Issue 128 April Fool’s, Y’all! A NEWSLETTER OF THE ROCKIN’ FELLA UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Surprise U.S. Presidential Candidate to Speak Don’t miss an unnamed U.S. Presidential can- didate in a meet-and- greet next Monday, April 4, in the Phi- losopher’s Garden at 6:00pm. Fresh from the spirited and oratorical- ly-illuminating run-ups to the primaries, the candidate will speak to the issues of the na- tion and the world. If elected, this candidate has graciously offered to donate his or her life-sized statue to the University. CONTINUED TO P.52 SELECTIONS NATIONAL / Hot Tub Haven Deportee) (Future As an answer to turbu- lent times, the roomy PANG NAN rectangular hole near the 66th Street entrance will be re-purposed as a Discovery in the Sky hot tub, available to the AMNESTY ON RU community only, for the relief of stress over the University? (available for private DEROGATORIANISM parties, when reserved.) Late one evening, a sleep- rounds, patiently revived Just in! - In honor of April 1, ALL Democrat and Republican can- CONTINUED TO P.64 deprived Research Fel- the Fellow. Further inves- low saw a luminescent tigation revealed that the didates have agreed to a mora- specter in the sky, per- apparition was merely a torium on spiteful, revengeful, YOU CAN MAKE haps a new planet or star, leftover decoration from insipid, nasty, lurid, questionable shimmering through the the Holiday Party that remarks for a twenty-four-hour AMERICA GREAT branches of the cam- the bucket-lift on campus period. AGAIN! TEXT 54321 pus trees, and appar- may have missed. Let’s create a Love-Fest for at least ently fainted. A Security this one day!! TO DONATE NOW! Officer, on his nightly CONTINUED TO P.23 1 Issue 128 April 2016 A NEWSLETTER OF THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY What’s Inside? Click the “cherry blossom” icons to jump to the page! Louise Pearce B Y S USAN R USSO P.4 Nobel Prizes Torsten Wiesel P.5 B Y JOSEPH L UNA Neuroscience Night B Y A ILEEN M ARSHALL P.6 Culture Corner Sudden Death: A Novel P.7 B Y B ERNIE L AN G S NYSOF Interview Ian Brown P.8 B Y G UADALUPE A STOR G A Top Left: Hydroponic research in Epcot Center, Orland/Antony Pranata,CC. Top Crossword Puzzle Rigt: Hydroponics/Frank Fox, CC. Bottom panels: Our Windowfarms Project Supreme Effort P.9 Growing vegetables in small spaces B Y G EOR G E B ARANY & F RIENDS G UADALUPE A STOR G A Life on a Roll Snow Mountains P.10 One of today’s global issues concerns the alternatives to intensive crop farming. B Y E LODIE PAUWELS supply of fresh food to people in cities. Differentprojects have taken over roof- While the carbon footprint for transport- tops and unused spaces in New York City, ing fruits and vegetables from the areas not only to grow fresh vegetables for dis- where they are produced, to the consum- tribution in the local community, but also ers’ tables can reach high levels for longer to offer a sustainable model for urban ag- distances, local production and consump- riculture in open spaces. tion have several advantages. A number Other interesting alternatives involve of new initiatives make it possible to take hydroponic cultures, which offer a very advantage of urban spaces to grow fresh efficient way to grow different types of vegetables in your own city or apartment. organic plants with no need of big spac- In cities where the space is dominated es. In recent years, several hydroponic by concrete construction, urban agricul- techniques have exploded and evolved in ture has shed new light into public and a plethora of varieties developed by en- private spaces, promoting community in- teractions and the development of organic CONTINUED TO P.2 LUIS DE NAVAS / More on Page 3 2 Editorial Board EDITORIAL BOARD Jim Keller Editor-in-Chief, Managing Editor Aileen Marshall Assistant Copy Editing Manager Susan Russo Copy Editor, Distribution Qiong Wang Copy Editor, Webmaster, Public Relations Manager Nan Pang Production Designer Peng Kate Gao Copy Editor selections.rockefeller.edu [email protected] Fig 1. Left panel: Hydrosock Version/Jim Flavin. Right panel: Hydroponics principle/iamozone, CC CONTINUED FROM P.1 Flavin (Fig. 1, left panel). This handy design • Seeds is the easiest version of hydroponics; it • Nutrients for hydroponics ($10- thusiastic farmers who have openly shared does not need an air pump to oxygenate 30, needed to buy only once) their knowledge on the internet, mak- the water, nor expensive or specialized ing videos with detailed tutorials and in- materials. The roots get oxygen as the Check all the details in this instructive structions for beginners and experienced water level decreases in the reservoir. The video tutorial and look further on Jim’s farmers. Hydroponics are not expensive or principle is shown in Fig. 1 right