6A NEWS THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2007 CAMPUS General talks about media's role in Army BY COURTNEY CONDRON ccondron@kansan.com ccondron@kansan.com Three U.S. soldiers are guarding a checkpoint at 2 a.m. Suddenly, a truck approaches at high speed, ignoring their flashing lights and running over the checkpoint barriers. The truck is headed for the soldiers' position, so they begin firing warning shots. There is no one else to ask what to do, and they have to make a decision. They start shooting at the tires, and finally, the truck stops. The soldiers walk up to the driver and realize that he had simply fallen asleep at the wheel. This is an example of the escalating use of force used by the U.S. Army that Lt. Gen. William Caldwell told KU students about at a question-and-answer session on Thursday, sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Caldwell is a three-star general and commander of the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center and Ft. Leavenworth, Caldwell also spoke on Wednesday night at the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics. Caldwell said that the Army's forces went through intensive training and simulation practices to prepare for situations such as this. He said soldiers had to be prepared to make decisions in a matter of seconds. Caldwell suggested to the University of Kansas that he come to speak to students. Paul DAnieri, associate dean of the college, said this was an important opportunity for students to talk to someone from the U. S. government who made important decisions. "These kinds of issues — culture, conflicts, political settlement and economics — are what we deal with. It's what we do." D'Aniert said. Caldwell also spoke to students about the Army's obligation to be open to media and reporters. "It's a two-way street, and we have a huge responsibility too." Caldwell said. "We are denying reporters access at the most critical times that they need access." Caldwell told the story of Sgt. 1st Class Paul Smith, an engineer who was doing construction and was attacked by Iraqi. Smith found a disabled machine gun and began firing rounds at the enemy. Finally, the Iraqi began to withdraw, but Smith was mortally wounded. "He gave his life," Caldwell said. Caldwell said these were the type of stories that the media needed to be telling, and the only way the media could was if the army let them embed with them to show the media what they were doing. Jon Goering/KANSAN Caldwell also talked about being a husband and father of five children and what it was like returning home after being deployed. He said he used to pay the bills, but after being deployed for 13 months, his wife took over, and he was never allowed to touch the checkbook again. Sgt. Gen. William Caldwell spoke to University of Kansas students on Wednesday and Thursday about his experiences in the Army. Caldwell said the media and the Army had a responsibility to cooperate. He said families left at home were in a tougher situation than the soldiers because they had to adjust to life without their loved ones. Caldwell and administrators at the college are working to provide joint programs between the University and Ft Leavenworth. "I like going into the educational environment because students are much more open." Caldwell said. "They may have particular views,but they are open to others and willing to engage in others." Edited by Elizabeth Cattell RESEARCH Increased CO, emissions may affect flowering plants BY FRANCESCA CHAMBERS fchambers@kanan.com It's basic, junior-high science. Carbon dioxide plus water, plus sunlight equals healthy, happy plants. So theoretically, increased amounts of $ \mathrm{CO_{2}} $ in the air would yield super plants. But Joy Ward, an assistant professor in the department of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Kansas, said sometimes too much of a good thing could be bad. Ward and Clint Springer, a postdoctoral researcher who works in Ward's lab, have found that increased levels of CO$_2$ in the atmosphere could cause plants to flower later. there is no single factor that dictates whether a plant will have accelerated or delayed flowering." Springer said. "We uncovered a big question." "What we found in this study is there is a lot of variability in the responses. And to generalize those, Ward and Springer recently published the study "Flowering time and elevated atmospheric $ \mathrm{CO}_{2} $” in the botany journal New Phytologist. Although the review was primarily a synthesis of other researchers' work, which Springer and Ward said was the most comprehensive synthesis on this subject to date, the two contributed work of their own to the paper as well. In their papers, Ward and Springer looked at how elevated levels of atmospheric $ \mathrm{CO}_{2} $ affect the genetic and molecular mechanisms that control plant flowering. Ward and Springer also acknowledged the implications their work could have on agricultural crops. They hope to incorporate their work into crop breeding in the future. Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring gas, but additional $ \mathrm{CO}_{2} $ is created through the burning of petroleum based fossil fuels and coal. Ward said people needed to be more aware of the effects that an increase in $ \mathrm{CO_{2}} $ emissions were having on the environment. "People are well aware that global warming is affecting plant development timing," Ward said. "We've ignored the factor of carbon dioxide." For their own research, Ward and Springer collected genotypes, or breeds, of the Arabidopsis thaliana, the mouse-ear cress plant, from 10 different geographical regions in the world. They grew the plants in controlled growth chambers at the current atmospheric level of $ \mathrm{CO}_{2} $ 380 parts per million, or ppm, and at the level they predict $ \mathrm{CO}_{2} $ will be at in 50 to 80 years, 700 mm. Consistent with other researchers' studies, Springer and Ward found that carbohydrates play a role in plant development. Ward said sugars sometimes acted as a signaling molecule for plants to flower. Springer said that inconsistency in the flowering times of the plants suggested that plants of the same species across the world were evolving differently. In the future, Ward said she would focus on the evolutionary factors affecting plant development in her lab. Springer will focus on the molecular mechanisms in his new lab at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, where he recently accepted a professorship. Springer said they hoped to pinpoint why and how plants were reacting to $ \mathrm{CO}_{2} $ and to apply their research to other plants that had a commonality in their make-up. According to Ward and Springer's paper, few studies have examined crop flowering-time responses to elevated levels of $ \mathrm{CO}_{2} $ . In the existing studies, 80 percent of those crops showed accelerated flowering times. "Once we understand how genetics play a role in this, that will be more for people who are interested in how it affects crops," Springer said. But researchers in the department of geography are concerned now. Nate Brunsell, assistant professor of geography, said that plants would have to take in more water to counter the increased amounts of CO $_2$. Brunsell said he expected these environmental issues to begin affecting students' lives in the near future. He said Georgia already had put restrictions on how much water citizens could use daily. YOU SHOULDN'T APPLY HERE In their synthesis, Ward and Springer already found that sorghum showed a delayed development time. Beers such as Guinness and Anheuser-Busch's Redbridge contain sorghum in its syrup form. According to the National Sweet Sorghum Producers and Processors Association's Web site, sorghum is a key ingredient in cattle feed and is a major crop in Kansas. Currently, CO2 emissions are not regulated in the U.S. Kansas already has taken a controversial step in this direction by refusing to allow Westar Energy to build a coal plant in Holcomb. Rod Brembey, secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, first rejected the plan, and Governor Kathleen Sebelius upheld his decision. Kees van der Veen, an associate professor in the department of geography, said he expected another Dust Bowl in Kansas, similar to the one in the 1930s. ation uses." [IF YOU'RE AN UNDERACHIEVER] "You also have a food security issue. If we heat things up and lose more water, what are farmers going to do?" Brunsell said. "Change crops? Use more water? When you use more water for agriculture, then there is less for municipal and recre- We don't appreciate laziness. In fact, we can't stand it. The Kansan Advertising Staff is now hiring for the spring semester. And we're looking to hire the most driven students at KU for positions in advertising sales or design. Be a part of the best college advertising staff in the nation*, where the result of your hard work is success in the real world. THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN Interested? Informational meetings are Monday, November 19 OR Tuesday, November 20 at 6 p.m. in Room 100 Stauffer-Flint. Attendance to one session is required to apply Questions? 864-4358. But Springer said his and Ward's work was not only important to Kansas, but also to the world. "In the developing nations of the world, this will have major impacts," Springer said. "The U.S. is more buffered because of our wealth." ADVERTISING STAFF "Net Advertising Student Staff of the Year 2007 Bached by College Newspaper Business and Advertising Managers inc. Edited by Elizabeth Cattell THE DARJEELING LIMITED TWO DAYS IN PARIS FRI: (4:30) 7:00 9:30 SAT: (2:00) (4:30) 7:00 9:30 SUN: (2:00) (4:30) 7:00 9:30 FRI: NO SHOWS SAT: NO SHOWS SUN: NO SHOWS AFTER THANKSGIVING DAY SALE THE FRIDAY BEFORE! ACCESSIBILITY INFO (785) 749-1972 (785) 749-1912 * www.libertyhall.net 9 HOUR SALE WEEKEND TIMES ONLY! * ADULTS $7.50 * $5.50(MATINEE), SENIOR 1DAY ONLY 25%* 10AM 7PM BREAK! FREE LAYAWAY TILL CHRISTMAS WITH ONLY 10% DOWN *SEE STORE FOR DETAILS AND EXCLUSIONS STUDENTS AND FACULTY! WE'RE HAVING OUR AFTER THANKSGIVING DAY SALE THE WEEK BEFORE SO YOU CAN ENJOY 25% OFF BEFORE THE OFF OF OUR LOWEST SALE PRICES SINCE 1908 Hurst 3140 Iowa St Ste 109 (785) 749-5552