the gene maKet „ Kthe rjght to edj1
women more sensitive to the other effectso!
estrogen, Herrington said. Hormones are
used to prevent brittle bones and treat the
symptoms of menopause such as hot flash
es, night sweats and vaginal dryness. But
long-term use of hormones may increase the
risk of breast cancer.
"person at 014 Ri
to: 014 Reed Me
Mill. Fax: (979) I
Going Abroad?
How to turn your
Aggie Bucks
into a cheao hotel
Students and Faculty: Buy an International Student Identity Card at the
Study Abroad Program Office in Bizzell Hall West.
Purchase the ISIC Card with Aggie Bucks (no longer accepting checks) to receive
Worldwide Discounts. International Insurance. Emergency Assistance.
STUDENT
ORGANIZATIONS
Want to get your
it the
name ou
We now are offering advertising space for
organizations in the All-University Calendar, the
University’s official planner. It’s a great way to
let incoming freshmen, as well as all students,
know about what you can offer. Print out a form
from our website and if you have any questions
call Ryan Williams at 862-6721.
Midate is:
ology
littp: //studentactivi ties. tamu.edu.edu/calendar
"\ encourage my
friends to make
,
responsible decisions
regarding alcohol."
Ben Dixon
Class of 2001
The Choice Is Up To You.
http://studentlife.tamu.edu / adep
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between 8:30 a -iU an ; nH nay atf
Sami
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fitage
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