Page A2
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
The Pilot
News
New Nanney Hall takes shape
By Rebecca Clark
Pilot Editor
The excavation behind
Withrow Hall is no longer
just a giant scar in the red
earth. The walls are going
up on Frank Nanney Hall,
fiiture location of the Noel
Program, and it’s starting to
look like a building.
According to Mike Har
din, vice president of finance
and development, things are
right on target for the build
ing schedule.
Groundbreaking oc
curred in March, and the
plan is to have the building
“fully operational by fall
of 2008,” said Hardin. He
said a lot depends on the
weather, but at this point
they don’t foresee any prob
lems. Workers are finishing
up the framing of the first
floor and will soon start on
the second.
Frank Nanney, a former
trustee of Gardner-Webb
University, donated funds
for the construction of the
new building. The Noel
Program serves students
with a range of disabilities,
including social, physical
and learning.
Cheryl Potter, program
director, said they are very
excited about the building.
“I think we’ve always
had a quality program here
and I think that the new
building will project that
image of quality and profes
sionalism,” Potter said.
“We definitely need the
room,” she said. “The test
ing facilities are just going
to be a phenomenal asset to
the program.”
Staff members hope to
add to the equipment they
have now, as well as update
some of it.
However, there are
some feelings of nostalgia
about the small building
that houses the program
now.
“There’s going to be
some sadness at leaving as
well,” Potter said. “This has
been home for so long.”
She will miss looking
out the window and seeing
the rose garden in bloom.
The Noel Program was
started in 1977, and named
after Margarite Noel, who
donated substantial fimds
for the program.
Spotlight Dr. Webb glad to be at GWU
By Kory McNair
Pilot staff writer
Dr. Joseph Webb, who
started teaching in the Com
munication Studies Depart
ment last spring, had been
told good things about
Gardner-Webb University
before he arrived..
“Everything I heard was
true,” he said.
Webb came to GWU af
ter retiring as a dean at Palm
Beach Atlantic University
in Florida. He has taught
a variety of journalism and
communication courses
throughout his career.
When asked what he
loves most about teaching,
he said it is the students.
“They keep you young,”
he said.
Webb said that while
teaching is a hobby of sorts,
his favorite pastime is print-
making. Some of his best
works hang on the walls of
his GWU office.
Webb doesn’t have
enough free time, as he’d
like' to work on that hobby,
though, because he is busy
writing a book.
It’s not the first book he
has written. One topic he
has written about is help
ing preachers improve their
communication.
Dr. Joe Webb
Webb has been married
to Andrea Worley for more
than 30 years. His son, Joe,
and granddaughter live in
California.
Photo by Sarajane Burroughs
An estimated 30 students, staff and community members met at the flag pole
on Thursday for what was referred to as “The Ride.” The participants raced to
Ingles and purchased supplies for homeless shelters in Shelby. Awards were
given for the fastest, the slowest, the most stuff, and the most style.
Students stop traffic to help feed homeless
By Jared Graf
Pilot staff writer
Thursday evening traf
fic on Main Street in Boil
ing Springs was stopped to
allow about 30 riders on a
variety of self-propelled ve
hicles to safely travel from
The Gardner-Webb Unvi-
ersity campus to Ingles and
back in order to benefit the
homeless.
There were scooters, bi
cycles, skateboards, a Seg-
way, a golf cart and even a
contraption consisting of a
bicycle tied to a wheelchair.
G\W students, staff and
members of the community
were there to support the
cause.
Awards were given out
to honor such things as the
fastest and slowest modes
of transportation, and the
one with the most style.
The first-ever Ride for
the homeless began at the
flagpole in the Quad at 6:30.
Riders went through the
main intersection of town to
Ingles.
There they purchased
items from a list of foods
that homeless shelters in
Shelby need to stock their
pantries.
Then the race was on to
make it back to the flagpole
with the “goods.”
The Ride was conceived
of by the Living Club,
which is a part of Campus
Ministries.
Ig Nobel Prizes illustrate just how bizarre science research can be
By Jenna Nlerstedt
The Daily Free Press (Bos
ton U.)
(U-WIRE) BOSTON -
Vanilla soft serve could get
its flavoring from cow dung;
hamsters (and potentially
people) on Viagra could
avoid the effects of jet lag;
enemy soldiers might be so
sexually attracted to each
other they are too disttacted
to shoot. The ideas are odd
and unorthodox, but scien
tists at the annual Ig Nobel
awards proved that they can
be made real.
WHAT?
Mayu Yamamoto, of
Japan, developed a way to
extract vanillin — vanilla
flavoring — from cow dung.
A group of scientists from
Argentina discovered that
Viagra aids jetlag recovery
in hamsters. The Air Force
Wright Laboratory devel
oped a new weapon, the so-
called “gay bomb.”
These and several other
vmusual discoveries were
recognized at the Seven
teenth “ 1 St Armual” IgNobel
Prizes at Harvard Universi
ty’s Sanders Theatre Oct.
4, when more than 1,200
people attended an evening
of entertainment and (some)
explanation to honor scien
tists for such achievements,
which make people laugh
first — and then think.
“A lot of scientists have
done things that nobody has
ever heard of and may never
will,” said Marc Abrahams,
editor of Annals of Improb
able Research, the science
humor magazine that spon
sors the event.
The event honors scien
tific discoveries in aviation,
biology, chemistry, econom
ics, linguistics, literature,
medicine, nutrition, peace
and physics.
EATING WITH OUR EYES
Brian Wansink of Cor
nell University received
an Ig in Nutrition for work
he did with the infamous
“freshman fifteen” weight
gain in mind, exploring' the
seemingly boundless appe
tites of humans.
