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Field of genes From Mexico, the birthplace of corn, comes a disturbing finding: some of the country’s native maize has been contaminated with DNA from genetically engineered U.S. corn, according to ecologists from Berkeley. This is especially worrying, they say, because Mexico is the world’s center for the genetic diversity of maize, and our future food security depends on that diversity. This summer, postdoctoral researcher David Quist and professor Ignacio Chapela from the Department of Environmental Science and Policy Management alerted the Mexican government to their discovery of the genetic contamination, which had occurred despite a 1998 Mexican-imposed moratorium on the planting of genetically modified maize. The Mexican government began its own studies in August and reported contamination in 15 of the 22 communities they sampled in the regions of Oaxaca and Puebla, and in 3 to 10 percent of the seed they tested. “They corroborate what we’ve found thus far,” says Quist, who has been helping the Mexican government develop techniques for detecting the wayward DNA. Quist’s own, more wide-ranging results will shortly be published in a scientific journal. Mexico currently imports six million tons of maize from the U.S., around one-quarter of which is genetically modified. Quist believes that the most likely source of the genetic contamination is the inadvertent planting of G.M. seeds that were distributed by the Mexican government to the poor as part of a food-aid program. “There’s anecdotal evidence that curious farmers decided to plant some [of this imported corn] to see how it grows. No one told them not to do it,” says Quist. Some of this G.M. corn could have cross-pollinated with the native varieties. Once wind-borne, maize pollen can spread over several miles, so it is also possible that some could have blown across the U.S.–Mexican border. The contamination may also come from pre-1998 planting of industrial corn or illegal planting thereafter. Maize was first cultivated nearly six thousand years ago in the Oaxaca region of Mexico, and Mexican farmers currently grow numerous native varieties of maize, each with their own unique properties. The cultivated strains and remaining wild varieties provide a “reservoir of genetic diversity” for corn, says Quist. The genetic diversity of Mexican maize varieties was already in peril—only 20 percent of the varieties that existed in the 1930s still remain—but this new form of contamination could tip it over the edge. “This is the diversity the world relies on for crop future improvement to safeguard our food security. If we lose that diversity, then we lose the ability to improve our crops when faced with new pests and diseases, or when new environmental conditions arise,” explains Quist. Wild varieties containing the newly introduced genetic material may out-compete unaltered varieties, or their essential biological functions could be disrupted by it. “We don’t really know what the impact is going to be,” warns Quist. “The reproductive biology of some [G.M.] crops is very different.” Maize is the world’s third largest crop, but is the most widely planted. In Mexico, corn is not just a staple, it is also a highly revered cultural symbol. Chapela, himself a Mexican, explains: “The people are the corn, and the corn is the people.” —Ayala Ochert Flying high Professor of integrative biology Michael Dickinson has won a MacArthur Award for his work on the aerodynamics of flying insects. Dickinson will receive $500,000 over five years,
and he plans to use the money to support research projects that are unlikely to receive funding through standard channels. Combining knowledge from fields as disparate as neurobiology, structural engineering, animal behavior, and fluid dynamics, Dickinson became the first scientist to successfully explain insect flight. Dickinson’s research focuses on the fly, which he calls the “master of locomotion” because it is far more maneuverable than any bird or other flying beast. In his quest to understand how flies fly, Dickinson has used flight chambers to record and study the wing movements of tethered flies as they respond to various visual stimuli, motion, or food odors. He has also built a model of a fly’s wings—100 times normal size—which he submerged in mineral oil in order to simulate the currents of air surrounding insect wings in motion. Echoes of September 11 In the weeks since September 11, numerous stories have emerged of lucky escapes, curious coincidences, and strange ironies surrounding the events of that day. One such story involves Berkeley political science professor Agha Saeed. As national chairman of the American Muslim Alliance, Saeed and other American Muslim leaders had been scheduled to meet with President George W. Bush on the afternoon of September 11. “We were set to meet the President at 3 p.m., but hell broke loose,” recalls Saeed. As he checked in for one of the first flights out of Washington after the terrorist attacks, he was quizzed by five FBI agents. When asked the purpose of his visit to Washington, he replied: “to see the President of the United States.” The agents looked surprised, but soon verified his story and sent him on his way. On September 11, Cal alum Esteban Silva ’99 was attending the second day of his three-week training with management consulting firm Morgan Stanley at their headquarters in the World Trade Center. He was on the 61st floor of the second tower when the first plane hit and—against the advice that came over the intercoms—he quickly made his way out of the building. Unaware of its imminent collapse, he had a friend take this photo (below). Silva returned home safely to San Francisco a few days later.
Silva may owe his life to another alum, Leslie Robertson ’52, the principal structural engineer of the WTC towers. At a meeting in October of the National Council of Structural Engineers Associations, the consensus was that the buildings “performed well” in that the towers remained standing for as long as they did. As he gave his talk, “The Design, Construction, and Collapse of the World Trade Center” at the NCSEA meeting, Robertson became overwhelmed with emotion. “I wish I had made it stand up longer,” wept the engineer, who spent 10 years on the WTC project. He says he has had trouble sleeping since September 11, wondering if there may have been a way to make the buildings stand for “those extra minutes.” Incredibly, he had actually designed the building to withstand the impact of a Boeing 707—but not a fire as intense as the one that ensued. Berkeley professor of civil engineering Abolhassan Astaneh praises Robertson’s foresight. “[His] prudent decision to design this building for a passenger-plane hit saved the lives of more than 25,000 people who were able to escape before the towers collapsed,” says the Iranian-born engineer, who heads the team investigating the wreckage of the twin towers. Since the Oklahoma City bombing, Astaneh has been designing bomb-resistant buildings and believes that it may even be possible to protect against jet-fueled fires in the future.
For the birds Cal’s 2001 football season looked promising during the summer (a better defense, an “explosive offense”) but dismal during the fall. The team lost its first ten games, coach Tom Holmoe lost his job, the Axe stayed in Palo Alto (Stanford won its 7th straight Big Game, 35-28), and Memorial Stadium lost fans (pictured here in the rain in the fourth quarter losing to USC). But Cal ended the drought by beating Rutgers in its final game to finish 1-10.
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