Monday, November 20, 2006

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Ten-HUT!

Local and regional military veterans will be recognized SATURDAY during the 25th annual Salute to Veterans at MTSU’s 2:30 p.m. football game against Troy State University. Maj. Chuck Giles, military science, says about 250 to 300 veterans and their families are expected to attend. All service groups will have activities and recruiters in Walnut Grove with other campus and student organizations during pregame tailgate events. There will be a picnic at 11 a.m. outside Forrest Hall (or inside the hall in the event of inclement weather). Four Army ROTC cadets who served in Iraq will be honorary captains for the pregame coin toss. They are Spcs. Matt Wallace of McMinnville and James Lax of Murfreesboro and Sgts. Ken McDevitt of Christiana and Paul Wise of Smyrna.

Contact Giles at 615-898-2470, or Harriet Howard at 615-355-0746.

The heart of the matter

Next month, Ohio State University will begin a study of student-athletes to find out why heart attacks occur in young athletes. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is the leading cause of death in athletes, which prompted the International Olympic Committee to recommend routine EKGs in 2004. Dr. Mark Anshel, health and human performance, says the direct cause of cardiomyopathy is unknown. “But one theory is that an athlete will engage in vigorous aerobic exercise while he or she is already fighting a virus and that the virus already in his or her body will travel to the heart,” he says. Anshel, who is not a physician, says the advice given by most cardiologists is NOT to exercise when feeling ill, especially if the illness is located in the chest (respiratory tract, for instance).

Contact Anshel at 615-898-2812.
manshel@mtsu.edu

Big Hubble, no trouble

Dr. Preston MacDougall, chemistry, is gleeful about NASA’s commitment to refurbish the Hubble Space Telescope. “Thanks to NASA’s polished public relations efforts, many of Hubble’s images have made a personal impact on a large number of people,” MacDougall says. “Even so, I think that there is a lot that the public doesn’t yet appreciate. For instance, in addition to seeing with spectacular detail the massive nebulae that are literally ‘star factories,’ Hubble is able to look for tell-tale molecular fingerprints in the starlight that it takes in. Such information can be analyzed with reference to data collected in Earth-bound laboratories, enabling us to identify molecules floating around in distant galaxies.”

Contact MacDougall at 615-898-5265.
pmacdoug@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

JOURNALISM UNDER FIRE--Covering armed conflict and getting the story out is a unique talent, and the reporters who do it are special people. That’s why MTSU’s Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies will host a one-day event titled “Covering the Front Lines: The evolution of War Journalism and Lasting Effects of War Coverage on Journalists” TODAY at the Keathley University Center. Pulitzer Prize-winner David Halberstam will deliver the opening address at 11:30 a.m. War correspondents, authors and academics will participate in two afternoon panels on the evolution of war journalism and the effects of war reporting on journalists. At 7 p.m., Time magazine’s Michael Weisskopf, author of “Blood Brothers: Among the Soldiers of Ward 57,” will deliver the keynote address. Contact Beverly Keel at 615-898-5150 or bkeel@mtsu.edu

SANTA’S LITTLE RAIDERS--The “Santa’s Little Raiders” program, sponsored by MTSU Public Safety, is in full swing. It helps to make the holidays a little brighter for some of the children of MTSU students. The gift tree is up in the lobby of police headquarters on East Main Street, and several “Little Raiders” are available for “adoption.” The cards on the tree have the gender and age of each child. A “party gift” with a value of $10 to $15 for each “Little Raider” may be purchased. That gift will be opened on the evening of the holiday party in the James Union Building on Friday, Dec. 8. All gifts must be wrapped and returned to Public Safety by Wednesday, Nov. 29. Contact Officer Brett Huskey at 615-898-2424.

A WHOLE NEW WORLD--Your children can be transported to Japan, China and Indonesia without flight reservations. A new exhibit at the Discovery Center enables youngsters to play dress-up with sarongs and kimonos, view animated superhero Astro Boy or learn about Japanese folklore on a 20-inch DVD player, construct their own colorful kites, make origami figures, work challenging tangram puzzles, stage their own hand puppet theatre and hold Japanese tea parties. The interactive exhibit is made possible by generous donations from Toshiba, Nissan, the Foreign Ministry of Japan and the Japan-U.S. Program of MTSU. The Discovery Center is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Saturday and from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is $5 for anyone age 2 and up. Contact Steve Hoskins at the Discovery Center, 502 SE Broad Street, Murfreesboro, at 615-890-2300.