EPA continues airborne PCB study with IU scientists
The Environmental Protection Agency announced Monday that it would continue its work with IU environmental scientists Ronald Hites and Ilora Basu to study polychlorinated biphenyl circulation between the air and the Great Lakes. Data released last month by the EPA shows that elevated PCB levels have led to fish consumption advisories for all five of the Great Lakes, as well as surrounding rivers. \nThe EPA has promised Hites and Basu $3.5 million to operate the U.S. portion of the Integrated Atmospheric Deposition Network for five more years. The scientists will measure atmospheric levels of PCBs, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which result from incomplete combustion, polybrominated diphenyl ethers, which are widely used as flame retardants, and chlorinated pesticides such as DDT. \nPCBs are classified as "probable human carcinogens" by the EPA and are known to be toxic to humans. They also take a long time to degrade, as in spite of the fact that their U.S. production ceased in 1977, PCBs persist throughout the country.
Wild ox secretion could be next \nmosquito repellent
Itchy, swelling mosquito bites may become unheard of soon. IU scientists have reported that a synthetic version of a chemical that may repel yellow fever mosquitoes can now be created in the laboratory. \nGaur acid is a natural skin secretion of the gaur, an Asian wild ox. Preliminary evidence suggests this chemical discourages the landing and feeding of Aedes aegypti, a common mosquito that carries and transmits the yellow fever virus in some parts of the world. \nLead researcher and organic chemist P. Andrew Evans and his group used a rhodium catalyst to aid the tricky synthesis of gaur acid, also known as bovinic acid. In doing so, the chemists also determined the exact chemical structure of the compound. Their approach is described in Angewandte Chemie, International Edition, a German chemistry journal. \nOrganic chemists William J. Andrews, David K. Leahy and Daisuke Uraguchi also contributed to the report.
New IU Cyclotron director plans to expand projects
Seven years after looking as though it might be shut down when federal funding was diverted to larger particle accelerators, the IU Cyclotron Facility is flourishing as scientists pursue projects ranging from cancer therapy to materials research. \nTo bolster these new projects, IU Vice President for Research Michael McRobbie recently appointed Professor Paul Sokol as the new IUCF director.\nSokol's interests are in the study of microstructure and dynamics of condensed matter using neutron scattering techniques and in the construction of neutron scattering instrumentation. \nThe basis for IUCF's new emphasis on neutron scattering is the Low Energy Neutron Source, which produces neutron beams for use in research, according to a press release. The only facility of its kind at any university in the world, LENS has a three-fold mission: to conduct materials research with neutrons, to develop new neutron instrumentation for both fundamental and applied research, and to enhance education in the science and technology of neutrons at all levels, according to a statement.\nThe LENS facility is expected to provide a major focus for materials research at IU over the next two decades. LENS will produce its first neutrons in early 2005, with full operation scheduled for the summer of 2006, according to a statement. So far, $11.4 million in funding for construction has been obtained from the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense and Indiana state government.
