Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 14, 1999)
Senate votes down treaty I TREATY from page 1 claiming polls show most Americans favor such a ban - first proposed by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1958. The treaty has been signed by 154 nations but must be ratified by all 44 of the world’s nuclear-capable coun tries to take effect. Thus, the Senate vote was an enor mous blow. Graham Johnson, director of the University of Nebraska Environmental Resource Center, said the rejection of the treaty would be harmful to U.S. international relations. “Of course they’ll have to keep talking about (the treaty),” he said. “There will be all kinds of internation al pressure put on us.” Navy ROTC member Ryan Aleson, a senior mechanical engineer ing major, said he agreed with the decision to reject the treaty. “By not having (the treaty), we maintain our sovereignty and the option to test (weapons),” he said. “We have shown we are responsible by not testing, but we need to maintain the option.” The United States has not tested a nuclear weapon for the past seven years. Andrew Faltin, a senior philoso phy major, said he supported the Senate’s action. “It’s fine,” he said. “(The treaty) will resurface when we have the tech nology to enforce it. “Passing the treaty now would be like passing a law saying we’ll give food to the poor when we have some food.” Supporters warned the price of outright rejection would certainly be international condemnation - and could even increase pressure on emerging nuclear powers like Pakistan and India to conduct more tests. America’s top European allies - Britain, France and Germany - had called on the Senate late last week not to reject the pact. China earlier this week said U.S. ratification would lead other countries to follow suit. But opponents claimed the com pliance with the treaty could not be verified and argued that it would do little to stop terrorist oiganizations or dictators from developing nuclear weapons. President Clinton had made ratifi cation a top second-term priority and was the first world leader to sign the pact in September 1996. In a last-ditch effort to delay action, Democrats tried to block a move toward a final vote. They lost on a straight 55-45 party-line vote. The vote would have denied the traditional right of the Senate majority leader to set the agenda for voting. The treaty was the first on arms control ever rejected by the Senate and only the sixth time this century the Senate has rejected any treaty. Meanwhile, in a speech at the University of Maine, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said the United States has no plan to conduct nuclear weapons tests, whatever the outcome of the Senate debate, and would discourage other nations from testing. The Associated Press con tributed to this report State area codes may see changes CODE from page 1 Hand said there are about 750 pre fixes available per area code. As of September, there were 120 prefixes left under the 402 area code, and some companies give out up to 38 new prefixes a month. “(We need to) slow down the demand for new (prefixes) and more efficiently use the ones we have,” he said. According to www.uswest.com, new area codes are being given out across the country, not just in Nebraska. The many choices in service providers ami an increase in technolo gy, such as fax machines and cellular phones, are causing die decrease in pre fixes, the Web site said. Hand agreed Those services use up prefixes because they use so many phone numbers, he said The Public Service Commission is looking for a solution that will be the easiest to implement and will have the least impact on communities. “It’s a lot of hassle for people in Nebraska,” Hand said According to the U.S. West Web site, an organization called the Numbering Plan Administrators for die United States keeps track of available prefixes in each area for the telecom munications industry. The administrators assign new area codes before existing ones run out. The decision on what plan to imple ment is up to the Federal Communications Commission, but Hand said the Public Service Commission has petitioned the FCC for more jurisdiction. Hand said the FCC has allowed other states to decide what’s best, and he hopes it will do the same for Nebraska. “The demand for telephone num bers has changed,” Hand said. “It’s a lit tle unpredictable what’s going on right now.” Have you spent more time planning your vacation than your Retirement? ~Peter Lynch Do you know if your retirement plan is on track? Your Fidelity Investments® representative will be available by appointment to discuss any questions you may have related to your University of Nebraska Retirement Plan. 1 r - • ^ _ . - . . .... . . . __ Tuesday and Wednesday, October 19 & 20,1999 Can Today: 1-800-642-7131 to schedule your one-on-one consultation Fidelity* is committed to helping you achieve your a**^ retirement goals. We look forward to meeting with you. Fidelity investmentm Fidelity Investments Tax-Exempt Services Company A division of Fidelity Investments institutional