Scientific success
What looks like a golf ball, can pass through the eye of a needle and has the power to propel four Talmud Toinh students to international reknown in the science world? A bucky-ball, of course.
Named after Buckminster Fuller, the American architect who designed the geodesic dome, the buckyball is at the heart of a science project that has won the students the regional prize in the Toshiba/NSTA ExploraVision Competition. Their project will now proceed to the in- , temational competition in Washington.
Robyn Masscl, Barry Wohl, Carly Glanzberg and Isaac Elias, all in Grade 7, had to do original research based on inventions that were still in the exploratory phase. They worked under the guidance of Grade 4 teacher Elazar Reshef and Sandy Wohl, a science teacher at Hugh Boyd High
School.
The buckyball, which was discovered in 1985, is a round molecule made up of 60 carbon atoms. The students thought if they could put medicine inside the molecule and cover it with iron, they could place a patient inside a machine, similar to a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine, and use magnets to direct the medicine to points in the body.
"It's for localized diseases," Robyn explained. The students brought their - different interests to the project, which they call, "Magnetic Medicines — Buckyball Therapy in the 21st Century."
"Each of us had diiferent ideas but we decided that each of them was a bit • bland, you might say," said Isaac. "TTiey had very excellent scientific and technological ideas so we took a
THE PROMISED LAND
by Jordan B. Gorfinkcl
MCC* KIX KRWE T»a LOUS UTOS tUBS |« t« ■» U Iw t* v»
vE5PJr£ OUR MANY WftnWitt OUR MOST 5ACX^^ JEW5H
r/Wi/rms sm mne. us...
Successful scientists: (Clockwise from upper left) Teacher Elazar Reshef, Barry Wohl, Isaac Elias, Carly Glanzberg and Robyn Massel.
little bit from each one. We worked on them a bit, made a few changes here and there."
Robyn brought in the idea of incorporating medicine because her brother recently recovered from cancer. "I saw the stuff that he was suffering fix)m," she said. "This kind of stuff would work for pain and side effects."
Also finalists in the regional competition were Grade 6 students Daniel Kreitzman, Jonathan Michelson and Tom Minner. Their project involved using holographic technology to create a three-dimensional picture of a person's fingerprints for personal identification to replace passports, money and credit cards.
— Baila Lazarus
Phraseology
(A weekly taste of Hebrew, Yiddish and Ladino)
Er hot shpilkes.
He has pins.
People who can't sit still make us jumpy.
Loose Talk
Quotes from media around the world and at home.
We were just confused how it came about,"
- Sliaron Jacobson describes her family's amusement after her son Sam, a basketball player for the University of Minnesota, was described as a Jewish Michael Jordan by ESPN's Chris Foujlcr. The Jacobson's are Catliolic.
CCI
It gives the appearance of doing something without really doing anything."
-Maura Goodman, a Jewish police academy instructor in Oregon who lias resigned her post over what she feels was a weak response to complaints of anti-Semitism in the academy.
I he response has been overwhelming. People are very excited to be part of this imique project."
-Phyllis Teitelbaum of Ottawa, who is involved with a proposed Holocaust gallery to be included in tlie Canadian War Museum's new addition.
It was my obligation to see how they're doing. Many were members of my congregation."
-Rabbi Ruben Safcrstein of Buenos Aires'largest synagogue, travelled to Winnipeg to strengthen tics and check up on some old
friends.
My husband is not a terrorist, he was just hopeless."
-FathiyaAbu Kamal, widow ofAliAbu Kamal, the gunman wlio
shot seven people before killing himself atop the Empire State Building Feb. 16.
"Ain't
that a train?"
-A Baltinwre Polytechnic Institute student, wlicn asked by a visiting Israeli student iflhc knew the definition of a kibbutz.
O cc
9