................................................... COLLEGE NEWS ................................................... CARVER EXHIBIT IN DES MOINES OPENS FRIDAY The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences is one of the sponsors of the Des Moines appearance of a George Washington Carver exhibit created by Chicago's Field Museum. The exhibit opens Friday, Aug. 1, and concludes Nov. 2, at the State Historical Museum. The museum is open from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday to Saturday, and noon to 4:30 p.m. on Sundays at 600 E. Locust St. Admission is free and open to the public. On Sept. 20, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the museum will celebrate Carver with a family event. Families will gather for self-guided tours of the exhibit. Stories of Carver's life will be told and read. Participants can play a Carver Life Bingo game and create hand-made paper bookmarks, peanut marionettes and paper hats from newspapers. Admission is free. More: http://www.iowahistory.org/contacts/news_release/2008/state_historical_… BEITZ RESEARCH TEAM FINDS GENES TO REGULATE FAT IN BEEF Donald Beitz, animal science and biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology, and his colleagues have identified genes to regulate fat deposits in beef. USDA's Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service reported on the discovery in recent information related to National Research Initiative funded research projects. Their work helped establish a relationship between the genetic traits for high fatty acid content and the actual fat deposit in the muscle content of Angus bulls. RESEARCHERS USE BALLOONS TO COLLECT PLANT DISEASE SPORES Researchers at Iowa State have been flying balloons this summer in the name of biosecurity science. A team of plant pathologists and engineering researchers led by Forrest Nutter, plant pathology, are using weather balloons to carry a first-of-its-kind device developed to measure the spore clouds escaping from a diseased field of wheat. ROUSE NAMED ICIA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Jim Rouse has been named executive director of the Iowa Crop Improvement Association. The nonprofit association is the official seed-certifying agency for the state of Iowa and is affiliated with Iowa State's agronomy department. Rouse previously served a year as interim director of the association. VARIETY OF PLANTS FEATURED AT GARDEN FIELD DAYS Home Demonstration Garden Field Days are underway at Iowa State's Research and Demonstration Farms. The public is welcome to participate in the field days, which this year feature a variety of tomatoes, herbs, watermelons and flowers. UI, ISU ESTABLISH SHARED DNA SEQUENCING INSTRUMENT Iowa State and the University of Iowa have each purchased a state-of-the-art DNA sequencer that will advance genetic research on both campuses. The two sequencers, each with different capabilities, can be used by researchers from either university. The instruments are expected to benefit research in the agricultural and medical sciences. The instrument's cost was shared by the Plant Sciences Institute, Office of Biotechnology's DNA Facility, Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development, Center for Integrated Animal Genomics, Department of Animal Science, Department of Agronomy, the Experiment Station, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the College of Engineering. BIORENEWABLES RESEARCH LAB GROUNDBREAKING SEPT. 8 A groundbreaking for the Biorenewables Research Laboratory will take place on Sept. 8. The ceremony will be at the building site between Howe Hall and the College of Design building. The Biorenewables Research Laboratory will be the first phase of the $99 million Biorenewables Complex. The $32 million lab will be the headquarters for the Bioeconomy Institute and is expected to be completed in December 2009. The other two buildings in the Biorenewables Complex will be the Virgil B. Elings Hall - Agricultural And Biosystems Engineering Department Office Wing and the Agricultural and the Biosystems Engineering Lab Wing. DEADLINES AND REMINDERS Aug. 7-17: Iowa State Fair, Des Moines Aug. 26-28: Farm Progress Show, near Boone, http://www.farmprogressshow.com/ ................................................... COMMUNICATIONS KIOSK ................................................... FOREGO AND FORGO To “forego” is to go before, as in, "the foregoing paragraph." The word appears most commonly in the phrase “foregone conclusion.” To “forgo,” by contrast, is to do without or renounce, as in, "they decided to forgo that opportunity." (The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed. 2003) ................................................... INTERNAL VOICES ................................................... HART ON A DIFFERENT AUDIENCE FOR AG ECONOMICS ISSUES "Most of my time at CARD has been spent looking at issues for politicians," Hart said. "Now, I'll be looking at those same issues, but for farmers. That gives me a completely different audience than before." Chad Hart, assistant professor of economics and grain marketing economist, quoted in a profile in Sunday's Des Moines Register, July 27. ................................................... EXTERNAL VOICES ................................................... COMMENCEMENT MEANS BEGINNING “To be effective in life, you really need to know something. You can't give up on the need to keep learning - ever. Remember, the word 'commencement' means 'beginning' not 'end.' You can have good intentions. You can have the best goals in the world. But if you don't take the time to learn specific skills, specific facts, to know what you're doing and what you're talking about, you won't ever be able to change or fix anything. …” --E.J. Dionne, newspaper columnist, from his commencement address at Wake Forest University (Excerpts from Graduation Speeches, The Chronicle of Higher Education) ................................................... MARGINALIA ................................................... MUSTARD PLANT AN EXAMPLE OF RECENT EVOLUTION The severe drought in southern California between 2000 and 2004 forced the field mustard to flower earlier to cope with the shorter growing season, according to Olivia Judson, an evolutionary biologist who is the New York Times' Wild Side blogger. It is one example Judson gives of how evolution has taken place over relatively short periods, not millions of years. “In short, evolution never takes a vacation: it's going on all the time,” she said. Judson has been writing a series celebrating the 150th anniversary of the announcement of Charles Darwin's discovery of natural selection. ........................................................ AG AND LIFE SCIENCES ONLINE ........................................................ EDITOR Ed Adcock, edadcock@iastate.edu Phone: (515) 294-5616 Web site: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/aginfo/ SUBSCRIBE Ag and Life Sciences Online, the newsletter for faculty and staff in Iowa State University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, is e-mailed every Monday. To subscribe, send your name, e-mail address and the message "Ag and Life Sciences Online subscribe" to edadcock@iastate.edu. To unsubscribe, send "Ag and Life Sciences Online unsubscribe." Iowa State University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, sex, marital status, disability, or status as a U.S. veteran. Inquiries can be directed to the Director of Equal Opportunity and Diversity, 3210 Beardshear Hall, (515) 294-7612.
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