Services Company, Inc. 5i 87657 82 Devonshire Street, Boston, MA 02109 Jupiter’s moon may support life PADUA, Italy (AP) - Hundreds of cosmic scientists gathered in Galileo’s homeland Wednesday, hop ing to learn from a spacecraft named Galileo whether a heavenly body the Renaissance astronomer discovered four centuries ago might support life. The NASA spacecraft Galileo, winding down a two-year, $30 mil lion probe of Jupiter, made its clos est-ever flyby of the planet’s moons earlier this week, passing within 380 miles of Io, Jupiter’s innermost large moon. But many of the scientists here are more interested in Jupiter’s fourth largest moon, Europa, spotted by Galileo in 1610. Much of the NASA probe’s data on Europa is still being analyzed. “There should be dozens of high resolution images, close-ups hun dreds of times better than anything we’ve seen before,” said Torrance Johnson, the Galileo project scientist. In the world of planetary science, Europa is very hot these days. Not in terms of temperature - the surface is blindingly bright ice and the ther mometer hovers around minus 260 degrees - but in terms of the search for life beyond Earth. Some scientists here believe that Europa, the brightest object in our solar system other than the Sun, may have the elements needed for life: water, a heat source deep in the core and organic molecules. They acknowledge that condi tions are extreme, but say they are finding evidence that microbes can exist under the harshest conditions deep inside our own planet, in rocks from the bottom of the oceans. Other researchers reported in a recent issue of the journal Science that Europa probably could not sup port life because any oceans beneath the frozen surface could barely sup port single-cell organisms let alone complex species. They said a layer of ice at least 6 miles deep blocks the sun’s life-sustaining energy from the water. Scientists have also reported find ing evidence of frozen sulfuric acid on Europa’s surface. Sulfiiric acid is an extremely cor rosive substance found in battery acid on Earth, as well as in the dreaded acid rain, and the discovery gave them pause at first, one of the Galileo scientists, Robert Carlson, admitted. Then he talked things over with astro biologists,who said sulfur can be a source ot rood tor microbes. “It’s not as bad as I thought. In fact, it might be good,” Carlson said as he discussed his findings Wednesday, midway through the annual convention of the American Astronomical Society’s Division of Planetary Sciences. A group of scientists from the University of Arizona presented an analysis of Europa’s geology that sug gests conditions m the moon’s watery crust change slowly enough for some forms of life to adapt and evolve. With so much tantalizing evi dence pointing to the conditions for life on Europa, scientists are eager to learn more. The Galileo spacecraft will make several more passes by Europa before funding runs out next year. Genetic engineering tool could aid plants PLANT from page 1 physiological responses - at a molec ular and cellular level- to the amount of light it detects. Because of these findings, researchers say plants may be able to use and process light better, which makes the plant stronger. Also researchers might be able to counter act a plant’s evolutionary trait of shade avoidance. Shade avoidance refers to a plant’s fight to see the sun. By coun teracting shade avoidance, plants will use more of their energy to produce seeds and extend their roots than to compete with other plants for light, Kwon said. For two years, Song and Yong Kook Kwan, who now works in Kwangja, Korea, focused on the chemistry aspect of research, while Gitsu Choi, of the Kumbho Life Science Laboratory in Korea, worked on the genetics aspect. After Kwan’s doctorate work in Nebraska, he returned to Korea, I where he is currently doing research. The three men found a protein called nucleoside diphosphate kinase, or NDPK, which recognizes a specif ic quality of light and triggers a final response through light detection. Song, who has been working on plants’ responses to light since 1970, started this research by inspecting how plants respond to light waves. Plants have small quantities of a pigment protein called phytochrome, or Pr, which detects light in red wave lengths, Song said. The combination of phytochrome far-red absorbing, or Pff, and Pr produces a photosynthetic light for plants, Song said. This quality of light is recognized by NDPK. Plants need red light to change phytochrome from Pr to Pff, Song said. One contributing factor to weak plants, especially those in shade, is that plants have a small window of time, between about 9 or 10 a.m. and dusk, when both Pr and Pff are pre sent in the light. Kwan said a similar research has been used on animal cells to help pro duce the drug Viagra. Song, Choi and Kwan’s findings were published in the Oct. 7 edition of Nature, an international weekly jour nal of science. Under t^Green Mill SptCIfcl Milks Open Wed-Sat 7:30 PM - 1 AM — * - FUN! 475-4844 Gefr Crazy a+ ci ini tfncoto’s WoHert FUN! ^achCl^i