panel. website. complicated, can be started at any time of I encourage you to make this simple Another easy alternative is to consume the year, and you can control what you eat. hydroponic system at home for high yields local products provided by Community In an example of these collaborative of vegetable production and little cost. Supported Agriculture (CSA), a popular initiatives, also born in New York City, This is the proper time of the year to start way to buy local, seasonal food directly hydroponic vertical gardens are designed if you want to harvest delicious vegetables from farmers. for our apartment windows, and people for this summer. These farming alternatives have opened around the world have shared their experi- You will just need: a whole world of possibilities for culturing ences to create new innovative and esthet- in confined urban spaces. At a critical mo- ic designs. You will need a bit of creativity • Empty plastic 1 gal milk bottle ment, where food safety is constantly men- and enthusiasm to make this project in • 1 sock aced by the extensive use of pesticides, and your apartment, but it is certainly worth it. • Cable ties soil productivity is menaced by droughts A more convenient and simpler • Aluminum foil and fertilizer overuse, an open road to alternative to get started with hydroponics • Growing medium starter for your self-sustainability is ahead. We can start in your own apartment at minimal cost is seeds, preferably those made out of today making fruitful use of our cities and the Hydrosock Version, proposed by Jim coco (less than $1 each). spaces. Finding Spring Photos by Luis De Navas 3 Louise Pearce – An Extraordinary Woman of Medicine S USAN R USSO In 1913, the Rockefeller Institute appointed University, and was awarded her M.D. from in the Belgian Congo, where she worked in a its first woman researcher, Louise Pearce, the Johns Hopkins University School of local hospital; and her laboratory to test the M.D., who worked as an assistant to Simon Medicine, specializing in pathology, in 1912. drug tryparsamide in human trials, saving Flexner. Pearce was promoted to Associate While at Rockefeller, Pearce worked many of the lives of syphilitic patients and Member in 1923, and continued in this posi- closely with Wade Hampton Brown, a pa- patients with sleeping sickness, conditions tion until 1951, when she became President thologist, chemist Walter Jacobs, and im- which had previously caused almost certain of the Woman’s fatalities. After re- Medical College turning to the In- of Pennsylvania. stitute, Pearce and During her career, Brown added can- Pearce attained cer experiments many firsts, includ- in animal models, ing her 1915 election discovering, in rab- as the first woman bits, the malignant member of the epithelial tumor American Society of the scrotum, for Pharmacology named the Brown- and Experimental Pearce Carcinoma. Therapeutics (AS- Pearce resided PET); the second in Greenwich Vil- member wasn’t lage, sharing her elected until 1929. apartment with Also, Pearce had Sara Josephine affiliations with Baker, another the New York In- physician, and the firmary for Wom- novelist Ida A.R. en and Children Wylie (some of (1921); the General whose books were Advisory Council made into films.) of the American All three women Social Hygiene As- were active in a sociation (1925); the “radical feminist” National Research luncheon discus- Council (1931); and sion club, Hetero- was elected Direc- doxy. In 1932, they tor of the Associa- moved to Trevanna tion of University Farm in Skill- Women in 1945. In man, New Jersey. 1921, Pearce was Pearce commuted elected to member- to Rockefeller, ship in the Belgian until she became Society of Tropical President of the Medicine, and re- Woman’s Hospi- ceived the Order of tal of Philadelphia the Crown of Bel- (founded in 1861). gium, and in 1931 Acc. 90-105 - Science Service, Records, 1920s-1970s, Smithsonian Institution Archives During her she was appointed career, Pearce re- Visiting Professor ceived honorary of Syphilology at Peiping Union Medical munologist Michael Hiedelberger. Their doctorates from Wilson College (Penn- College in China. first endeavors, organized by Simon Flexner, sylvania), Beaver College (Pennsylvania), Born in Winchester, Massachusetts, her were experiments in the treatment of syphi- Skidmore College (New York), and Bucknell family moved to Los Angeles, where she at- lis, using arsenic derivatives made by Pearce University (Pennsylvania). Louise Pearce’s tended the Girls Collegiate School.She went and Brown in animal models. Their work papers can be found in the Rockefeller Ar- on to receive her Bachelor’s degree in physi- was published in the Journal of Experimen- chives, the Drexel University College of ology and histology at Stanford University in tal Medicine in 1919.