July/August 2006

What's going on at Ohio State?

Global warming expert Lonnie Thompson unveils the most comprehensive research ever on melting ice caps. University engineers invent a stealth radar system. An Ohio State grad returns as a lecturer -- and creates a class he always wanted to take. Ohio State offers advice on planning a budget vacation. As the Bucks get ready for the 2006 football season, former players remember their time on the field. Med Center researchers find a quick, painless way to get rid of migraines. The engineering and English departments sponsor a poetry competition for science students. Ohio State researchers determine that dogs fare better than cats in shelters. And the Main Library gets ready for a major renovation.

Lonnie Thompson's hot summer

From the newspaper to the multiplex, the topic of global warming seems inescapable this summer--and Ohio State geologist Lonnie Thompson is right in the middle of the action.

His global climate change research is featured in An Inconvenient Truth, the long-awaited global warming documentary for which Thompson was a consultant. To top that off, he's released the most comprehensive data on high-altitude tropical glaciers yet--alarming data that show the earth is in the middle of a major climate change.

Read more, and see photos of a retreating glacier in Peru.

Stealth radar

Ohio State engineers have created a radar system that sounds like something straight out of a spy novel.

The stealth radar system can see through solid walls undetected, and is expected to be useful to the military, to rescue workers searching for bodies lost in natural disasters, and even in medicine.

Find out how the radar works, and read about more possible uses.

Gaming 101

As a grad student at Ohio State's Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design, Peter Gerstmann always wanted to take a class on how to create a video game.

So after graduation, he came back to the university as a lecturer and created the class himself.

Watch Gerstmann talk about the class, and see the games students created.

How to vacation without piling on debt

If you're trying to decide whether you can afford an August vacation--or if you want to learn how to rein in travel spending after a shock this summer--the Ohio State Extension can help.

The Extension recently offered advice to travelers trying to stay on a budget. Read those tips before your next getaway.

Countdown to kickoff

Part theatrical extravaganza, part sporting event, part carnival, part concert, and all spectacle--there's no grander production than a Buckeye football game.

Read about Archie Griffin's game-day experience, former players' memories, and more, from the Ohio State Alumni Magazine. And read the athletics department's 2006 football outlook.

Zap! There go migraines

Migraines aren't your average headache; symptoms such as extreme light sensitivity, weakness, pain, nausea, and vomiting can put sufferers out of commission for days.

Help might be on the way.

Researchers at the Ohio State Med Center recently studied a new device that painlessly "zaps" migraines.

Find out more about the device.

Poet-Scientists

The English and engineering departments might seem unlikely bedfellows, but they recently teamed up for the third annual poetry forum for science majors.

The contest "makes these scientific, rational people realize that you can't ignore emotional values," said Julie Graf, a graduate teaching assistant who helped run the forum.

Read more about this year's winner, and sample some of the poetry.

Lucky Dogs

Dogs taken in by shelters are way less likely to be put to sleep than they were a decade ago, but the chances that shelter cats will be euthanized has gone up considerably, according to new Ohio State research.

"We saw a dramatic drop in the number of dogs euthanized, which we didn't expect to see," said Linda Lord, a research fellow in veterinary preventive medicine at Ohio State University. "But the survey showed that we are losing ground with cats."

Find out more about the study.

It's ready for its overhaul

As the only university building to occupy space on the Oval, Ohio State's Main Library has been a campus landmark since 1913.

An upcoming $105 million renovation will make it "beautiful, functional, and flexible enough to bring paper- and digital-based information services together," said Ohio State libraries director Joseph Branin.

See what the renovated library will look like when it’s finished in 2009. And read more about the changes ahead.