Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 6, 2003)
rsday, March 6,2003 verdance 7 star :es rape lawsuit AUEGAN, II. (AP) - erdance" star Michat ey is being sued for S35i by a woman whodaimslif jd her in a Las Vegas hold lawsuit was filed Tuesdayr ? County on behalf of i :ago-area real estate ager: i says she flew to Las Vegas sit Flatley in October e lawsuit says the worn, ise name was not revealed in the private bedroon of Flatley's suite at k etian Resort Hotel-Ca* n he raped her. tley's lawyer, Bert Fields ed the allegations olutely false." here is no truth to it what rer. The evidence tothi! ct is overwhelming, 1 is said. ■Ids said the woman tat i months ago to daiit ey had raped her unlessle her. He said Flatley refused ay. Jeff Carlson of the las is Police Department sai nesday that the worn rted the alleged attack It :e but declined to press ges. an Auro, an attorney forth ran, said she met the W old dance star at an even! as Vegas in September ro said Flatley invited hertt him for a day of sightsee shopping and gambling. iliani's 'Leadership eeds million marl GIULIANI W YORK (AP) - For >r Ruolph Giuliani's t ig book, "Leadership," aded more than one mi- copies in print since is se in October. Jonathan ham, president of s, which I i s h e d Jeaship," Giuliani authored ection of tations will be along- :opies of book ming May 7. nink what's remarkable ns blishing phenomenon, is jst that here are now one n copies in print, but also ite of sale has been si the beginning of the year,' ram told the Daily ednesday's editions, augh a spokeswoman ni told the newspaper he 'truly honored and to have reached the mile of one million copies, book of quotes, ership Through the Ages, elude sayings from histoi- figures like Eleanor rvelt, Winston Churcf /illiam Shakespeare, iham said the form 's next book will be »ir about his career as I prosecutor in Manhattan s America' will in Atlantic Citf iNTIC CITY, NJ. (AP)- she is. And there she' 1 for now. America Organization Is signed a five-year coo' Tuesday to keep It / pageant in Atlantif T months after threaten’ leave. deal, which will contfflt nual $678,000 subsid) the Atlantic Ci| ition & Visitors Authoiil) itions that could add H 3 the term, mportant, perhaps, if t doesn't call for: 0 ies. t from buying ligi! und equipment needet ke Boardwalk Hall If for the annual teleri’ how, the convention ity didn't have to sweet a pot, said chains jliano. change for the subsid) -kind services to Miss a, the authority gets at : City plug on the an# ant telecast and used gning Miss America to earances each year d lows and other events America really doesnt anywhere but in City," Juliano said. SciITech ■ the Battalion Page 5 • rinirsday, March 6, 2003 Trotter lecture touts scientific heavy-hitters By Robert Stackhouse THE BATTALION Two distinguished professors pitted religion against the human mind Tuesday in the second Trotter Endowed Lecture Series, bringing differ ing viewpoints to the ongoing debate about God’s place in the world of science, as well as the rest of the universe. JP BEATO III • THE BATTALION Rev. Dr. John Polkinghorne, former professor of mathematical physics and president of Queens College, Cambridge Dr. Alan Guth, a physics professor from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Rev. Dr. John Polkinghorne, an Anglican priest and former professor of mathematical physics and president of Queens College in Cambridge, were this year’s lecturers. Guth and Polkinghorne presented two sides to a story that is as yet unfinished. “God is the ordainer and sustainer of natural laws,” Polkinghorne said. “In my view, religion and scientific theory can live in hanuony.” The big-bang theory ties into what Polkinghorne has to say about God’s role in the universe. “No explanatory system of the universe can have an unexplained starting point. Nothing comes from nothing,” he said. Guth, however, struck a more humanistic tone. “Do we really need the concept of God to under stand the universe. I don't really see how God helps this idea. I do believe there is a purpose for our exis tence, but I believe it is a purpose that we must find for ourselves,” Guth said. Regardless of their views, both scientists bring a lot to the table when it comes to scientific theory. Guth is known as the father of the inflationary universe theory - a tie-in to the classic big-bang theory - which proposes that the universe started in an extremely small state, where the laws of physics are not applicable. “Inflationary theory takes advantage of results from modern particle physics, which predicts that at very high energies there should exist peculiar kinds of substances which actually turn gravity on its head and produce repulsive gravitational forces,” Guth said. A form of matter possessing high energy would be capable of producing a sort of reverse gravity that drives objects away from each other, a concept known as gravitational repulsion. Assuming that a small portion of this matter was present at