ASGSB Volume 12, Number 1 Newsletter of the American Society for Gravitational and Space Biology Winter 1996 Dear ASGSB members: ASGSB GOVERNING BOARD Pauline Jackie Duke, President University of Texas Dental School In my speech at the 1995 ASGSB Banquet, I stated my Mary E. Musgrave, President-Elect goals for the year to be in- Louisiana State University creased communication, coop- Peter B. Kaufman, Secretary-Treasurer eration, collaboration, partici- University of Michigan pation, and activism. Several months into my tenure as Stanley Roux, Immediate Past President President, I find that events University of Texas, Austin are moving us toward these Donald R. Beem, Executive Director goals at a very rapid pace. AIBS COMMUNICATION-wise, we Daniel Cosgrove Pennsylvania State University are making great strides in moving bytes instead of atoms Stephen Doty (Necroponte, Being Digital). Hospital for Special Surgery The Board of Governors and Michael Evans the committee chairs are on e- Ohio State University mail, so communications and ASGSB President Jackie Duke addresses documents are being sent with- Annual Meeting participants Marian L. Lewis out expense of phone, fax, or University of Alabama, Huntsville snail mail. We are working on a way for you to check your address Norman G. Lewis at the annual meeting, and make any necessary updates at that Washington State University time. We are also working on having this information online, available only to the membership, and eventually, you will be able Terri L. Lomax Oregon State University to provide changes throughout the year. Also, you will be able to download an electronic ASGSB directory for your own use. Barbara G. Pickard The ASGSB web site is online at “http://www.indstate.edu/ Washington University asgsb”, and your help and suggestions may be sent to the web-site Kenneth A. Souza manager Tim Mulkey via the web site or e-mail NASA Ames Research Center “[email protected]”. Information about memberships, the society’s purpose and organization, jobs available, NRAs being Debra Wolgemuth prepared, and so on can now be found on the web site. Eventually Columbia University the Bulletin and the Newsletter will be online as well. Please let us CORPORATE MEMBERS know what you like or don’t like and what you want to see on the Boeing Defense & Space web. (continued on next page) Huntsville, AL Lockheed Martin, Inc. Moffett Field, CA Mark Your Calendars Now!! McDonnell Douglas Co. ASGSB 12th Annual Meeting Huntington Beach, CA Charlotte, NC EDITOR-IN-CHIEF October 23-27, 1996 Thora W. Halstead preliminary info on page 3 ASSOCIATE EDITORS NEWSLETTER–Janet V. Powers 1995 Annual Meeting Highlights MEETING BULLETIN–Marc Tischler pages 4-12 ASGSB President's Letter (continued) The use of e-mail and the World Wide Web ACTIVISM. A new policy of the Public Affairs also allow us to increase our communication Committee calls for the President or another ap- with other countries. This international inter- propriate person to respond to published articles action becomes increasingly important as we that are unduly critical of life sciences in space. move into the International Space Station Al- Such an article was published in Science on Nov. pha (ISSA) era. Information about ASGSB is 17, 1995 [Science 1995 Nov 17; 270:1108-10], and sent to similar societies in other countries, and the letter I wrote in response was published in the we distribute information about other meet- Jan. 26 issue [Science 1996 Jan 26; 271:432-3]. The ings in this country. This communication is unedited version of the letter can be found on the still very much informal, but I hope to get to the ASGSB web site. point where we are included on all mailing The issues that the Society is addressing at lists. If you are not cognizant of what other present are indicative of our maturation as a countries are doing in the realm of Space Biol- society and as a political force. At the next meet- ogy, you may miss some important work. ing of the Board, we will address the question of a mechanism for endorsements of positions by COOPERATION AND COLLABORATION. Fund- the Board. We will also formalize a procedure for ing difficulties may end up sabotaging our at- holding electronic meetings during the year as tempts to set up a meeting in another country, needed. The structure of the web site will be but while attending two international meet- outlined, and the mechanism by which the flow ings this summer (COSPAR, Birmingham, En- of information to the site can be controlled will be gland, July 14-21 and ESA’s Life Sciences Sym- discussed. posium, Trondheim, Norway, June 17-21), I hope to discuss possible mechanisms for in- Last fall, I referred to the beginning of the creased interactions. Officials of the Japanese Space Station Alpha era as a change in para- Space Society and