Southern Illinois University - Obelisk Yearbook (Carbondale, IL)

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the genetic characteristics of their two-billion-year-old ancestors. Yopp and his research group are using 28 selected strains. If Yopp and his SIU-C colleagues are right when they theorize that todayts blue-green algae carry the same genes as their Pre-Cambrian forebears, it opens the possibility of using recombinant DNA techniques, or ttgene-splicing, to transfer the or- ganismst tolerance for arid surround- ings to modern plants such as corn or soybeans. If the idea works, it could mean more food for regions usually considered too dry to grow conven- tional crops. The three-year project is based heavily on nearly 10 years of NASA funded research conducted on blue green algae by Yopp and his SIUC co- investigators, physiologist Donald Miller and phycologist Donald Tin- dall, a specialist in algae. CI -University News Service Features Infant research finds answers How is language processed in the brain? Why are children able to pick up a language so quickly? Is there an innate component that gives some children a bias in learning a lan- guage? Wanting answers to these questions prompted a four-year study by Dennis and Victoria Molfese, SIU-C psychol- ogists. The Molfeses followed 60 chil- dren of low birth weight and normal birth weight from infancy to three years of age, analyzing brain wave tests and comparing those tests with language skills tests given to these children a year ago. The results show a strong correlation between the new- born infanfs brain wave pattern and the childrenis test scores three years later. Information from this and future studies could be a valuable assessment tool, enabling doctors to diagnose infants with language disabilities and hearing problems and correct the s problems. To analyze brain waves, electrodes are attached to the head and the. brains response to stimuli is recorded. A variety of vowel-consonant sounds were fed to newborns and amplified to see how the information was proc- essed. Babies who were able to differ- entiate between the sounds did better on the future language tests. The March of Dimes provided fund- ing for the project, wanting to know if there is a difference in language de- velopment between low birth weight tunder 5V2 poundsi and normal birth weight children. Dennis Molfese noted that people who have studied low birth weight In .9 c; o .. o J: n. x 3: III L o .2 : D

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Linking the past to the future Imagine what life would be without blue-green algae. J ohn Yopp has tried, and he cant. Heis convinced that the tiny organ- isms, which first appeared on earth about two billion years ago during what geologist call the Pre-Cambrian Period, are probably responsible for the oxygen in the air we breathe. ttThereis very convincing evidence that those blue-green algae were the first organisms on earth to use photo- synthesis to produce oxygen, he said. But Yopp, a professor in SIU-Cls Department of Botany, is also con- vinced that the ancient plants may hold a key to production of more food in the future. The blue-green algae Yopp is talking about dontt bear much resemblance to the scum that fouls your home aquar- ium or blooms on polluted ponds. Aauseugow plAEG Kq cloud -26 Many species of the tiny plants seem a to have survived and flourished through the eons by adapting success- fully to conditions so dry and salty that less hardy plants would shrivel . and die. In fact, they sponge up water so efficiently that they,d literally explode in a fish tank. He thinks the characteristics have helped the algae survive may be part of the plants genetic heritage. If true, that fact could help agronomists breed hardier food crops sometime in the future. Yopp says fossils found by geolo- gists indicate that the primitive algae once literally blanketed the earth. Hels convinced that all modern plants which use photosynthesis to produce oxygen are genetically descended from them. ttWe,re breathing the results of their photosynthetic activity? he said. This combination of tolerance for arid, salty conditions and apparent genetic kinship to plants that lived billions of years ago fascinates Yopp and his research colleagues at SIU-C and the N ational Aeronautics and Space Administration tNASAl. NASA is funding a three-year, $250,000 study of the algae by Yopp and an SIU-C research team, aimed at making that connection. The blue-green algae are useful to Yopp and his colleagues because the plants are what scientists call hex- tremely conservative organisms? ttTheytre evolving very slowly or not at all, he said. Even under powerful electron micro- scopes, its all but impossible to tell a two-billion-year-old fossil algae from one fresh out of a laboratory flask, he says. This makes it possible to use algae grown in campus labs to study Features

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babies in the past have tended to study those with additional problems trespiratory problems, for examplel, factors which may have led to the wrong conclusions. tlThe differences tin birth weightl donlt seem to mean a lot by the time the child is three. There arenlt many observable results, Mol- fese said. llWe controlled for these fac- tors in our experiment. If you can control factors like gestational age, the income level of parents, educa- tional level of parents, there isnt much difference? Controlling these variables enabled the Molfeses to test children of the same background. If funding is granted, Molfese hopes to rerun the study with infants of other backgrounds and see if the results hold. In studying the infants, clearance had to be given by the hospitals in- volved for the study. Women who had just given birth were interviewed and told about the research. If they were interested in having their child in the study, the infant was tested while in the hospital. Parents were allowed to observe the thirty to forty-five minute test, conducted at Carbondale Memo- rial and at Stanford in California. The babies were retested at six-month in- tervals and the data studied after each test. ttAt one point, our computer was broken for two years so we couldnlt analyze, we could only give the tests? said Molfese. The tests were completed a year and a half ago and analyzed in the year after the tests. Currently the responses are tape recorded, amplified, and brought back for analysis. Molfese and his col- leagues hope to adapt an Apple Com- puter so that only one machine is needed rather than bringing the re sponses back for analysis. Molfese became interested in the language process while a graduate student at Pennsylvania State where he received his masters in 1970 and 28 ne'nomazs aor Aq 010148 his doctorate in 1972. His wife, Vic- toria, also received her doctorate at Penn State 0979 after completing work for her masters at San Francisco State in 1970. The Molfeses each have their own research programs. Victoria, associate professor of psychology, has studied morbidity and the infants chances of . survival, the impact of fetal monitor- ing on parents, color perception in babies, and communication between the elderly. Dennis, professor of psy- chology, has researched neural lin-' guistics, how the brain is organized to process language, and has begun a long-term research project to study individuals from birth to age 80. While environmental factors are important in language development, the Molfesels study indicates that genetics may be a more important factor than previously thought. Their soon to be published research lindings could lead to procedures to correct and prevent language problems in the future. El -Joyce Vonderheide Features