1978 v6 i20

Page 1

''Like a Dream in the Night''

An evening with Arlo by Ken Mandlle News-Feature Editor It was on a whim that I called Warner Bros. Records In Los Angeles a lew weeks ago. If there was a ml/1/on to one shot that I could actually talk to Arlo Guthrie, /felt that It was worth the shot; there was nothing to lose. Los Angeles directed me to New York who then directed me to Massachusetts. In Massachusetts I spoke to Arlo's road manager, who said, "No problem. See me alter the concert". Sure enough, after the concert, I asked tor Bruce, the road manager, who then., Introduced me and Mark Hecker to the folk legend who turned out to be as human as you or f. All this was alter the concert, though. Perhaps I should tell you about the con· cart first. September 24, Worcester, Massachusetts, 8:00 pm.m Arlo Guthrie, the man best known for surviving the Allee's Restaurant Massacre, entered the stage of the half empty Worcester Memorial Auditorium amid the subdued applause of several thousand high school age fans. Why were the high schools kids there? They were not a part of Arlo's generation, were they? I don't know. Let's watch the concert and find out.

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What's Happening

The 8tudent new8p.per of Worcester Polytechnic ln1titute

Tuesday, October 3,1978

Volume 6 Number 20

TKE sign

dow~

by Phil Czapla Newspeak Staff Something was missing from one of the Stately mansions that line historic Massachusetts Avenue last Friday morning . The skull and crossbones sign had suddenly disappeared from the front portico of the the Tau Kappa Epsilon house. It was no mystery to the brothers of Take however: they had removed lt. The sign, representing the TKE coat of arms was uncerlmonlously w ith· drawn m response to a Worcester Telegram and Gazette paper. The article reported the request of the Worcester Historical Commission to the city to Inspect the fraterntty property for ·'possible zoning violat ions" In reference to the skull stgn. A spokesman for Teke said that they were caught entirely by surprise. " We woke up like any morning and there it was In the newspaper ... and the radto st~ltions were broadcasting about our stgn . No one had even talked to us." The srgn , approximately five feet square, had been affixed to the side of the house since 1960. It was placed over the front porch two years aQo. It contains lights to illuminate the American and TKE flags flying above, as well as a pair of

lights mounted In the skull's eves. A canvassing of the neighborhood by th1s reporter brought little response from the area residents about the fraternity sign . Only a few were aware of the Historic Commission's action . Up the road from TKE there are two homes that serve as a seminary for La Salette priests. A caretaker at one house expressed the viewpoint that the Hrstorlc Comm ission was Infringing upon the rights of the neighborhood by not allowing signs of any nature to be posted. Due to this rule, the seminary cannot post any sign announcing that the house Is a semln· ary. One seminarian pointed out that they are also unable to place a cross In front of the house because of the same rule. According to the fraternity spokesperson. the skull and crossbones has been removed for the forseeable future. Unfortunately, with all the noteriety generated by media publicity, the TEKE brothers have spent the last few days dragging the heavy sign back and forth from storage to show cameramen and reporters. The Telegram has done a followup story and T.V. channel 27 also has interviewed TKE. Ironically, it seems, the historic district has generated more commotion than it bargained for.

Take brothers with controversial sign

·Merit Hecker

Voter information by Tom Nlcotost Newspeak Staff Thursday, November 7 Is election day In most places, and If you are eighteen you can participate. Unfor· tunately, In most cases, college students from out of state can not legally register to vote In Massachusetts. Voter eligibility Is determined by what Worcester City Clerk Robert J . O'Keefe terms as "domicile." That means you can only

register to vote In what Is considered your home-where taxes are paid and driver's licenses are Issued. If you want to vote; a rule of thumb Is that you must register with you local city hall. Mass . residents must register In person by October 10. If you are registered and cannot be at your polling place on the day of the election. you can apply for an absentee ballot from your city or town clerk. You will

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/nucleated cells and cataracts:

Cloning as method, not ·result by Jack Traver Newspeak Staff Cloning Is quickly becoming an lm· portent scientific technique based on the phenomenon known as nuclear transfer. The first successful transfer of nuclei was completed In 1962 by two scientists named Briggs and King. Audrey Muggleton·Harrls, a research scientist and faculty member at WPI, Is presently doing significant work In the field. She offered Newspeak an ex· cellent explanation of cloning. First, an unfertilized mass egg must be lnucleated (the nucleus is removed.) Then the nucleus of a diploid cell (a cell containing sets of genes from both parents) Is Injected Into the unfertilized !nucleated cell. The cell begins to divide, and the forming of a new being has begun.

Mrs. Muggleton·Harrls received a grant from the National Eye Institute on August 1, 1978. 1t Is In the amount of $69,934 per year for the next three years. It was offered to her to research cataract deterioration research. She couldn't emphasize enough that her cloning work was only a means of determining the potency of nuclei. She was emphatic that people Interested In her work not mlnconstrue her Intent. She Is Interested In aging and senescence, not cloning. She Is using the cloning only as a technique In her aging experiments. She did state that successful cloning In upper level animals will open doors for more productive scientific research In genetic defects , and many other related fields. Mrs. Muggleton·Harrls has already successfully cloned amoebas and frogs. Her present work makes It

necessary to clone mice If her cataract research Is to be successful. To re· celve her grant. Mrs. Muggleton·Harris convinced the NEI that she would take cataratlc cells from mice (Amoebas and frogs don't have cataracts; mice, like people, do) and transfer their nuclei to normallnucleated cells. If the cell remains normal , cataracts can be considered a non-genetic disease. The difficulty In transferring nuclei from the lens cell to an !nucleated mouse egg cell occurs because of the size. The mouse egg Is only 1/1000 the size of a frog egg. She has one advan· tage over all of the unsuccessful sclen· tlsts before her (a mouse has never been cloned.) Mrs. Muggleton·Harrls Is using a chemical called cyto chlasln·B to chemically lnucleate cells and eggs. This Is vastly Improved over the previous manual methods. Although the substance has been In existence

for 4 to 5 years, no one has reported using It for this type of work. She seems confident that combining this methodology with time and experlen· ce, her work will prove successful. One of the reasons that Mrs . Muggleton·Harrls came to WPI from Stanford University was the lnitlat1on of a new PhD oroQram originated by Professor Daniell, her former depart· ment head. Under this new program. a student spends 100 percent of his/he~ educational time in a research lab working on a project. The person must pass oral examinations related to his project, but need not take any courses whatsoever to get a PhD. Mike Palumbo, a student working tn the lab with Mrs. Muggleton-Harris. is presently enrolled In the program. He Is working with cell reassembly and

contmued on psge 3


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1978 v6 i20 by WPI Archives - Issuu