April 2006

What's going on at Ohio State?

Campus gets its first "green" building. Researchers discover a new planet, "Icy Super-Earth." Students turn spring break into a service opportunity. Ohio State books its June commencement speaker: Senator John McCain. A cutting-edge tool helps Ohio compete for researchers. The Neutron Man lives on. Ohio wines win awards, thanks to vintners' ties to Ohio State. OSU Med Center doctors say men need monthly cancer self-exams, too. Three Ohio State athletes make an NCAA top-100 list. And a new Wexner Center exhibit blurs the line between art and science.

Scarlet, gray, and green?

As far as buildings go, it's not easy being green: The U.S. Green Building Council uses strict guidelines to determine whether a building is environmentally friendly enough to call itself "green."

An upcoming 4-H building at Ohio State passed the test. Campus's first green building--complete with geothermal heating systems, recycled rainwater for irrigation, and environmentally responsible building materials--should be finished next summer.

See what the building will look like. And learn about other earth-friendly projects at Ohio State.

Icy Super Earth: huge and cold

At 4 a.m. one early spring morning, Ohio State astronomy professor Andrew Gould was wide awake, searching the sky for planets.

It was a good thing: His observations helped lead to the discovery of Icy Super Earth, one of the coldest planets ever discovered outside our solar system at -330 degrees Fahrenheit. Thirteen times heavier than Earth, the planet is 9,000 light years away.

Read more.

Breaking tradition

Watch some MTV, and you might think spring break is nothing but a week-long excuse to party.

Not at Ohio State. This spring, a diverse group of design, architecture, engineering, and theatre students went to Brazil to contemplate the "classroom of the future." Other spring breakers helped out at a domestic violence shelter and worked at an elephant sanctuary in Tennessee.

Read about the trips.

McCain comes to campus

Senator John McCain, the war prisoner-turned-politician who has been hitting the talk TV circuit in anticipation of the 2008 presidential race, will be Ohio State's spring quarter commencement speaker.

Read some of McCain's memorable quotes and learn more about his career, from the Hanoi Hilton to Wedding Crashers.

Beam it up

Researchers, students, and industrial scientists have a leg up on their out-of-state competition, thanks to a cutting-edge nanoscience tool now available at Ohio State.

The new electron beam lithography tool is rare, especially in the Midwest--and its presence at the university means Ohio scientists no longer have to leave the state to do profitable, ground-breaking research in medicine and the development of high-speed niche electronics.

Find out how Ohio scientists use the tool.

Neutron Man fund helps the band, cheerleaders

While Buckeye fans miss his exuberant dance moves, the Neutron Man lives on in the band and the cheerleaders. Orlas L. King Jr., aka the Neutron Man, has been honored for his 20-plus years of team spirit and ecstatic dancing in the stands with a gift from his wife, Debra L. McComb. The Neutron Man Memorial Fund pays tribute to King, who passed away in October 2004 at age 62.

Find out how King became the Neutron Man.

Wine country

Many wine connoisseurs would turn up their noses at the thought of drinking a Riesling or Pinot from Ohio. But wines from throughout the state are growing in reputation and winning awards with help from the university's Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center.

Learn more about the wine-OSU connection, and see which wines are bringing home the gold.

Health news for men

From the time they hit puberty, women are told that monthly breast exams are one of the most important things they can do to keep themselves healthy.

Doctors at Ohio State say men also need to watch their bodies for changes: Men who do testicular self-exams discover testicular cancer at an early, treatable stage.

Learn what to look for. And see the Medical Center's daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly health guidelines for men and women.

Three Buckeyes make list of NCAA greats

Jesse Owens set three world records and won four gold medals in the 1936 Olympics. Jack Nicklaus is considered the greatest golfer of all time. And Archie Griffin is the only college football player ever to win two Heisman Trophies.

All three Ohio State athletes recently made the NCAA's list of the 100 Most Influential Student Athletes, with Owens coming in at No. 3, Nicklaus at No. 8, and Griffin at No. 87.

Read more.

Science as art

The new exhibit at the Wexner Center isn't just artsy. It's scientific, too.

"Extreme Textiles" features objects that are both pleasing to the eye and high-tech: a prosthetic foot for competitive runners and an implant used in shoulder surgery.

Read more about this exhibit, and others now at the Wexner Center.