QUOTE OF THE DAY: CONGRESSMAN GEORGE GEKAS
“Countless lives have been saved by these skilled and courageous men and women. Courage is not a term I use lightly to describe the crews of the Life Lion service. The crews will fly in weather and conditions that many other emergency care flights will not fly, including lightning, icing and heavy cloud cover. When lives are at stake, the men and women of Life Lion are willing to put their own lives on the line to come to the aid of those in need of emergency care.”

U.S. Congressman George Gekas (R-17th District) speaking Thursday (Dec. 13) on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives about Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center’s Life Lion air medical service. The program has logged more than 13,000 flights since 1986 – one of the many Penn State services making life better for Pennsylvanians. For more on this story and the Life Lion service, visit http://www.psu.edu/ur/2001/gekas.html.

THE PAST SAYS ABRUPT CLIMATE CHANGE IN OUR FUTURE
Past climates changed abruptly, suggesting that abrupt changes in the future will also occur, according to Penn State researcher Richard B. Alley, the Evan Pugh professor of geosciences and chair of the National Academy of Science Committee on Abrupt Climate Change: Science and Public Policy. Alley told attendees Thursday (Dec. 13) at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Association in San Francisco that while studies of ice cores, sediments and other relics of the past indicate abrupt changes, the models currently used by those predicting the future of climate change do not do a good job of simulating them. He suggests that climate change includes a process of approaching and crossing a series of thresholds until stability is lost and abrupt change occurs. With climate, the thresholds in the past have sometimes been reached in as few as 10 years. For the full story by A’ndrea Elyse Messer, visit http://www.psu.edu/ur/2001/abruptchanges.html.

$6.9 MILLION GIFT BENEFITS FAYETTE COMMUNITY CENTER
A $6.9 million gift from the Eberly Foundation of Uniontown will make possible a new community center for cultural, social, athletic and other events on the Penn State Fayette campus. The gift also distinguishes the Eberlys as Penn State’s most generous benefactors. The 52,000-square-foot community center will contain performance spaces, a cafeteria and dining hall, a fitness center, an auditorium and many other features needed for large gatherings. The Eberly Foundation is headed by Robert Eberly, a 1939 Penn State graduate and Fayette County native. Including this latest gift from the foundation, the total lifetime support from the Eberly family to Penn State has reached $39 million. “Eberly philanthropy has transformed Penn State in many ways, from undergraduate scholarships to faculty chairs to new facilities and from medicine to science to the Libraries,” said Penn State President Graham Spanier. “In both breadth and depth, their support is unparalleled at Penn State. We are profoundly grateful.” For the full story by Mike Bezilla, visit http://www.psu.edu/ur/2001/eberlyfayettegift.html.

DISPATCH FROM ANTARCTICA: THE COLD TRUTH
Note: A team of Penn Staters, along with colleagues from Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Alabama, has embarked on a project to take the true measure of Antarctica. The 15-member TAMSEIS (Transantarctic Mountain Seismic Experiment) team is installing seismic stations across the icy desert in order to better understand the crust and mantle beneath the mountains. This article is the third of a series of installments about the expedition’s progress developed for Research Penn State by John Pollack.

CAPE EVANS, Antarctica--On this rocky spit of land where the wind blows so hard that even the snow flees northward, a low wooden hut awaits the return of its builder. Its shelves are stocked with boxes of macaroni and tins of cocoa, big pots rest on the cast-iron stove, and fur sleeping bags lie atop snug, dry bunks. At first glance, it looks as if the hut’s occupants might have left just a few years ago, but some 90 winters have passed now, and only the ghosts of Captain Robert Falcon Scott and his men wander this forlorn refuge--the last shelter they knew before setting out on their ill-fated 1911 race to discover the South Pole. Enduring great hardship through some of the worst weather on earth, they lost that race to Norwegian Roald Amundsen by just over a month, and lost their own lives on the return journey. But here at Cape Evans, their hut and their memory remain frozen in time.

For the full dispatch, visit http://www.rps.psu.edu/antarctica/dispatch03.html.

CHOOSING, MAINTAINING A HEALTHY CHRISTMAS TREE
Finding a seemingly perfect Christmas tree can be a cause for celebration, but experts in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences recommend checking the tree thoroughly before buying and taking special care of it after getting it home. Bob Hansen, a forestry and agricultural extension agent in Bradford County, offers three simple freshness tests for shoppers who prefer cut trees: bend several needles on the tree to see if they are fresh enough to spring back; lift the tree and bump the bottom of the trunk onto the ground several times to see if lots of green needles fall out, meaning the tree is deteriorating; and inspect the sawn stem of the tree to ensure that it is moist and full of sap. To maintain a tree’s freshness, store it before decoration time by placing it in a bucket of water outdoors or in a cool place indoors; make a fresh cut across the stem butt at least an inch above the existing cut when it’s brought in for decoration; and keep the water reservoir of the tree stand consistently filled above the base of the stem. For the full story, visit http://aginfo.psu.edu/News/december01/tree.html.

FREIGHT INDUSTRY TO FACE MAJOR CHALLENGES IN 2002
After the Christmas rush for freight traffic winds down, managers of freight transportation will have a lot to think about, a Penn State expert says. “High on the list will be figuring out how to make a profit in the post Sept. 11 world,” notes Peter Swan, assistant professor of business logistics in the Smeal College of Business Administration. “Increased security has led to longer waits for drivers and other transportation workers, reducing productivity for both equipment operators and equipment. Firms must either find ways to increase productivity or raise rates.” Another challenge will be the eventual introduction of Mexican drivers to the domestic market, a change that Swan believes could significantly reduce U.S. driver wages. “As a nation, we will need to deal with the issue of Mexican drivers and the issue of pay for transportation workers in general,” says Swan, who has researched the effect of pay on driver safety. For the full story by Steve Infanti, visit http://www.smeal.psu.edu/news/depth/december01/freight.html.