the very beginning of the universe, Guth’s theory proposes that only an amount one billion times smaller than a proton is all that was necessary to set in motion the expansion of our universe. “The universe today is in fact not slowing down due to gravity,” Guth said. “It is in fact accelerating. This acceleration is attributed to repulsive gravity material, which goes by the name of ‘dark energy’ because we don't know what it is.” This dark energy is believed to comprise 60 percent of the matter in the universe, according to modern astronomers. Polkinghorne takes a more metaphysical approach to his theory of the origin of the uni verse. He suggests that the existence of scientific law does not discount the existence of God, nor does the existence of God discount science. To explain the phenomenal ability of mankind to explain the mechanics of the universe around us JP Bl.ATO III • THE BATTALION Dr. Alan Guth, professor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with the use of physics, Polkinghorne said that the physical laws of the universe and human imagina tion share a common source. “The reason is our minds and the structure of the universe have a common origin,” he said. “That is God.” The Trotter Endowed Lecture Series was established in the memory of Dr. Ide P. Trotter, former dean of the Graduate School at Texas A&M, in Fall 2001. Artificial skin provides hope for burn victims, despite high cost By Justin Pope THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BOSTON — For many of the badly burned survivors of the Rhode Island nightclub disaster, the best hope for a successful recovery may lie in a sub stance that is manmade and half-alive. Artificial skin nurtures the body’s own skin cells, sometimes even deceiv ing them as they struggle to grow and replace burned tissue. The technology is promising — but doctors warn it’s costly and not always completely effective. Covering a patient who is 50 percent burned can require $50,000 worth of the material, said Dr. Paul Taheri, director of the University of Michigan Trauma Bum Center. The new skin also remains vul nerable to infections. “While it’s awfully useful, it’s not the thing that we hoped: to be able in one set ting to completely replace skin that has burned,” said Dr. Colleen Ryan, a co director of the bum unit at Massachusetts General Hospital. “It’s never like God made it again,” she added. The Feb. 20 fire at The Station nightclub in West Warwick, R.I., killed 98 people and injured more than 180, many of whom were critically burned. Investigators believe a rock band’s pyrotechnics ignited polyurethane foam used for soundproofing, causing the fast-moving blaze. Burned, dead skin must be replaced with something that does everything the old skin did: regulate temperature, keep in fluids and keep out invaders like bacteria. One option is to move a thin layer of healthy skin from elsewhere on the body to cover the burn. But if more than 50 percent of the body is burned, there obvi ously isn’t enough healthy skin. Skin from cadavers can help temporarily, but after a few weeks will be rejected by the body’s immune system. Two companies that have attempted to market artificial skin have had mixed success. San Diego-based Advanced Tissue Sciences Inc., the maker of one leading product called TransCyte, has been forced to turn production over to British firm Smith & Nephew after filing for bankruptcy protection. The other leading product, Integra, by Integra LifeSciences of Plainsboro, N.J., reported record fourth-quarter profits last month, but its artificial skin product accounts for only $4.3 million of the company’s $117.8 million in annual rev enue, estimates First Albany analyst William J. Plovanic. “There’s a big difference between a good technology and a good business,” Plovanic said. TransCyte helps repair the upper, or epithelial layer of skin, while Integra is used to reconstruct the lower layer, called the dermis. TransCyte contains skin cells called fibroblasts, which act as a kind of skin stem cell, growing, if conditions allow, into the variety of tissues that comprise healthy skin. But they don’t just grow; they need something to cling to, and TransCyte is made of a kind of scaffolding, not unlike a garden lattice that encourages vines to grow up around it. Patients with third-degree burns, however, may require Integra to replace the dermal skin layer. It also provides a kind of scaffolding that helps the dermis regenerate itself, in part by tricking it into thinking there are healthy epithelial cells above it. SPECIALTIES PHOTOGRAPHY 'Engagement 'BricCaC 'Wedding Day 979 260 9016 www.speciaCpfioto.com 3514 East 29tCi S Birth Control (including the new patch) Emergency Contraception Pregnancy Tests Treatment of Infections HIV testing Breast Exams Annual Exams 1 .800.230.PLAN www.pphouston.org Bryan Clinic: 41 12 E. 29th St., Bryan, TX 77802 Bring in this ad for $10 off office visit . ceci* 15 Lunch SP Soups, Sala<* 5 sandwiches KUI * 260-8850 r%