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Region One Sciences RDC FCapt. Richard Heim AlaricRH@sprynet.com Greetings, and welcome to the long-awaited next issue of the Region One Sciences newsletter! I have been incredibly busy in real-life. This year I have done more work-related traveling than I ever have in any year---a total of about 2 & 1/2 months away from home. Check out the reports in this issue for details. As a result of this travel, I missed the deadline for putting out the June issue. I missed it so badly that the June and September issues have been combined into a double issue---this one you hold in your hand or see on your screen. Award Winner: I have some great news to report. At the STARFLEET International Conference in Burlington, Vermont it was announced that Region One Sciences was the winner of the 1999 Most Informative Black and White Newsletter! This is a great honor and I'm quite pleased! But I wouldn't have been able to do such a good job without excellent input from R/1's CSO's and other science enthusiast/contributors. Help Wanted! This brings me to the subject of the newsletter editor. In short, I need help! I do not have the time to put out the first class quality publication which the Region One Sciences newsletter has become. I'm soliciting applications for a Region One Science Newsletter Editor, who will be responsible for the department's quarterly newsletter. Duties: Edit and prepare the quarterly Region One Sciences online newsletter Summarize the monthly CSO reports and extract publishable info Collate and edit other submissions and convert to html document Email said html document and associated files to RDC, who will upload the newsletter documents to the web site. Qualifications: Experience editing newsletters Experience writing html documents Must have email and web access Starfleet member in good standing R/1 member preferred, but not required CSO preferred, but not required, however should have at least an interest in science Procedure: Send resume of relevant Starfleet background/experience Send resume of relevant real-life background/experience/education Applications due December 1, 2000 Mail or email applications to: Richard Heim P.O. Box 2072 Asheville, NC 28802 AlaricRH@sprynet.com Expect to begin with the December 2000 issue. New ARDC Needed: With David's resignation a couple months ago, the Region One Sciences Assistant Regional Division Chief position is vacant. I'm now seeking applications for the ARDC position. Applicants should be the Chief Science Officer aboard their ship (their ship should be a Region One ship) and be willing to help me in my duties as RDC. This includes representing R/1 Sciences at meetings (if you're able to attend) and online, and filling out and submitting the RDC report (to Willy), in my absence. Other details can be worked out later. If you're interested, send me the following: a resume of your relevant ship, region, and STARFLEET activities, including background and experience; a resume of your relevant real-life activities, background, experience, and education; and a letter telling me why you want the position, what you would like to do as ARDC, etc. Please be specific. Applications are due December 1, 2000 (yes, that's the same due date as for editor applications). Mail or email your application to the same address as above. Science Lab List: Our former ARDC, Captain David Klingman, set up a science list which has grown pretty popular! Currently, 86 members post news and views in a variety of scientific fields, including many interesting web pages. To subscribe, go to the following web site (http://www.egroups.com/subscribe/Science-Lab) or send an email to Science-Lab-subscribe@egroups.com. Region One Summit: David Klingman (my ARDC at the time) and I had a grand time at this year's Summit! I'd like to thank everyone who attended the Science Department meeting. We announced the 1999 Region One Sciences division awards at the Summit ... a complete report is elsewhere in this issue. 2000 R/1 Science Awards: The end of the year is only a few short months away. Soon we'll be entering the second year of the new Region One Sciences Division Awards Program. The awards program is described in detail at our website: http://alaricrh.home.sprynet.com/science/R1Science.htm. Now is the time to be watching the R/1 science lists and publications for potential candidates, for it's YOU who nominate and vote for them! Click Here to Return to Table of Contents

Vol. 5 No. 2/3 June/September 2000 Contents This Issue: Things You Need To Know Newsletter Deadline Submissions Subscriptions CSO Reports R/1 Science Webpage RDC Report Newsletter Editor Wanted Assistant RDC Wanted Special Reports Region One Summit Report Science Factinos Bits from the Science Lab List Journey to Australia Science Around The First Fleet: U.S.S. Alaric U.S.S. Carolina U.S.S. Hawkeye U.S.S. Heimdal U.S.S. Jurassic U.S.S. Tycho U.S.S. Yorktown Federation Communications Region One Sciences recognizes Paramount's Star Trek copyrights, and all other copyrights. This newsletter is published on a quarterly basis. Deadline for submissions to next issue: November 30, 2000. Submissions. The Region One Sciences newsletter welcomes any science-related submissions from anyone. Our primary purpose is to serve as a communications medium for Starfleet's Region One Chief Science Officers, so we summarize interesting things from your monthly CSO reports. