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(04/05/05 5:10am)
The laboratory is filled with equipment for cutting-edge imaging, including lasers and supercomputers programmed to detect the faintest glimmers of light. Bogdan Dragnea sits and gazes, smiling at a sight that, in his thick Romanian accent, he likens to "bright beacons, like stars in the night sky." But this man is not an astronomer; he is a chemist. And the sight he is seeing is not distant suns but nanoparticles of gold only inches from his nose.\nDragnea is a scientist and an assistant professor in the IU Department of Chemistry. Recently, he successfully has inserted tiny specks of gold into a virus to track its movement throughout infected plant cells. This process allows his team to view the inner workings of cells and the functioning of viruses in a manner not available before. Dragnea's research has been ongoing since 2001 and is the latest in a string of nanotechnology studies revolutionizing chemistry, providing insights into virology and even into the structure of the human brain.\nDragnea's particular nanotechnology technique shows special promise for uncovering a long-standing question in medical science: How exactly do viruses behave inside cells? To date, the only way to get a partial answer was for scientists to freeze cells infected with viruses and take pictures of the results. \n"Once this new method matures, we will be able to observe viruses acting in real time," Dragnea said. "That could lead to a new understanding of how viruses and diseases operate in the body." \nThis imaging device could also be applied to magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, scans that work by tracking blood flow and the magnetic fields of the body.\n"One day we will be able to place nanomagnets into a benign neurotropic virus, which is a brain disease that spreads by leaping along the synapses (the gaps between sensors in the brain)," Dragnea said. "If we then scan the area using an MRI, we would be able to effectively map the structure of the human brain."\nDragnea's research has helped develop new imaging techniques. Traditional optical microscopes, found in most high school science classrooms, can only focus light so much before the image becomes too hazy -- leaving researchers in the dark. \nDragnea has found a way around this problem using a technology that is millennia old and is still used in making stained glass. With nanoparticles of gold and other specialized materials, Dragnea and his team have been able to inject viruses with gold particles 3 to 10 nanometers in diameter -- a millionth the diameter of a human hair. These tiny grains then reflect the light from a standard microscope, illuminating objects that otherwise would only be visible with the most advanced and expensive microscopes. \n"We disguise the gold inside a virus that acts as sort of 'nano-coat' so the cell doesn't attack it," \nDragnea said. "Then, as the virus makes its way around the interior of a cell, it makes organelles and other cell structures such as the nucleus show up that otherwise would be hidden from view. \n"It's like a tiny flashlight in a dark pool reflecting against the mirrored walls as it swims by."\nThe team reports that it is about halfway to attaining its final product of a virus with a gold core that preserves all the functions of a normal virus. However, Dragnea cautions not to worry about this virus running amuck in Bloomington -- it only affects barley.\n"The only people who have anything to fear would be the beer industry," Dragnea joked.\nWhile nanotechnology is still in the "pre-competitive" stage, nanoparticles are being used in a number of industries. These molecular Model-Ts have already been used in electronic, magnetic, biomedical, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, energy, catalytic and materials applications.\nCorporations, governments, universities and others have spent an estimated $8.6 billion on nanotechnology research and development in 2004. \n"In the future, nanotechnology will let us take off the boxing gloves," said Professor Ralph C. Merkle of Georgia Tech, who is also vice-president of a chemistry-based nanotech start-up company. "We'll be able to fabricate an entire new generation of products that are cleaner, stronger, lighter, and more precise."\nDragnea's pioneering efforts in using viruses for molecular imaging are catching the attention of local biologists, such as Tuli Mukhopadhyay, an associate professor in the IU Department of Biology.\n"The precision with which virus's assemble is remarkable and manipulating this process (in a good way) may allow one to use virus particles as a tool for medical imaging," Mukhopadhyay said. "I am personally very excited about this research."\nSome of the biggest scientific advances in coming years may come in the smallest of packages, with chemistry and medical science already standing to benefit as long as researchers such as Dragnea continue to push the nano-envelope. \n"Nanotechnology is where biology, chemistry and physics converge," Dragnea said. "What may result from the collision stirs the imagination."\n-- Contact Staff Writer Scott \nShackelford at sjshacke@indiana.edu.
(02/17/05 4:54am)
If a meteorologist said it would snow Feb. 17, 2052, would you put on your winter jacket today just in case?\nWhen it comes to long-range forecasting, neither meteorology nor economics is an exact science. When President Bush proclaimed during his Feb. 2 State of the Union address Social Security will be bankrupt by 2052, according to a recent Congressional Budget Office report, it raised the eyebrows of a local economist specializing in economic forecasting.\nBill Witte, economics professor and co-director of the Center for Econometric Model Research at IU, has a different interpretation of the data. Econometrics is the use of statistical techniques to analyze economic data.\n"The Bush administration's plan to privatize Social Security shifts responsibilities away from society and raises deep philosophical questions as well as economic concerns," Witte said.\nSocial Security will not be depleted until after 2052 if current surpluses are saved, which came to more than $100 billion for the last fiscal year, Witte said. This date of "crisis" has already been moved back several times in the wake of a better-than-forecasted economy and increased tax revenues.\n"As a forecaster by trade, I know that when you try to look out 10 to 15, to say nothing of 50 years in the future, the results don't have a lot of validity," Witte said. "There are simply too many variables to be accounted for."\nSenior and IU College Republicans political director David White is in favor of Social Security reform.\n"I support his initiative," White said. "It's a good thing to address the problem before the money runs out."\nAs the system currently stands, 12.4 percent of earnings up to $90,000 are taxed for Social Security, of which the employer and employee each pay half. Although vague on specifics, the Bush administration plans to take between two and four percent of the employee's contribution to Social Security and give that money to the employee to put in a private retirement account. Witte claims to make up for the lost funds, the government would need to borrow between $2 and $4 trillion.\n"If anything, private accounts will drain more money out of the system and will cause it to run out of money that much sooner," Witte said. "Due to the necessary borrowing, an equal if not greater amount of money is taken out of the market as is put into it by the new private accounts."\nWhite visualizes privatization as putting more power in the hands of American citizens to control their retirement.\n"It's important that Americans don't depend on Social Security for their retirement now or the government will subsidize your living after retirement," White said.\nThe majority of students at IU already or soon will have a 401k and other long-term savings plans. The decisions Americans make regarding the Social Security system today will have a lasting impact on when and how easy it is to retire.\n"One way or another, the college generation of today will be the ones providing support for the baby boom generation and the one after that," Witte said. "The decisions made in the coming year about Social Security will have a great impact on how easy or hard it will be to do that." \nSenior Chris Ryan said he realizes how his actions today can affect him later.\n"Even though most college students don't think about long-term goals or effects, this debate about Social Security still changes the rest of all of our lives," Ryan said. "I accept the need for reform (of Social Security) but don't think that what the President proposes is the right course of action ... why change a system that has worked so well for three quarters of a century?"\nSince the State of the Union address, President Bush has traveled nationwide to shore up support for his reform agenda that has thus far met a lukewarm reception. About 40 percent of those surveyed are in favor of the 'personal' accounts proposal ('personal' is being used instead of 'private' by the administration because it polls better) while 44 percent think the system should be left how it is, according to a recent Newsweek poll. Younger workers are more favorable to the president's plan than older citizens on average.\n"There are problems with the Social Security system today but they are long-term and manageable," Witte said. "Through a combination of cutting benefits, raising taxes or raising the income ceiling of $90,000, this problem will be solved."\nThe answer to this debate will hinge on whether Americans are comfortable with a New Deal-era socially supported retirement system, or if the majority feels retirement should be more of an individualized concern. Although an important topic for debate, basing the need for immediate reform on economic forecasting seems tenuous, Witte said.\n-- Contact Staff Writer Scott Shackleford at sjshacke@indiana.edu.\n-- Additional reporting by Business Editor Lori Snow. Contact her at losnow@indiana.edu.
(10/26/04 5:11am)
The chemical makeup of leaves becomes especially noticeable each fall, as the vivid reds, oranges, yellows and browns burst out in an array of colorful foliage. As an area renowned for attracting leaf watchers, the colors in southern Indiana are especially important because tourism is a vital part of the southern state's economy, and the leaves contribute to that.\nAlbert Ruesink, a senior resident botanist at IU, enjoys explaining the science behind the annual leaf fireworks display that is such a boon to local tourism and pleasure to residents. As a scientist, he hears many of the misconceptions surrounding this natural phenomena.\n"One of the main misconceptions about fall is that the leaves change color from green to either brown, yellow or red," said Ruesink. "In fact, the leaves are only showing their true colors as the chlorophyll in them begins to break down."\nAs the green chlorophyll degrades there are three primary color pigments that become the dominant spectra of the leaves, Ruesink said. One color is a "lustrous brown color" characteristic of many oak trees, and the result of tannin pigments. Another is a bright yellow-orange color that comes from carotenoid pigment. Brilliant reds and purples are the result of anthocyanin pigments.\n"Another major mistaken belief is that it is temperature change that brings about the change in the leaves," Ruesink said. "In fact, it is the length of the nights that determines color conversion."\nBarring the past rainy week, the excessive dryness of this year means that many of the plants are not healthy enough to use photosynthesis, a process of changing sunlight to energy used in plants, effectively. As a result, many of the colors will not be as brilliant as in past years. To have the most colorful fall, relatively mild days with a lot of moisture are needed, Ruesnick said.\n"If you get bright sunny days and cool nights so that the sugar is not transferred too early from the leaf, that is when the colors are really outstanding," Ruesink said. \nWhile southern Indiana as a whole is known for its forests and rolling hills, Bloomington enjoys particular fame during the fall because of the city and campus planners. On campus, for every tree cut down two additional saplings must be planted, and the trees have also been selected on the basis of their fall color schemes.\n"The planners opted to plant trees that have particularly bright changes, such as the Georgiana Maples on Seventh Street," explained Ruesink. "So when you are walking around campus, look around and appreciate the science and beauty behind nature's marvels."\nLocal color is especially important to nearby Nashville, Ind., which receives the majority of its 3.5 million annual tourists during the fall season, said Kate Mejaski of the Brown County Convention Center.\n"During September and October, Nashville averages about $13 to $16 million in monthly revenue, which is the majority of the yearly totals, so the fall season is vitally important to our economy," Mejaski said.\nBeyond the economic benefits that the leaves engender, they also make the stressful time of midterms and the fall semester more pleasant to the student population at IU.\n"The leaves are gorgeous this time of year," said senior Kristi Love. "They are the best part about living in Indiana."\nThis sentiment is echoed by senior Frank Alexander.\n"We have a dryer climate in Colorado where I am from, and while there are numerous Pines and Aspens you don't get the same variety of trees that makes Bloomington such a beautiful to go to school in the fall," he said.\n-- Contact staff writer Scott Shackelford at jschacke@indiana.edu.
(10/12/04 4:18am)
These are the voyages of the VSS-Enterprise, its ongoing mission: to open new markets and industries, to peak the public's interest in space travel, to boldly go where the private sector thus far has feared to trek. SpaceShipOne crossed the finish line Oct. 5 winning the $10 million Ansari X-Prize and a 6-foot trophy with its second space shot in less than a week and in the process breaking a 41-year old altitude record on the 47th anniversary of the Soviet launch of Sputnik 1, the world's first satellite. Although now won, the X-Prize competition is only the beginning, space enthusiasts and investors maintain.\nBrian Binnie, 51, took SpaceShipOne to a height of 367,442 feet on this second flight and became the second private citizen to earn astronaut's wings, telling The Associated Press that "(This) is a thrill that I think everybody should have once in a lifetime." Binnie's altitude of nearly 70 miles smashed the altitude record for an airplane, set by X-15 pilot Joseph Walker in 1963. President George W. Bush phoned members of the winning team, congratulating them and stating that they are the newest heroes of the space age.\nAmong the thousands on hand for the launch was British billionaire Sir Richard Branson, head of the British-based Virgin Group, which last week announced a $21 million deal to build a fleet of five modified SpaceShipOnes -- the first of which will be called VSS-Enterprise and have a five-person capacity -- for a new company called Virgin Galactic. Flights are due to begin in as little as three years with ticket prices starting in the range of $200,000. Branson told reporters that "Virgin has pledged that any money we make from space travel will be reinvested to make this opportunity available for the next generation of children." In addition to undergoing the training, anyone who purchases a ticket will have to undergo nearly a full week's training for the three-hour flight.\nThe company 7-Up, which was an underwriter of the X-Prize competition, has already announced plans to have a contest in which the winner will receive a free ticket on the first Virgin Galactic space flight.\nThe majority of the remaining 25 X-Prize competitors that have yet to make a launch have expressed that they will continue with development. Space Transport Corp. will launch its Rubicon 2 rocket on Oct. 16. In a written statement, the company said, "Along with many of the X-Prize competitors, STC will continue developing the technologies that will allow tourism and space trucking to orbit, to the moon and beyond."\nThe head of the X-Prize competition, Peter Diamandis, has also announced his plans for establishing an X-Prize Cup, which will be a competition for private space vehicles to be conducted annually in New Mexico starting in 2006. "The Ansari X-Prize is the beginning; it's not the end," Diamandis told the AP. "Over the course of the last two weeks we have had companies approaching us, we have had wealthy individuals approaching us about investing in this marketplace. The same thing happened when Lindbergh flew."\nGroups such as Bristol Spaceplanes Limited have already begun to focus on the next logical goal of getting into orbit. "I think SpaceShipOne's success has triggered a race for orbital spaceflight where you can spend days and not just minutes in space," said David Ashford, director of Bristol Spaceplanes. \nSpaceShipOne is also being marketed to smaller nations that lack the resources for a massive government space program but want astronauts of their own, as well as for scientific research where there is currently a 15-year waitlist for launch of scientific payloads on the shuttle.\nIn the wake of the X-Prize competition and as part of its efforts to develop a new national space policy in the aftermath of the Colombia disaster, a NASA official told www.space.com that the federally funded agency might offer awards for commercial spaceflight. According to Reuters news agency, prizes might range up to $200 million for the attainment of goals like soft lunar landing or bringing back a piece of an asteroid. "What we're looking for is innovation like what Burt Rutan (the creator of SpaceShipOne) has brought to the table," said Michael Lembeck of NASA's office of exploration systems in an interview with Reuters. \n-- Contact staff writer Scott Shackelford at sjshacke@indiana.edu.
(09/28/04 5:24am)
At 7:52 a.m. May 20, 1927, Charles Lindbergh gunned the engine of the "Spirit of St. Louis" and took off from Roosevelt Field, Long Island, on a 3,610 mile journey to Paris and into history, in the process changing both aviation and the world forever. And at 6 a.m. Wednesday, an equally daring feat will be attempted with potentially similar results. This time, though, the object is not to be the first to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, but to be the first private citizen to go a mere 62 miles -- straight up. \nIn late 1926, Lindbergh developed an interest in pursuing the Ortieg Prize, a $25,000 award offered to the first person to cross the Atlantic in a heavier than air aircraft. He accomplished this almost solely on his own, working in his garage in his spare time and against competitors with far more resources. Yet, as a result of Lindbergh's technical savvy and innovative piloting, he achieved the impossible.\nInspired by this story, Peter H. Diamandis, the president of International Space University in Strasbourg, France, decided in 1996 to offer a similar prize to spur innovation and finally open up the final frontier of space travel to the average citizen. From this, the Ansari X-Prize competition was born, and like its predecessor, it has already made aviation history with 24 corporations currently vying for the coveted prize. \n"The goal of the X-Prize is to open up space more economically than government has been able to do," said Diamandis.\nTo win, a team must be the first to launch a safe, reusable space vehicle able to carry one pilot and the weight equivalent of two passengers 62 miles into sub-orbital space twice within a two-week period. The award is a $10 million cash prize.\nFrom a strictly economic viewpoint, X-Prize has already been a resounding success in comparison to the approximately $25 million it has taken to develop a viable commercial space vehicle with the billions that it has taken NASA to achieve a similar feat. If ultimately successful, it would "prove without question that manned space flight does not require mammoth government expenditures," said research aircraft developer Burt Rutan, the leader of the American Mojave Research team, which launches Wednesday. "It can be done by a small company operating with limited resources and a few dozen dedicated employees."
(03/12/03 4:50am)
Beyond being a source of controversy for the international community as well as the American people, the question of whether the United States has the right or the obligation to go to war with Iraq is also a topic of debate among intellectuals in the fields of political science and international conflict. Faculty members of the IU Political Science Department who focus on matters of international politics are no exception. \n"Saddam Hussein could be deterred and already has been from any sort of international aggressive action, so now is not the time to go to war with Iraq for that rationale," said Professor Michael McGinnis, a political science faculty member specializing in international conflict. "At this time this is not a good war. Saddam is undoubtedly an unsavory character but there are many more like him out there."\nOther political science faculty members don't have as strong of a stance on the war on Iraq.\n"Although I am not vehemently opposed to the possibility of war with Iraq, I have enough doubts about its necessity that do not make me enthusiastic about the prospect of initiating an operation at this time," Professor Dina Spechler said.\nSpechler's comment mirrors the sentiments of many students across the nation that view the possibility of a U.S.-Iraqi war with skepticism but lack a strong conviction either way. However, the recent deployment of 60 thousand more American troops in the region, bringing the total number to more than 300 thousand, could change that neutral stance. \n"The most immediate factor is the pending onset of summer that will leave the question of Iraq to most likely be decided one way or the other within the next two weeks," said Professor Karen Rasler, a political science faculty member specializing in International War and Conflict.\n"It worries me that the timetable is being driven by such an artificial medium as the onset of a desert summer, and reminds me of the situation prior to WWI in which as soon as the Russians mobilized the Germans felt compelled to attack before winter and thus did not have time to pursue other ends," Spechler said.\nAn additional argument often neglected in coverage of the current Iraqi situation is how the war will differ militarily from what was experienced in the Persian Gulf War of 1991. Many agreed Washington is without a doubt able to fight and most likely win a second war in Baghdad. \n"The most difficult type of fighting is being an invader to an entrenched enemy who knows the landscape in an urban setting, which is exactly what U.S. troops would face if they were ordered to occupy Baghdad -- the only way to effect regime change," Spechler said.\nPerspectives also differ among the political science department faculty on the future of an occupied Iraq for the future of its people, an immense economic and political burden on the United States and widening of conflicts in the Middle East. But a shared thread is the potential and even probability of dire short-term results for all parties involved.\nThe worst-case scenario as presented by Spechler would include a highly likely attack on Israel like in the 1991 Gulf war, a viewpoint shared by McGinnis, as well as potential attacks on those Arab countries whose regimes support the United States, including Turkey and Kuwait. \nThe effects of a war in the Middle East would cause a further slow down in the Bloomington economy, raise gas prices, and cause further student, faculty, and community reservists to be called to active duty, Spechler said. \n"Two of my students have already been recalled to their Air National Guard base," Spechler said.\nMore generally, any attack on Iraq by the United States would be likely to engender additional anti-U.S. sentiments. This could increase hostilities and thereby diminish the number of Middle Eastern students who choose to study abroad in the United States, as well as making it more difficult for American scholars to do research in that region, Spechler said.\nWhen asked what students can do to influence the outcome of this monumental decision, McGinnis said even though Bloomington is far from where decisions regarding U.S. foreign policy are made, the continued attendance of public debates and rallies can have an affect on policy.\n"Public forums are exactly what Indiana University, and all college campuses, should be doing," McGinnis said. "This is the time to make your voice heard, and although it cannot have an immediate impact since it is the job of our current representatives to form policy, in the long-run anything is possible"