of ELGRA (European Low digm—a phrase that has become popular in semi- Gravity Research Association) have been con- nars focused on training for success. A seminar I tacted to set up communication channels. attended equated a change in paradigm with the Planning for the 1996 annual meeting is acquisition of an additional piece of information. well underway, and we have already received Having read Thomas Kuhn’s “The Structure of commitments for the proposed session on space Scientific Revolutions,” I know that a change in station being organized by Bruce Wright. Chuck paradigm refers more to something like the Fuller, Chair of the Space Station Utilization change from a Ptolemic view of the world to a and Scientific Advisory committee, will speak Copernican one. To shift from shuttle era think- on current station plans, and on the animal ing to space station thinking is to experience a centrifuge that will be aboard ISSA. John David change in paradigm. Bartoe, of JSC’s Research Management Office, will speak on user input. The movement of ASGSB into the electronic community constitutes, I think, another change To increase PARTICIPATION in ASGSB, the in paradigm. No printouts, no faxes, no phone Membership Committee is doing mailings of codes, no envelopes, no stamps, no voice mail. registration information and the ASGSB bro- Like the slide rules used in my favorite scene chure to members of the new NSCORTs and from “Apollo 13,” our old ways of doing business Minority University Research Centers. Please are rapidly becoming obsolete. remember to request brochures to distribute at meetings you attend where people may be in- Sincerely, terested in learning about ASGSB. Jackie Duke 1995-1996 ASGSB President E-mail: [email protected] 2 ASGSB NEWSLETTER 12 (1) Winter 1996 Preliminary Information for 1996 Annual Meeting Abstracts Due July 1 The 12th annual ASGSB meeting will be held at the Radisson Plaza Hotel in Charlotte, North Carolina on October 23-27, 1996. Marc Tischler, Editor of the Program and Abstracts Issue of the ASGSB Bulletin, will compile and prepare this issue as he has in the past on computer using a laser printer so that it can be submitted camera-ready to the printer. We will continue to require that abstracts be submitted on computer disks. The postmark deadline for abstract submission is July 1, 1996. If an abstract cannot be submitted on disk, the postmark deadline will be June 19, 1996, to provide addi- tional time for retyping the abstract. Submitters may use the Mac programs Microsoft Word and WordPerfect “Mac” or IBM compatible systems WordStar, Word 4.0, and WordPerfect. Figures or tables to be included in the abstract need to be provided camera-ready at a 70% reduced size to fit into the final printed abstract form. Also keep in mind that each submitter may only be the first author on one abstract, but may be a co-author on an unlimited number of abstracts. Detailed information regarding format sizes, etc. will be provided in the next ASGSB Newsletter. The ASGSB appreciates the cooperation of its members in this endeavor—which will allow everyone to contribute to producing a high-quality ASGSB Bulletin issue while keeping costs at a minimum. Space Station Workshop Planned Newsletter Articles Welcome for ASGSB Annual Meeting Planning experiments for the International Space Thanks to all the contributors to this issue of Station Alpha (ISSA) will be a new experience for even the ASGSB Newsletter. practiced flight investigators. This session of the 1996 meeting, which is being organized by Bruce Wright, All ASGSB members are invited and encour- will serve to introduce members to various aspects of aged to submit materials that they feel would research on ISSA. be of interest to society members, including Since the first utilization flights are currently sched- meeting announcements, reports or summa- uled for 1999, it is likely that researchers will begin to ries, book announcements and reviews, brief see AOs and NRAs that request proposals to use ISSA. research highlights, member news, and edito- This session will discuss the station design and assem- rials. bly sequence; the onboard facilities (including the ani- mal centrifuge); the constraints on crew time, power, Please submit all materials to ASGSB, P.O. Box stowage, and sample retrieval that affect experimental 12247, Rosslyn, VA 22219; Fax: 301-295-5271; design; and the logistics required for preparation of an E-mail: [email protected] or experiment. The role of the international partners will [email protected] also be discussed. This session, designed after the extremely success- The deadline for input to the next issue of the ful “To Fly” workshop held several years ago, is ex- Newsletter is April 25, 1996. pected to provide information allowing attendees to compete successfully for slots on ISSA.