Section A • Page 8
The University Daily Kansan
Friday, January 22, 1999
Computers aid sci-fi fans
'SETI at home' users can search for aliens
By T.J. Johnson Kansan staff writer
For those who have been fascinated by books such as Carl Sagan's "Contact" or sci-fi movies such as E.T. and Close Encounters, there is now a way to look for real little green men at home — using your personal computer.
Movies and books have familiarized most people with the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). Now, a program called "SETI at home" will allow computer users throughout the globe to process data received by telescopes involved in the SETI project.
People who participate in the project install the program on their computer which will download data from the SERENDIP IV SETI project at the University of California at Berkeley. While the computer is not in use, the program will be activated much like a screen saver, analyzing chunks of data sent through
The data sent out to be processed will be gathered at the Arecibo Radiotelescope in Puerto Rico, the telescope that was featured in the movie Contact.
the Internet.
This vast networking of computers will allow far more computing power to be dedicated to the project than has been available in the past-important because the SERENDIP project can analyze almost 99,000,000 radio frequencies per second. This enormous amount of information requires powerful data analysis, which project coordinators hope will be provided by volunteers with computers hooked up to the Internet.
"SETI is something interesting and valuable to do at some level," said Steve Shawl, professor of astronomy. "Most peoples' computers are underutilized, and this type of thing involves people while getting something important done."
Some KU students were more skeptical of the usefulness of such a program.
"I don't believe in the 'little green men' kind of aliens, but I do believe that there are higher spiritual beings all around us," said Cassie Holman, Liberal sophomore.
According to information on the Planetary Society's Web site, "SETI@home" should be released in April with versions available for Windows, Mac and Unix platforms.
Participants who are interested in the program can fill out an electronic form enrolling them in the program at www.planetary.org/news/SETiatHomeForum.html.The program will be sent out when the project comes
online this spring, and participants will be notified by e-mail when the project begins.
Mice experiment shows promise for humans
Results show cells may grow organs
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — A patient's own cells might someday be used to grow new organs — a development suggested by a breakthrough lab experiment that found the building-block cells that normally make brain tissue in adult mice could be changed into blood-making cells.
These so-called stem cells, the foundation source of the body's tissue, have been identified as a way to make new skin, liver and other organs. But in previous research the cells were harvested from embryos, a technique that set off a storm of ethical objections.
The new research suggests that even mature stem cells, such as from the adult brain or bone marrow, can change into the progenitor cells for other types of tissue. If such a technique also worked in humans, embryos may not be needed for such research.
"You may be able to use your own stem cells to make new tissue," said Angelo L. Vescovi, head of a team
that conducted the mouse experiment. "As a concept, I don't see any problem in adult stem cells being used to make new skin, for instance."
The research shows there are alternative strategies to harvesting stem cells from embryos, said Dr. Ronald McKay, a National Institutes of Health researcher and a pioneer in stem cell studies.
Stem cells are the mortar and brick for growing all of the body's tissues. In a developing embryo, they produce the cells that become the body parts. After birth, some stem cells are specially programmed to replenish some tissues such as blood and skin.
Researchers earlier had isolated stem cells from human embryos or from aborted fetuses and grew the cells in a lab. When treated with specific proteins, the cells began to grow different types of tissue cells.
That work set off a frenzy of studies. But the research was shadowed by ethical concerns because it was thought that only stem cells from embryos retained the ability to grow into a variety of organs. Many groups objected to medical experimentation with human embryos, and Congress forbade federal money for such studies.
It also led President Clinton to order his National Bioethics Advisory Commission to consider the moral issues of such research. Earlier this week, NIH director Harold Varmus said his agency concluded that research with lab-grown stem cells didn't violate the congressional mandate, even though the cells originated from human embryos.
But Vescovi's work with mice suggests that any stem cell — even from an adult — can be re-educated to make any type of tissue.
Vescovi, of the National Neurological Institute in Milan, Italy, is senior author of a study to be published today in the journal Science.
"This shows that the mature stem cells are a lot more plastic than we imagined. They can produce a lot more cell types than was previously thought," said Christopher Bjornson, a researcher at the University of Washington, Seattle, on the team.
in the experiment, researchers used mouse neural stem cells, which normally would develop into three types of brain and nerve tissue.
They injected the cells into the blood stream of a second group of mice whose bone marrow had been killed with radiation. The cells migrated naturally to the void left
by the killed bone marrow.
