Life in a Test Tube!


Dear Commons Community,

The NY Times has an article today on the definition of life.  What started as an exercise in being able to better recognize extraterrestrial life should they come upon it, scientists are working to create simple life forms in a lab. The article states that “a handful of chemists and biologists…are using the tools of modern genetics to try to generate the Frankensteinian spark that will jump the gap separating the inanimate and the animate. The day is coming, they say, when chemicals in a test tube will come to life. “

Gerald F. Joyce, a professor at the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego, has already crossed that line, although he would be the first to say he has not — yet.

The article also states:

“Four years ago Dr. Joyce and a graduate student, Tracey A. Lincoln, now a researcher at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, evolved a molecule in a test tube that could replicate and evolve all by itself, swapping little jerry-built genes in a test tube forever, as long as it was supplied with the right carefully engineered ingredients.

An article in the Joyce Laboratory newsletter called it ‘The Immortal Molecule.’ Dr. Joyce’s molecule is a form of RNA, or ribonucleic acid, which plays Robin to DNA’s Batman in Life As We Do Know It, assembling proteins in accordance with the blueprint encoded in DNA. Neither RNA nor DNA is alive by itself, any more than any other chemical, like bleach, or a protein. But in Dr. Joyce’s test tube, his specially engineered RNA molecule comes close, copying itself over and over, and evolving.”

A three-minute video with excellent graphics explaining the role of RNA, proteins, and DNA in all of this is available at: http://video.nytimes.com/video/2011/07/27/science/100000000937455/life-out-there-eden-in-a-test-tube.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha23

Most interesting!

Tony

 

 

 

 

New York State Judge Issues a Restraining Order Blocking CUNY’s $300. Tuition Increase!

Dear Commons Community,

Sandi Cooper sent out the email below to the University Faculty Senate listserv, stating that Judge Eileen Rakower signed a temporary restraining order blocking the $300. tuition increase that was to be implemented in September.  The reason for the restraining order appears to be a procedural matter in that the motion increasing tuition was voted on by the Executive Committee and not by the full CUNY Board of Trustees.

Tony

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Press Advisory:

Contact: Ronald B. MGuire: 201-795-0342

Today a state Supreme Court judge signed a temporary restraining order blocking a $300 annual undergraduate tuition increase passed by the Executive Committee of the City University of New York (CUNY) Board of Trustees “unless and until the Board of Trustees as a whole meets and takes action in accordance with the law.”

Judge Eileen Rakower ruled in a lawsuit filed yesterday by three Lehman College students, Ateo Peruyero, OyeWale Badru and Francisca Villar, (Peruyero, et al. v. Board of Trustees, etc., et al. NY County Index No. 108549/2011) The students asked the court to nullify a tuition increase passed by the Executive Committee of the CUNY Board of Trustees  on July 21st. The students claimed that the state Education Law requires the entire CUNY Board of Trustees to vote on any tuition increase and that this authority cannot be delegated to the Trustees’ Executive Committee.  The tuition increase passed by the Executive Committee was scheduled to take effect when CUNY’s Fall 2011 term begins on August 26th and would have raised tuition $150 per semester ($300 per year) for undergraduates with proportionate increases for graduate and part time students.

Following oral arguments this morning by attorneys representing the students and CUNY, the judge stated that the petitioners had shown a likelihood of success on the merits and that there would be irreparable harm if the court did not block the $300 tuition increase until the entire board of trustees could consider it.

The restraining order signed by Judge Rakower states:

“Until this Petition is heard, Respondents are enjoined and restrained from:

(i) taking any action to implement the Tuition Resolution passed by Respondent Executive Committee on July 21, 2011, or

(ii) charging or collecting tuition in excess of the  levels charged by CUNY during the spring 2011 academic term,

(iii) unless  and until the board of trustees as a whole takes action in accordance with the law.”

Judge Rakower scheduled the next hearing on the case for Tuesday, August 30 at 11 AM in room 308 at IAS Part 15 of the State Supreme Court at 80 Centre Street in Manhattan – after Fall 2011 classes begin at CUNY on August 26th.

The restraining order will be in effect until the next hearing date unless CUNY appeals the case.

If CUNY does not appeal, then CUNY cannot raise tuition until the trustees schedule an emergency meeting to consider the issue. Any meeting of the trustees would have to comply with the state Open Meetings Law.

The Petitioners were represented by Ronald B. McGuire of New York City.

Assistant NYS Attorney General Clement J. Colucci and CUNY General Counsel Frederick Schaffer appeared for the Respondents.