thebattalion l wednesday,
january 29, 2014
l serving
texas a&m since 1893
l first paper free – additional copies $1 l © 2014 student media
A&M researchers burrow into the mind’s paths
THE
BRAIN
TRAIN Huinan Li, biology graduate student, extracts isolated synaptic vesicles in the Harlow Lab.
Homer Segovia
The Battalion ike a subway in New York, transporters in the brain shuffle their passengers along every day, thousands of times per minute, to keep the brain working. These transporters are synaptic vesicles and in Mark Harlow’s lab, researchers navigate through this microscopic traffic to gain insight as to how our brain works. “We see these images in movies of these electrical impulses traveling through the brain, which is certainly true, that neurons use electrical pulses to move information great distances very, very rapidly, but once that information has gotten from one cell to the other cell, most of the communication now transitions from an electrical impulse into a small chemical signal,” said Harlow, assistant professor of biology. “I study those small chemical signals and how they’re packaged and how that package is in release.” This chemical communication is made possible through a system of synapses, synaptic vesicles and chemicals known as neurotransmitters. Synapses can be seen as the “train stations” of neurons, connecting neurons to one another. Continuing with the analogy, synaptic vesicles are the trains, making neurotransmitters the passengers being transported between neurons. Harlow’s lab researches this system, focusing on the structure of the synaptic vesicles and the proteins they contain. Harlow focuses on cholinergic synapses, or synapses that communicate mainly via the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which tells our muscles when to move. Harlow said although these synapses make up only about one percent of the synapses in the brain, that one percent is highly influential.
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See Brain on page 3
Shelby Knowles — THE BATTALION
Students watch President Barack Obama deliver the State of the Union address Tuesday in Rev’s Cafe in the MSC.
state of the union
Obama aims to catalyze Congress P
resident Barack Obama held his annual State of the Union address Tuesday night and touched on topics such as renewable energy, income inequality and equal access to education. Obama also addressed the fatigue of the citizenry toward political partisanship. “There are millions of Americans outside of Washington who are tired of stale political arguments,” Obama said. Meredith Hansen, junior sociology major, said she liked some of Obama’s message, but not all. “I’m starting to think about politics in terms of what I think about, not my friends or family, and so some of the stuff I agreed with was what he said about outsourcing jobs and closing tax loop holes,” Hansen said. “But they talked about climate change a lot and, I don’t know, I don’t really believe that.” Obama closed with the hopes that Congress would work with him on the points he highlighted, but warned he would do everything executively possible if it would not act. Duncan Rankin, special to The Battalion For the full story, go online at thebatt.com
Jenna Rabel — THE BATTALION
lgbt
Painting illustrates identity on campus Inclusion grant yields colorful project
Tanner Garza — THE BATTALION
Sophomore guard Alex Caruso leads the SEC in assists and assists per game.
m. basketball
Aggies take three-game skid to South Carolina Conner Darland The Battalion
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fter three consecutive losses, the Texas A&M men’s basketball team (12-7, 3-3 SEC) looks to bounce back as it matches up against the South Carolina Gamecocks (712, 0-6 SEC) at 6 p.m. Wednesday in Columbia, S.C. The Gamecocks head into the game on a six-game losing streak. Wednesday’s matchup marks the third time A&M has faced South Carolina and the
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first time the Aggies will play inside Colonial Life Arena. The Aggies hold a 2-0 series lead against the Gamecocks, most recently defeating South Carolina earlier this season 75-67 in Reed Arena. During the last meeting between the two teams on Jan. 15, the Gamecocks fell into a shooting slump, only converting 5-of-18 shots from behind the arc. A&M also forced See South Carolina on page 4
Jennifer Reiley
The Battalion s students tramp from class to class, certain facets of their identity may be proudly displayed while others might be quietly tucked between papers and books in their backpacks. In a celebration of these unique identities, along with the common threads which bind individuals together, the GLBT Resource Center unveiled “Celebrating Shades of Color,” a painting that displays the diversity and intersectionality of members of the LGBT community at Texas A&M on Tuesday. The painting, created by local artist Jill Pankey, was commissioned by the student organization, Shades of Queer. Jude Magaro, presi-
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Jenna Rabel — THE BATTALION
Ali Mendha (second from left) and Jude Magoro (right) sit in front of the painting by Jill Pankey. dent of Shades of Queer and senior anthropology major, said the funding for the painting came from the Department of Diversity and the 50 Years of Inclusion grant. “The 50 Years of Inclusion Grant got funded because it’s been 50 years since Texas A&M has allowed both men and women into
the university,” Magoro said. “That was also when the first African-American student was admitted. In the spirit of inclusion, they opened up the grant to all types of diversity, and the significance of having this painting in the Resource Center is that the community has grown and the LGBT See LGBT on page 3
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