* Ducks soar over Owls in men’s basketball | 5
Oregon Daily Emerald
www. dailyemerald. com
Since 1900 | Volume 107, Issue 66 | Monday, November 28, 2005
An independent newspaper at the University of Oregon
Scientists
create new
molecule
switches
A research team has developed
single-molecules that can change
switchboard on/off commands
BY EVA SYLWESTER
SENIOR NEWS REPORTER
A research team with members from the Uni
versity, Pennsylvania State University and Rice
University has developed single-molecule switch
es that could someday be used in electronics.
“If we think about the ultimate miniaturization
of electronics, a single molecule as a switch is just
about as small as it gets,” University chemistry
professor Jim Hutchison said.
And small it is.
University graduate student Christina Inman
said the number of these molecules that can fit
across a human hair is equivalent to the number
of human hairs that can fit across a football field.
The existence of molecules that can reverse
charge from positive to negative has been recog
nized for some time. The innovation of this par
ticular study, Hutchison said, is that the switch
es can now be controlled by humans and reliably
remain on or off when turned on or off.
The molecules are specially engineered to have
the necessary properties to work in the system.
Inman said the double and triple bonds between
the carbon atoms make the molecuies rigid and
highly conductive electrically.
A key component of the switch system is a
scanning tunneling microscope, which functions
as the “nanofinger that switches (the molecules)
on and off,” Hutchison said.
The tip of the switch molecule is always posi
tively charged. The tip of the scanning tunneling
microscope can have either a positive or a nega
tive charge, and modulating this charge is what
turns the switch on and off. Because opposite
charges attract and similar charges repel, when
the scanning tunneling microscope has a nega
tive charge, the tip of the switch molecule will be
pulled toward it and the switch will turn on,
Hutchison said.
When the tip of the scanning tunneling micro
scope has a positive charge, the switch molecule
falls away from it into the matrix molecules near
by. This is the switch’s off position, and it is held
in this position by hydrogen bonding between the
switch molecule and the matrix molecules.
Paul Weiss, a professor of chemistry and
physics at Penn State, said the researchers tried
turning the molecule upside down to put the neg
atively charged end at the top but found that this
did not produce similar results because the posi
tion of certain important parts of the molecule
cannot be changed.
Each school involved in the research con
tributed to a specific aspect of the project.
Rice University worked on molecular electron
ic functions in the switches, the University
worked on the matrix molecules, and Penn State
worked on improving the switch molecules,
SWITCH, page 4
microscope attracts the positively charged end of the switch
molecule, turning the SWitCh on. SOURCE: Jim Hutchison
Chris Todd | Graphic artist
Student in Jordan reacts to bombings
An undergraduate abroad overheard Nov. 9 explosions; in Eugene,
Overseas Study Programs attempts to fully prepare students for travel
BY JOE RAII.EY
NEWS REPORTER
As a University student studying in Amman,
Jordan, Thomas Hojem had grown accustomed
to loud explosions.
Almost every night in Amman, fireworks
punctuate local weddings. So when Hojem
heard an explosion on Nov. 10, he assumed it
was the sound of celebration.
It was not.
The sound Hojem heard was a bomb
exploding outside a Days Inn hotel, about a
quarter of a mile away from his residence.
The attack on the hotel was one of three coin
ciding suicide bombings in Amman that killed
57 people, according to The New York Times.
For everyone, and particularly students
like Hojem who are involved with study
abroad programs in the Middle East, the
bombings provided a grisly reminder of
the dangerous political realities that exist in
the region.
Yet evidence compiled after the terrorist at
tacks of Sept. 11 suggests that frequent media
images of violence have not deterred students
JORDAN, page 3
Facebookan
OPEN book
At some universities, campus police are
monitoring the popular Facebook Web
site for personal incriminating evidence
BY NICHOLAS WILBUR
NEWS REPORTER
More than 9 million college students from about 2,000
colleges around the country have been making
friends, romances and other social connections
on Facebook.com, a Web site created in Feb. 2004 to
unite students with similar interests.
But users beware.
Though it has yet to happen at the
University, police and authorities at
universities across the country are
using the Web site to identify and
prosecute offenses.
Students can post pictures,
personal anecdotes and fa
vorite activities on their pro
files, and anyone within a uni
versity system, be it staff,
faculty or student, can access
the profiles using a school
e-mail account.
Pennsylvania State Universi
ty Police reportedly used
Facebook.com after the Oct. 8
FACEBOOK, page 8
—
OSPIRG presents
toy survey findings
A State Public Interest Research Group shared
its consumer report on dangerous child playthings
BY ERIC FLO RIP
FREELANCE REPORTER
For those daring enough to brave the frenzy of holiday shoppers out
in full force after Thanksgiving, there is much more to consider than
what children want.
According to the Oregon Student Public Interest Research Group,
buyers should consider what children shouldn’t have.
At a press conference in the daycare center at Lane Community Col
lege Tliesday, OSPIRG presented its findings from its 20th annual toy
safety survey for parents preparing for the holiday season.
The presentation, called Trouble in Toyland, focused primarily on the
dangers posed by common children’s toys, including the risks of chem
ical poisoning, choking, strangulation and hearing damage.
“This is one way to take a preventative stance,” said Liz Karas, the
campus organizer for OSPIRG at LCC. She led the demonstration along
with OSPIRG intern Amber Huls.
Karas said young children are particularly susceptible to dangerous
chemicals in toys.
Karas focused on phthalates, a family of chemicals that is linked to
the early onset of puberty, certain birth defects and cancer.
Tim Bobos ky | Photo editor
OSPIRG's report says Road Rippers trucks could damage children’s hearing. Other
toys on the group’s watch list pose chocking hazards to small children.
OSPIRG researched eight toys that claimed to be free of phthalates,
and found that six of them still contained the toxic chemicals, Karas
said. One of them was a simple rubber duck manufactured by Schylling.
To show the danger of choking, Karas demonstrated a simple plastic
cylinder called a choke tube. At 1.75 inches in diameter, anything that
could fit inside the tube was deemed a choking hazard for children.
Rubber bouncy balls or pieces broken off from larger toys were used
as common examples for choking hazards.
TOYS, page 8