thebattalion
news for you campus Assault by gunpoint in post office lot Three victims were assaulted by gunpoint at 2:15 a.m. Sunday in the Northgate Post Office parking lot. One victim described the offenders as driving a black Ford F150 and yelling derogatory statements. The suspects were described as white males, one slender with dark brown hair and the other with a large build and blond hair.
lowest gas price
$2.49 Chevron at 3431 S. Texas Ave. and Mary Lake Drive. www.collegestation gasprices.com
texas Corpus Christi ousts cats on campus The subject of unwanted feral cats forced Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to take action. At least 83 feral cats have been trapped on campus since the school, a year ago, started a program to humanely stop the wild creatures from breeding. School employees turned the felines over to the Animal Care Center to be fixed and released.
University of Texas faces lawsuit An appeals court is scheduled to consider a lawsuit Tuesday that challenges the use of race and ethnicity in undergraduate admissions policies at the University of Texas at Austin. A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is set to take up the case filed in 2008 by two white students who were denied admission.
nation &world Louisiana promotes ‘smell tests’ Even the people who make their living off the seafoodrich waters of Louisiana’s St. Bernard Parish have a hard time swallowing the government’s assurances that fish harvested in the waters offshore must be safe to eat because they don’t smell bad. Experts say smell tests are a proven technique that saves time and money. Staff and wire reports
Pg. 1-08.03.10.indd 1
● tuesday,
august 3, 2010
● serving
texas a&m since 1893
● first paper free – additional copies $1 ● © 2010 student media
Starstruck Aggies conduct research with NASA for summer internship
Almost every kid spent some portion of their childhood dreaming of what it would be like to be an astronaut. While students Amy Oliver and Emily Jernigan are not orbiting in space, they are doing their part to help those who are by interning for NASA. The pair of Aggies are researching audiology and space medicine in order to keep space explorers healthy. As it turns out, those exploring the galaxies need help from Earth.
Vicky Flores | The Battalion see story on page 2 Photographer’s name — THE BATTALION
Graphic by Evan Andrews, Photo from NASA — THE BATTALION
environment
recreation
Magazine features Aggie’s catch Austin Meek | The Battalion
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Plantlife in marshes soak up most of the oil that seeps into the water. The oil has enters the microbial loop, leading to detrimental effects on other plants, animals and bacteria.
Professor researches effect of oil spill on marshes Oceanography professor Thomas Bianchi traveled to Louisiana on a grant from the National Science Foundation to research the effects of the oil spill on decreasing marshlands. “The marshes were in poor shape due to a variety of factors before the spill occurred,” Bianchi said. “Such factors include the levees built along the Mississippi River, which have starved the marshes of sediment over many decades, due to the absence of annual river flooding, and channelization of the marshes from oil companies, which has resulted in saltwater intrusion and enhanced erosion.” Mud delivered from flooding would enable the marshes’ trapped sediments to grow and resist erosion. However, with the rising ocean level and high rates of regional marsh erosion and subsidence on the Louisiana coast, the odds are against the marshes. “If the marshes cannot trap sediment and raise their elevation each year, they will get waterlogged, decompose and
collapse. These systems continue to erode each year, and it is a race against time to save them over the next few decades,” Bianchi said. The marshes soak up anything in the surrounding areas; consequently, plants in the southernmost regions have absorbed the oil. Because of the bacteria that consume oil, it has seeped into the microbial loop and is a part of the food chain, causing detrimental effects on plants, animals and bacteria. “Historically, this area has experienced some of the most extensive marsh loss in the U.S., and amazingly, it is still the second-most productive fishing region in the country, right behind Alaska, so there is an awful lot at stake here,” Bianchi said. The research team sampled two metric tons of water using reverse-osmosis electrodialysis to study the dissolved organic matter. The goal was to observe the makeup and the oriSee Bianchi on page 4
Lindsey Smith and Roger Holland are not your conventional college couple. Instead of filling their weekends with parties and dates, they spend their free time at Smith’s bay house, fishing in the Texas Gulf, which led to a catch of a 38inch redfish that was featured in Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine. “Growing up, my dad used to always want me to fish with him when we went to the house, but I never got too interested in it until I started dating Roger,” said Smith, senior marketing major. “Now we go down there whenever we can.” She sent in a photo of a fish she caught previously to the magazine’s editor, Pam Johnson. The image was an impressive one, but its resolution was too poor to use on the cover, Johnson said. She told Smith to use a higher quality camera next time and the cover would be hers. Resolute, Smith bought a Nikon and brought it with her on fishing outings. “We were out fishing in Baffin Bay past Kingsville,” said Holland, senior finance major. “We were weight fishing. She threw out a topwater, and after a little while the fish took the hook.” The large fish took 15 minutes to reel in, though Smith said it felt longer. Once they’d netted the beast, Holland grabbed the camera and snapped a shot. “We took about 30 photos,” Smith said. “We wanted to make sure we got the right one.”
Courtesy photo
The July issue of Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine features Lindsey Smith, senior marketing major with the 38-inch redfish she caught. Within minutes of Smith e-mailing the publication’s editor a copy of the picture, she got a response saying the magazine wanted to put it on the cover of the July issue. “Who wouldn’t want to be on a magazine See Magazine on page 4
university rankings
A&M tops conservative students list The Princeton Review released its annual ranking of universities across the country Monday. Texas A&M University topped the charts for “most conservative students” and came in at number five for best athletic facilities and number 16 for “students pack the stadiums.” The University also was selected as one of the top 10 best value public colleges, based on an evaluation of available financial aid and the cost of attendance. The rankings — which cover a number of topics including drug use on campus, the popularity of sororities and fraternities, and widespread
Texas A&M’s rankings ◗ 5 - Best College Newspaper ◗ 5 - Best Athletic Facilities ◗ 15 - Class Discussions Rare ◗ 15- Future Rotarians and Daughters of the American Revolution
◗ 16 - Students Pack the Stadiums ◗ 17 - LGBT-Unfriendly
See Rankings on page 4
8/2/10 5:50 PM