Wansink surveyed Pa
risians and Americans on
reasons they decide to stop
eating. The 150 Parisians
surveyed cited internal cues,
such as T feel full’ or ‘the
food no longer tastes good,’
while the 150 Chicagoans
surveyed gave external
reasons, such as ‘when my
plate is empty’ or ‘the TV
show I’m watching is over.’
But what if there were
an endless supply of food?
Wansink decided to study
what would happen if the
bowl never emptied. Wan
sink recruited fifty-four
participants to indulge in a
creamy tomato soup from
a bottomless bowl, which
refilled as its contents were
consumed.
“We found when we
gave refillable soup bowls,
people ate 73 percent more
soup, but when asked if
they were full, they’d say,
‘No, I still have half a bowl
of soup left,’ because they
were eating with their eyes
and not with their stom
achs,” he said.
College students, he said,
tend to eat out of “bottomless
bowls” — huge bags of chips
or containers of ice cream.
“But if you dish some
out and put it in another
container and see for a sec
ond what you plan on eat
ing,” he said, “our studies
show that you end up eating
about 30 percent less.
“It shows how you can
reverse these cues in your
life to mindlessly eat less,
without having to count cal
ories or make food diaries.”
PET-SIZE PRESCRIPTION
There’s a new remedy
for the weary traveler — at
least, for the four-legged,
fiirry, round kind — a group
of scientists from Universi-
dad Nacional de Quilmes in
Argentina won an Ig Nobel
in Aviation for their discov
ery that Viagra aids jetlag
recovery in hamsters.
The idea came when Di
ego Golombek was working
with mammals’ circadian
rhythms — the daily activity
cycle that runs, like in hu
mans, on 24-hour intervals.
“In line with [the Ig
Nobel philosophy], first
we laughed and then we
thought, why don’t we ac
tually do the experiment?”
Golombek said.
Golombek and cowork
ers Patricia Agostino and
Santiago Plano were unable
to arrange flights to test jet
lag remedies on their ham
sters, but instead simulated
the effects of air travel be
tween time zones by expos
ing them to abnormal light
cycles.
Golombek said they
might have found a new
mechanism for the treat
ment of circadian disorders
like insomnia.
“It’s something we were
not after, I have to confess,
but now we are very inter
ested in looking at that,” he
said.
ACKNOWLEDGING THE IG
“I think [the Ig No
bel Prizes] humanize sci
entists,” Golombek said.
“They’re not these serious,
solemn people who are al
ways wearing a lab coat,
that don’t eat or don’t make
jokes. Science is something
more tlian that. It’s a very in
teresting way of living your
life because you’re always
asking questions. I certainly
think it does inspire people
to look at science and scien
tists in another way.”
At the ceremony, six
winners of the real Nobel
prize presented the awards
— and one, winner of the
1998 Nobel Prize for Phys
ics, Robert Laughlin, was
offered as the prize for a
“win-a-date-with-a-Nobel-
Laureate” contest.
AND THE IG GOES TO ...
The winners of one
award — co-authors of a
medical report, “Sword
Swallowing and Its Side Ef
fects” — had never met prior
to last week’s ceremony;
radiologist Brian Witcombe
of the United Kingdom and
Dan Meyer of Tennessee
had corresponded via tele
phone and email.
“Somebody sent me an
email of a sword swallow
ing x-ray, and I thought,
how the hell did they do
that?” Witcombe said.
After’finding little con
crete information on sword
swallowing, he emailed
Meyet, Chief Executive of
the Sword Swallowers As
sociation International, and
the two collaborated.
The base of over 100
swallowers to find out how
they learned their craft, and
study the kinds of side ef
fects they encountered.
“The medical interest in
this subject is clearly per
foration of the esophagus,”
Witcombe said. “People
have things stuck down
their throats medically quite
frequently, and it’s a rare
complication to perforate. I
think the interesting thing,
although our data is not
robust, is that sword swal
lowers usually recover bet
ter from a perforation than
other patients.”
As Witcombe accepted
his award, he said, “Knowl
edge advances when people
oftwo different backgrounds
come together over an issue
of common interest, and
that is what we did here.”
But Meyers went first, and
his sword swallowing act-
for the audience’s entertain
ment was tough to follow.
SILLY SCIENCE
“The thing about the
Ig Nobels is . . . these are
questions that people want
to know about, and this is
real science being done in
those areas,” said audience
member Shaughn Bryant
of Worchester. “When you
look at it from the side, it’s
really absurd, but all science
is kind of absurd. Some
times it’s so esoteric that no
one really gets it, but if it’s
fingernails on a chalkboard
or how a sheet wrinkles, the
questions seem more real to
people.”
“Every year there are
more things crammed into
[the ceremony],” Abrahams
said. “We want the audi
ence to feel they are never
quite sure what’s going to
happen in the next moment,
and probably not quite sure
what they just saw.”
But audience members
don’t come out for the show
just for a few laughs, and
some wanted more than the
entertainment they got.
,“I found myself a lot
more curious about... how
someone gets to the point
where they test Viagra in
hamsters traveling on a
plane,” said Worchester me
chanical engineer Michael
Wixon. “I wish there was
more talking and explana
tion. I mean, I love the gags,
but at some point, I really
want to know more.”
Study this summer in Wales!!
“Through a Welsh Window:
Discovering Britain”
(3 Credit hours- ENGL 392)
May 12-June 9, 2008
Trinity College, Carmarthen, Wales
Trip led by Dr. David Parker
Cost to students is only $1Q00, and includes airfare, room, tuition,
and ten meals a week. This is a not-to-be-missed opportunity Cur
rent sophomores and juniors are eligible to apply. APPLICATIONS
MUST BE SUBMITTED BY NOVEMBER 5! For information and ap
plications, phone Helen Tichenor at 3993 or David Parker at 4413.