Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 1993)
UNL graduate disputes Darwin Scholar presents research in book unveiled last week By Steve Smith Senior Reporter A University of Nebraska-Lincoln graduate has challenged Charles Dar win’s evolutionary theory in her re cently published book. Dorothy Kurth Boberg’s “Evolu tion and Reason — Beyond Darwin” was unveiled last week. Boberg said she spent seven years writing the book. The research, however, took her en tire adult life. “Darwin wrote his theories down 134 years ago,” Boberg said. “We should appreciate his works, but we should realize that at the same time, they are simply inadequate today.” Boberg was in Lincoln in the mid dle of a two-week tour to promote her book and new idea. A 1951 UNL graduate, Boberg discussed her theories Thursday with various organization leaders and uni versity ana city and state government officials. She was given the gover nor’s appointment to admiral in the Nebraska Navy at the Wick Alumni Center. New insight into the roles of virus es, which were unknown to Darwin, led Boberg to speculate on the broad er role of microorganisms in evolu tion, she said. In her book, Boberg says a natural interaction of microorganisms exists in evolution. It dispels the “exclu sive” basis of Darwin’s theory, she said, by broadening its scope. After graduating from UNL, Boberg lived in Lincoln until she married. She moved to California in 1954 when her husband was offered a position in the Lockheed Corp. Boberg said she d idn ’ t cxpcc t to be unleashing a new way of reasoning when she graduated from the univer sity. “f didn’t expect to get far,” she said. “(The new evolution theory) was just an interest of mine that I never expected to follow up on.” Everything changed for her when she moved to California and devoted much of her time to research, she said. “I f anally came to a place in my life when I felt 1 had something signifi cant to offer,” she said. • An independent scholar, the Lin coln native’s new ideas concerning new thinking on evolution are gaining nationwide notoriety. Boberg said she gained respect by studying hard in school — not focus ing on any one subject, but taking a broad-based approach to education. Boberg’s book takes a similar broad-based approach. The bibliog raphy cites more than 700 authors. She said her method of drawing from all available sources was an important ingredient for success. “I guess my advice to today’s stu dents would be to try to get as broad based an education as you can,” she said. ‘‘Get a broad background, but also be very specific. Don’t wear your self thin.” Books Continued from Page 1 that people stop writing?” Rickerl asked. Rickerl said he thought other me diums were more offensive than books. “It’s silly in a way,” he said. “There’s so much violence on TV; comparati vely, books aren’t a big deal. People need to keep open minds, and -44 If people didn't go off from the norm, we'd still be reading half truths and non-truths, not what people think and feel. —Higgins UNL student -f» " - if a book offends them, they shouldn’t read it.” Higgins agreed. “An author doesn’t real izc the pow er he has — the power of words,” he said. “I f people d idn ’ t go off from the norm, we’d still be reading half-truths and non-truths, not what people think and feel.” The banned-book display runs through Saturday. -—ri-1 md is I suddenly your computer program won’t open. Panic time!!! Don’t let this happen. Call us NOW and find out how ICC can make the grade t and Mac intosh® appli a cations. Call us TOLL ^ FREE, 24 hours-a-day, 7 days-a-week. Even at 2 a.m., if you need help getting back up and running, we’ll be there, and for only - pennies a day. • FREE 1-800# • Macintosh* • 24 Hours-A-Day * IBM™ Compatible • Days-A-Week * Over 1000 Applications Supported ^dK^^ IBM-s i lasted lialmwk ol IntonatoruJ Susinw Machines CaporsSo* International CompuAnswer -i -800-725-7801 C ORPORATION for immediate 500 Chestnut, Suite 500 u AC™A™N Abilene, TX 79602 H°Uf8: 8=00 8m’ * 6:°° P"- CST _“When Quality Answers Count” Kiley nmperiey/DN Graduate student Brett Fessel! separates two species of minnows from holding tanks for a project to test the thermal tolerances of three species of minnows that live in the Platte River. Aquatics Continued from Page 1 Important research would be dif ficult to do without the aquatics lab, he said. “The firstcxperiment run in here, for example, addressed a question that is important to the state,” he said, “What is the biological im pact of mixing pesticides in streams?” The majority of the work that has been done in the last six months and that will be done in the next two years addresses questions of spe cific importance to this state, and that's just the stuff that’s planned right now,” Hoagland said. For example, one of the first experiments done at the lab was a study of the effects of two herbi cides in a stream. “If you go to a typical agricul tural stream in Nebraska during a storm and run a pesticide scan to see what’s in the water, you dpn’t usually just find one (herbicide),” Hoagland said. That raises questions for aquatic ecologists, Hoagland said. “When two herbicides are in a stream at one time are they acting independently or in concert with each other?” he asked. The effects of two herbicides, suchasatrazineandalachlor.coex- 1 isting in a stream could be studied by putting variants of the stream water in different tanks, he said. The master’s student conduct lng inc experiment pui aucoju wa ter with no herbicides in a control tank, stream water with just atra zine in one tank, stream water with just alachlor in another, and stream water with both in a fourth tank. “With 32 tanks we can run that kind of experiment here,” Hoagland said. “We can run that easily, and we can do it in an environmentally realistic way.” Other studies at the facility in clude looking at the effects of light on stream algae and of current ve locity on snail grazing on algae in rocks. “It may sound trivial, Hoagland said. “You know, ‘whocares?rBut, algae in streams form the base of the food chain and drives the whole system, ecologically speaking. “Doing that kind of experiment in the field would be very difficult and far more costly.” Hoagland said another part of the lab was set up for fish holding. Two of Peter’s graduate students arc doing an experiment to deter mine the critical fftaximum tem perature fish in the Platte River can tolerate. Although the lab is used prima rily by students in the forestry, fisheries and wildl ife programs who are working on their master’s or doctorate degrees, Hoagland said the lab is open to other depart ments. “There are lots of possibilities here,” he said. Ultimate Continued from Page 1 possession of the oppos ing team. Even then, the oppos i ng team member picks the disc up immediately and action continues. Just 1 ike football .teams score when someone catches the disc in the cndzonc. Generally regarded as a West Coast sport, Vincent said, ultimate is catch ing on in Lincoln. This weekend’s sectional tourna ment, which will be played at a field near First Street and Cornhuskcr H igh way, features 15 teams from Kansas, Iowa and Missouri. The teams will compete to win a trip to the regional tournament. Competition will begin at9:30a.m. Saturday and last until about 5 p.m. Sunday games will begin at 10 a.m. This year is the first for a women’s club, Keiko Matsui, a player on the team, said. Eight women play in the UNL club. “A lot of tough women want to play ultimate/’ she said. Ultimate is a much different sport from football and basketball, said Dan Ryan, president of the UNL^Ultimate Club. Ultimate, he said, is a much friendlier sport than the Midwestern usuals. However, as with any sport, ulti mate players fight to win, Vincent said. The sport is not for pansies, he said. “It’s supposed to be a noncontact sport, but itgets pretty brutal,” Vincent said. “People think i t’s pretty whimpy, but it’s pretty intense. Team member Pat Adams said ref erees were not used in ultimate. Games are self-governed using a method cal led the “spirit of the game,” he said, where players rely on their own honesty to make the calls. “You’ll never see people pushing each other around saying, ‘Oh yeah, you’re lying/” Adams said. One of the best aspects about the game, Adams said, is that it’s open to everyone. “Anyone can throw a Frisbee,” he said.