Pollard receives reprimand, $25,000 fine
SPORTS p7
Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2014 | Volume 210 | Number 31 | 40 cents | iowastatedaily.com | An independent student newspaper serving Iowa State since 1890.
Closet Atheists New closed group provides support, discussion for students struggling with faith
By Emily.Eppens @iowastatedaily.com
Blake Lanser/Iowa State Daily
Some students struggle with telling others their beliefs, especially when the question of one’s faith is brought up. Many students prefer to hide their beliefs because they fear judgment.
The transition from claiming religion to claiming faithlessness can be a difficult road. To one Iowa State graduate student, college has been a time of discovery. During his time on campus, he has noticed that many students, including himself, who have come from religious backgrounds start to question their religion and some even disown it. He said the realization of not believing in the faith students were raised in be scary for many. The thought of being rejected by family and friends can put a strain on the already busy college life. The graduate student knows this transition can be hard and has taken it upon himself to make it a little bit easier. His goal is to start a support group for the faithless and questioning students who haven’t told their families and friends about their faithlessness. He wants to create a group for closeted atheists. The graduate student has asked to keep his name anonymous for the protection of himself and other potential members of the group. “It can be hard because you don’t want to hurt family and you don’t want to hurt friends,” the student said. “You don’t want your relationships to change based on your [lack of belief]. Religion is something people can base their entire lives on.” The student said he comes from a strong Christian family and discovered
ATHEISTS p8
Professor researches ISU receives grant for taller turbines epilepsy questions By Jace.Dostal, contributor to the Daily
By Dakota.Carpenter @iowastatedaily.com Epilepsy is a disease seen throughout the world that does not have a cure. It costs Americans roughly $15.5 billion a year and two million people in the United States alone have the disease. Thimmasettapp Thippeswamy, professor in biomedical sciences, is joining the fight to help people with epilepsy by constructing his own research project. Thippeswamy’s research is trying to figure out why not all people that have a seizure are diagnosed as epileptic. He has been working on his research since 2005 and uses mice to replicate seizure-like patterns that can be seen in humans. Although he has not personally been affected by epilepsy, Thippeswamy said his motivation for his research is purely scientific. “Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological diseases that affects [people] worldwide, and it affects all age groups,” Thippeswamy said. Since epilepsy is a nervous system disorder, it can affect animals as well as humans — 5 percent of dogs and 3 percent of cats suffer from epilepsy. While only 1 in 10 Americans will experience a seizure in their lifetime, only 3 percent of them will be diagnosed as an epileptic patient by the time they are 80. Humans are at the
most risk for this disease when they are either younger than 2 or over 65. Because the cause of epilepsy is unknown, there are no current prevention methods. Medication can be prescribed to epileptic patients, but one-third of patients will not respond to drugs. Thippeswamy hopes to use his research to figure out why some patients do respond to drugs and some patients don’t. For patients that don’t respond to treatment, there is another option. Patients could opt to have a surgery called a lobectomy. This surgery would remove the part of the brain that causes the seizures. Like any surgery, there are risks such as paraplegia. The risks would vary based on the part of the brain removed. For some students on campus, epilepsy affects their daily lives through a family member, close friend or even personally. Meghan Wood, a sophomore in industrial design, grew up with an epileptic sister. Wood’s sister began having seizures at the age of 4 and was diagnosed as epileptic shortly after. “It was just a scary experience to see someone that you love be so out of control and go through such a rough thing at such a young age,” Wood said. Her sister suffered from grand mal seizures and experienced them frequently during
RESEARCH p8
The Iowa State College of Engineering received a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to continue researching how high-strength concrete can be used to build taller wind turbines. “We are currently using steel tubular towers, but extending their height beyond 80 meters is not cost effective,” said Sri Sritharan, professor in environmental, construction and civil engineering. When a wind turbine exceeds 80 feet, the base needs to get bigger, making them impossible to transport in one piece. Sritharan has spent the past five years researching a new design for wind turbines. He thinks using high-strength concrete, developed in partner with Coreslab Structures, a concrete manufacturer based in Omaha, will revolutionize the wind energy industry. There are several benefits in building taller wind turbines, Sritharan said. “If you move the turbine height from the currently used 80 meters, to 120 meters, you can actually operate the turbine for a longer duration and also the wind speed is going to be greater, which is going to increase the power as well,” Sritharan said. Currently, Iowa leads the nation with 27.4 percent of its energy coming from the wind. However, the U.S. as a whole only gets 3 percent of its total power from wind. Making the turbines taller will allow states on the East and
Kyle Schlichting/Iowa State Daily
Sri Sritharan is researching a new design for taller wind turbines which would make them more efficent and allow them to be run longer. Iowa gets 27.4 percent of its energy from wind turbines, and more than 7,000 Iowan jobs are because of wind industry.
West Coast, where the wind power needed to generate energy is only available above 80 meters, to develop wind farms. Sritharan said once the towers are completed, we will see an increase in the national wind power output.
The turbines will not only help produce energy for states, but according to Mike Prior, executive director of the Iowa Wind Energy Association, the most important thing wind energy will
ENERGY p8