Thursday, November 2, 2006

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Cloned cuisine

The Food and Drug Administration is considering approving the sale of milk and meat from cloned animals. The proposal has been on hold since 2003 due to opposition from some independent scientists, an FDA advisory panel and the International Dairy Foods Association, which represents Kraft, Dannon, Nestle USA, General Mills and other major companies. Dr. Tony Johnston, agribusiness and agriscience, says, “Milk and meat from cloned animals should not be expected to cause any harm to the consumer. The genetics of the animal are identical to the parent, making the proteins responsible for milk and meat production identical. If and when cloning of animals becomes economically viable, we’ll be able to consume the foods they produce without fear.”

Contact Johnston at 615-898-2421.
johnston@mtsu.edu

Welcome home!

This year’s homecoming football game will pit MTSU against Florida Atlantic at 2:30 p.m. SATURDAY at Floyd Stadium. One of the new homecoming events this year is a 9:30 a.m. mixer SATURDAY with a “tent city” atmosphere. Alumni will receive a free continental breakfast, pay $10 for a beverage band and watch the parade from the Alumni House lawn at 2259 Middle Tennessee Blvd. For Shane Fortner, SGA homecoming director, “one of the main focuses was to include groups that haven’t previously participated (in homecoming) and small organizations. We also want to have a good mix of competitive and noncompetitive events.”

Contact 1-800-533-MTSU or visit http://www.mtalumni.com for details of the alumni schedule.
Contact Fortner at 615-898-2433 for more information about the student events.

Mulling over the Al-Qaeda threat

In the September/October issue of “Foreign Affairs,” Ohio State University political science professor John Mueller writes that the threat posed by Al-Qaeda within the United States has been exaggerated. Dr. Sean Foley, history, says Mueller’s views “may not be entirely correct, (but) they hold a kernel of truth and merit serious consideration…” Foley notes that Mueller points to the ease with which terrorists could enter the U.S., and Mueller writes that there have been as many attacks in the U.S. in the five years following 9/11/01 as there were in the five years before the attacks. “While he classified Al-Qaeda as a murderous organization which menaces Muslim and non-Muslim nations, he also points out that the organization has only carried out attacks in less than half of the countries which it has threatened to attack since 2003,” Foley says.

Contact Foley at 615-904-8294.
sfoley@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

FORE!—The Homecoming Golf Tournament presented by Wilson Bank & Trust will begin with registration and lunch at 11 a.m. TOMORROW at Indian Hills Golf Course, followed by a noon shotgun start. Entry fees are $100 per player or $400 per team. The tourney is hosted by the MTSU Alumni Association. For registration information, contact the Alumni Relations office at 615-898-2922 or visit http://www.mtalumni.com.

DYNAMISM AND SENSITIVITY--Masaaki and Chikako Tanaka, two distinguished Japanese artists, will display their word through TOMORROW in the Todd Gallery at MTSU. The receptions are free and open to the public. “(Masaaki Tanaka) is a master in the use of the paper stencil technique of screenprinting, the process by which colors and shapes are layered onto paper and coalesce, after many applications, into the finished image,” Dr. Lon Nuell, professor of art, says. By contrast, Nuell says Chikako Tanaka’s work is “fanciful, ethereal in some instances, suggesting the dream-like imagery of the surrealists.” Contact Nuell at 615-898-5653 or 615-898-2505 or lrnuell@mtsu.edu

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.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN--While President Dwight Eisenhower gets much of the credit for the creation of the interstate highway system because it happened during his administration, frequently overlooked is U.S. Sen. Albert Gore Sr.’s co-authorship of the Federal Highway Act of 1956, the legislation that made the interstates possible. Dr. Tony Badger, Paul Mellon Professor of American History at Cambridge University and Master of Clare College, Cambridge, will deliver a formal presentation on “Albert Gore Sr., the Interstate Highway Act, and the Modern South” at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 9, in the State Farm Lecture Hall of the Business Aerospace Building. Badger also is writing a biography of the elder Gore. Dr. Lisa Pruitt, director of the Albert Gore Research Center at MTSU, says, “The late Senator Gore’s papers are a rich source of historical documentation on the highways.” Contact Pruitt at the Gore Center at 615-898-2632 or lpruitt@mtsu.edu