Once there, they transformed from neural stem cells into blood-making cells — a complete change from their original role.
But just what caused the change is unknown.
And it's unclear if adult neural stem cells have been isolated in humans, although mature stem cells for intestines, skin and blood have been identified, Vescovi said. McKay said his lab and one other had found mature human neural stem cells.
Bjornson emphasized that the new work involved only mice and that huge steps were needed before stem cell technology ever could be used for humans.
One key problem is learning how to direct stem cells to grow a specific organ. Although researchers at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Wisconsin, Madison, had earlier prompted stem cells to start making a variety of tissue cells, the growth was not guided toward a specific cell type.
If that problem can be solved, researchers believe it's theoretically possible that stem cells could be used to grow new livers or skin, make cells to renew a failing heart or replace nerve cells killed by Alzheimer's.
Pluto might be just an ice ball
Continued from page 1A
Not everyone is happy about the proposed changes to Pluto's status.
"Dr. Tombaugh had definite ideas about Pluto before he died," said Barbara Anthony-Twarog, professor of physics and astronomy. "He felt that it really was a planet. It's going around the sun. It has a moon. Let's leave it at that."
Several students agreed with that sentiment.
"I don't know much about astronomy, but I don't think they should reclassify it," said John Nguyen, Lawrence senior. "It may seem insignificant to us, but I like Pluto. It's sort of the runt of the litter."
Eve Clark, Auburn, Ala., graduate student, also thought that the reclassification was unnecessary.
"I think it should stay a planet," she said. "Why do scientists have to make everything so complicated?"
Fossil shows why dinosaurs reigned
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The best-preserved dinosaur fossil ever found suggests that some extinct animals had the super-powerful lungs needed to be fast and deadly hunters.
A 110 million-year-old fossil of a baby dinosaur called Scipionyx is so well-preserved that researchers believe it bears the image of some of the animal's internal organs, said Nicholas Geist, a paleobiologist at Oregon State University and the senior author of a study appearing today in the journal Science.
"What you usually get in fossils is just bones, but in this one there are remnants of liver, large intestine, windpipe and muscle," he said. "It is like a Rosetta stone for dinosaurs."
Sepionyja was a theopod, a type of meat-eating dinosaur that walked on its hind legs, had a long tail, small forearms and a big head with a large mouth and teeth.
The liver was connected by muscle to a pelvic bone, Geist said, suggesting the animal had a breathing system called a hepatic piston.
In such a system, muscles pull against the liver, causing the breathing cavity to expand slightly. That forces air into the lungs at a high rate.
"This is necessary for sustained activity," said Geist. "These theopods were exceedingly fast and dangerous animals. They were not slow and
sluggish like many modern reptiles."
Mammals have a diaphragm muscle that causes the lung cavity to expand and draw in air. The ability to rapidly ventilate the lungs is essential for moving swiftly for long periods.
Dinosaurs' lung capacity may be one reason they dominated mammals for about 150 million years, said Gist. Mammals during this period were small and no match for the meat-eating dinosaur.
"These dinosaurs were fierce animals that could run prey down over extended distances," Geist said. "This was like a turbocharged lizard. The mammals couldn't get a foothold and just tried to stave out of the way."
But not all experts agree that the Scipionyx fossil gives such precise evidence of a hepatic pump breathing system, said Paul Soreno, a dinosaur expert at the University of Chicago.
"For many in the field, that interpretation is controversial," said Soreno.
The Scipionyx fossil, the only dinosaur ever found in Italy, is small enough to hold in two hands and the animal may have been only days old when it died. Geist said it perished in a saltwater marsh that preserved its body structure.
No fossil for an adult Scipionyx has been found, and Geist said the animal species probably grew to only about the size of a large dog.
Career and Employment Fair
Friday, February 5,1999
10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Allen Field House
OPEN TO A.I.L. MAJORS
Full Part-time Internships Summer Employment Volunteer Attend the Career Fair Information Session/Learn how to get the most of a career/fair
the most out of a career fair
Monday, February 1st. 4:00 p.m.
Pioneer Room - 3rd Floor. Burge Union
Sponsored by Career & Employment Services
Sponsored by Career & Employment Services 110 Burge Union, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS G6O45
864-3624 • www.ukans.edu/~upc/cef.html
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$ \textcircled{1} $ stop student travel shop!
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COUNCILLAWRENCE@ciee.org
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