MEDICAL CENTER EXPERTS ADVISE ON SCOOTER SAFETY
All new recreational activities seem to have safety hazards. The newest craze to hit the streets is scooters. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recently released a report about the rise in scooter-related injuries, half of which they say can be prevented by protective equipment, safer playing environments and rules. "In the past few weeks, we have treated several children who have been injured on scooters," says Susan E. Rzucidlo, pediatric trauma coordinator at The Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and coordinator of the Dauphin County SAFE KIDS Coalition. "We want to get the word out that the injuries can be prevented." More than 9,400 scooter-related injuries have been reported from January to August 2000. Children ages 14 and under account for 90 percent of all scooter-related injuries, most of which occurred when the rider fell from the scooter. Nearly 30 percent of scooter-related injuries resulted in a fracture or dislocation, often to the rider's hand or arm.· Children ages 8 and under account for nearly a third of all scooter-related injuries. To protect against injuries, children as well as adults should always wear appropriate safety gear including a helmet, wrist guards, and elbow and knee pads when riding a scooter. Be sure protective gear fits properly and does not interfere with the rider's movement, vision or hearing. Children ages 8 and under should not use scooters without close adult supervision. For more on this story, go to http://www.hmc.psu.edu/news/pr/sep/092100.htm 

UTILITY BILLS GETTING YOU DOWN? PLANT STUFF ON THE ROOF
Gardeners are always looking for new planting sites, but a research team in the College of Agricultural Sciences is aiming higher by developing a system that would replace the tar-and-gravel materials on flat roofs with a surface covered by living plants -- a green roof. "Europeans have been cultivating vegetation on rooftops for decades," says David Beattie, associate professor of ornamental horticulture. "The roofs of large buildings -- flat roofs in particular -- are subjected to large swings in temperatures that cause cracking and eventually leakage into the floors below." Beattie and Robert Berghage, associate professor of ornamental horticulture, are working with JSP International Inc., a Malvern manufacturer of plastics used in automotive bumpers, to create a plastic-based roofing system that can be used as a planting site for vegetation. In a series of tests this summer, the researchers measured temperatures on a gravel roof, on a plastic-sheet roof and on a planted roof prototype. The temperatures on a sunny day with ambient temperatures around 88 degrees Fahrenheit measured 140 degrees F on the plastic sheeting, 118 degrees F on the gravel roof, and 82 degrees F on the planted roof prototype. For more, go to http://www.aginfo.psu.edu/News/september00/roof.html 

PENN COLLEGE STUDENTS CONTRIBUTE TO PA ATLAS
A number of Penn College students have been using Little Bear Creek in Plunketts Creek Township as a laboratory, gaining extra credit for a biology class and contributing to a state-wide conservation project in the process. Led by Dr. Carol J. Kafer, associate professor of biology, they are canvassing the creek for reptiles and amphibians for the Pennsylvania Herpetological Atlas Project, a statewide initiative sponsored by the Wild Resource Conservation Fund and Indiana University of Pennsylvania. The six-year project is now in its fifth season of field studies and this is the fourth year that Penn College students have contributed information for the database. The detailed database will aid environmental managers in making ecologically sound resource use decisions. Kafer also monitors sites for the North American Amphibian Monitoring Program, which is looking at long-term changes in frog and toad populations. For more on this story, go to http://www2.pct.edu/news/students/reptile0900.htm 

PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING GROUP FOR STUDENTS, FACULTY
VOICE Box will kick off its series of lunchbox discussions and workshops this semester on topics such as first-year seminars, problem-based learning and inquiry-based learning. with speaker Fred Eisele, associate professor of health policy and administration, Sept. 27 in the Stavely Conference Room, 202 Hammond Building. He will talk on "Problem Based Learning in Conflicted Contexts." Sponsored by the Schreyer Institute for Innovation in Learning and the Leonhard Center, the biweekly series explores many aspects of academic innovations. For more information, contact the Schreyer Institute at or go to http://www.inov8.psu.edu/ 

CORRECTION -- IRISH POETRY READING OCT. 3
"Actors from the London Stage,"cast member Richard Howard will present an hour-long program of Irish poetry and prose, "Health and Long Life to You," at 4 p.m. in the Palmer Museum of Art Palmer Lipcon Auditorium on Tuesday, Oct. 3. Actors from the London Stage is a group organized by ACTER (a center for theater education and research), which is on campus for a week’s residency The program is sponsored by the Institute for the Arts and Humanistic Studies in cooperation with several colleges and departments on campus.

CORRECTION: The editor misidentified the Poet in yesterday’s Newswire. For more information on events and programs of the Institute of Arts and Humanistic Studies, go to http://www.research.psu.edu/iahs/