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Zinc warning
Taking too much zinc to improve your sex life or immune system could be harmful to your health, an FSU researcher says.
Cathy Levenson has been studying the effects of zinc and copper on human tissue and rats under a five-year $600,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health and has found evidence that people who take as much as 120 milligrams of zinc per day can become copper deficient.
When laboratory rats were fed high doses of zinc, it prevented them from absorbing copper, causing the cells in their pancreases to die prematurely and causing their brains to function improperly.
The wrong amount of copper or zinc can trigger certain genes in the body to create abnormal or cancerous cells, Levenson said. Her discoveries on the metals could help develop new ways of fighting or preventing cancer.
"Our goal is to better understand gene expression," Levenson said. " The more we understand about genes, the more we'll be able to treat a whole variety of diseases, such as cancer." - Amy Welch
New wonder on the Web
Know an FSU student you haven't seen in a while? Well, if you time it right, you can watch your favorite student on your computer screen, walking around the renovated Westcott Plaza - or posing and grinning
In June, a camera that links to an FSU website was installed over the Westcott Plaza. It allows the viewer to see the plaza and fountain 24 hours a day (warn your student friends that there's no privacy there, ever).
If you bought a brick with your name or organization on it, you can see it being installed, or you can set up a time for a friend to come by and give you a wave.
Or maybe you just want to see how the front of the Westcott Building has changed. The web site address is: http://webcam2-wes.acns.fsu.edu/pub/pushb.html.
To buy a brick with your name on it and graduation year or with the name of an organization or group, call University Relations at 850-644-1000 or e-mail to bricks@mailer.fsu.edu. The bricks sell for $100 each and are installed around the Westcott fountain. - Amy Welch
FSU is wired
Yahoo! Internet Life magazine has rated FSU the 33rd most wired college in the United States out of 400 surveyed.
Yahoo! looked at several things to determine what colleges were the most wired, including if students had free e-mail, how long students wait on average for an available computer on campus, if distance learning is available, percent of classes with online course materials, if online registration is available, if the student newspaper is online and if the school offers an online location for students to chat and play games.
The magazine called FSU "a pioneer in distance learning."
Carnegie Mellon University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology were ranked above FSU, while Harvard University and Johns Hopkins fell below, along with 366 others. The University of Florida did not make the top 100 list, just in case anyone was wondering. - Amy Welch
New minor offered
Beginning this fall, graduate students studying social work, law, urban and regional planning, communication, anthropology or business can choose to minor in dispute resolution.
The minor was created because dispute resolution has become a needed skill in those fields. The minor can focus on mediation among individuals, families, communities, neighborhoods, different cultural groups or countries. - Amy Welch
Praise from alumni
Florida State's alumni association gave awards this spring. The highest honor, the Bernard F. Sliger Award for Service, went to Reubin Askew (B.S. '51), a former legislator, governor of Florida and U.S. trade ambassador. FSU's school of public administration is named for Askew, who is a professor there.
James Pitts, director of study-abroad programs, received the association's Circle of Gold. Pitts is a professor in the College of Business and has been president of the Faculty Senate and vice president of advancement. Andy Miller, president of the Boosters, calls him the "floor manager and organizational genius of the University Center project." - Margaret Leonard
Coming to the rescue of a gridlocked land
Advanced transportation systems? Does that mean 40-lane highways?
Maybe not. Florida State is on a team working on miracles like magnet-levitated and other "next-generation" systems, according to Raymond Bye Jr., FSU's associate vice president of research.
President Clinton signed a bill in June that puts the Center for Advanced Transportation Systems at FSU. Florida State will work with the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and the University of Central Florida to discover and then test better ways for the next generation to get around. - Margaret Leonard
More places to eat
Students are starting to hang out at the University Center's new Stadium Food Court and Seminole SportShop. Faculty and staff who work at the stadium like it, too, because they don't have to get in their cars to drive off campus for lunch anymore.
"It's a people-oriented place, rather than just another sterile office and classroom complex," said Paul Strouts, director of FSU business services.
The food court restaurants are Chick-Fil-A, The Gourmet Bean, Freshens Yogurt and SubCity. There is a large seating area and an entrance to the interior of the stadium, and more stores and restaurants can be added. - Jeffery Seay
Kids build computers
Some of Florida State's faculty aren't satisfied with just teaching their own students. They'll take a few from high school and even middle school, if it means getting them started on some exciting but difficult subject. Michael Davidson, for example, an FSU researcher and microscopist, has managed an internship program that allowed interns (as young as 12) to build a Pentium computer this summer at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory. - Margaret Leonard