SEPTEMBER 2000
ANCIENT HISTORY UNDER THE SEA
COMPLETE STORY
Four long, thin yellow hoses descend into the Gulf of Mexico
from the anchored research vessel, Mr. Tom. The hoses carry air
to FSU students who are 15 feet below, searching for evidence
of life on land 12,000 calendar years ago.
And they're finding it. Some of the artifacts - Clovis Points
for example - even suggest settlers may have come by boat from
Europe via South America, a different group from the better known
immigrants who came across the Bering Strait.
|
Stories/SeptemberCharlie BarnesNews NotesCompressionIn MemoriamFavorite ProfHome
|
U.S NAVY'S FUTURE IS ELECTRIC
COMPLETE STORY
Florida State is planning the energy systems for an all-electric
fleet fÓor the U.S. Navy, using a three-year, $10.9-million
grant.
The electric ships promise to be cleaner, more efficient, cheaper
to run and more combat-ready than today's steam- and fuel-powered
ships. The first is scheduled for about 2010, and the entire
fleet is expected to be electric in 30 years.
FSU and engineers will design integrated electrical systems at
the FSU Center for Advanced Power Systems, housed at the National
High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee.
GIFTS CREATE SCHOLARSHIPS
COMPLETE STORY
Retired FSU professor Lou Bender and his wife Betty have given
$1.35 million to establish two endowed funds, one to benefit
blind students and the other for the School of Visual Arts and
Dance.
The Elizabeth Plescia Bender Endowed Fund for Blind Students
will provide support for readers, note takers and library assistance
and will eventually support scholarships for blind students.
DOCTOR TO BE IS ALREADY SERVING
COMPLETE STORY
As a little boy, Richard Vidal tagged along when his doctor
dad did rounds at a Miami hospital. Hanging out at the nurses'
station, the younger Vidal was enlisted to cheer up sick children
on the pediatric cancer ward.
But it wasn't until he came to Florida State, founded the Inter-national
Medical Outreach Pro-gram and organized the first trip to help
poor people in Jamaica in 1999 that he knew he had doctoring
in his heart, too.
CHILDREN IN LOS ANGELES ARE LEARNING THE SIR CHARLES BLUES
COMPLETE STORY
Dane Gille-brand knew zilch about the blues and philanthropy
when he left South Africa for college in America in 1993, when
his life plan seemed so simple: He would graduate from film school
at Florida State University, move to Holly-wood and make great
movies to entertain humanity.
Real life intervened. The lanky young man couldn't have known
he'd be lonely at Florida State. Or that a blind blues musician
would become a kind of surrogate father. Or that he would come
to love the blues. Or that his greatest goals would be fulfilled
- graduation magna cum laude, a job in L.A. helping produce films
- and he would suddenly find it all meaningless.
GENETICS - TECHNOLOGY IS RACING, ETHICS NEEDS TO CATCH UP
COMPLETE STORY
Who should be born? How intelligent should they be? How strong,
healthy and socially adept? Should other species' parts or traits
be introduced into humans?
Such fantastic questions are becoming more real. Genetic research
is giving us biological options radically different from those
of the present day.
In the way that physics was for the last 10 decades, and chemistry
for the 10 before that, genetics is poised to be the most crucial
branch of science in the 21st century. And a growing crowd of
thinkers wonders if the safety valve of ethics is not a little
weak.
ORIGINAL SEMINOLES
COMPLETE STORY
When a U.S. military officer seized hundreds of Seminoles
in 1838 near Jupiter, he reported to the U.S. Secretary of War
that 513 of the prisoners were "Indians" and 165 were
"negroes."
Gen. Thomas Jesup didn't make a mistake in his report referring
to blacks as Seminoles.
Blacks were part of the Seminole villages almost as early as
Creek Indians moved into Florida in the 18th century. They were
first welcomed by the Indians as runaway slaves and were later
embraced as kin and allies.
GRAD IS TOP HURICANNE FORECASTER
COMPLETE STORY
With 30 years of weather forecasting and a degree from Florida
State in meteorology, Max Mayfield is ready to lead the nation's
defense against hurricanes.
His job, as the director of the National Hurricane Center, is
to improve the warning lead times and increase the center's understanding
of the tracks and intensity of hurricanes.
"The important thing for us is the hurricanes that make
landfall and the severity of that," Mayfield said. "We
are fortunate to have excellent technology such as satellites,
aircraft reconnaissance, radars and computer models to help us
predict the path of a hurricane.
LAB SCHOOL TO BUILD ON NEW SITE
COMPLETE STORY
When the students at Florida High School return next year
in search of their new homerooms, they may have a hard time finding
them. They will be clear across town.
The Florida State University School (formerly named the FSU Developmental
Research School and always known as Florida High) will leave
its longtime campus home and move to the new South-wood development
in southeast Tallahassee.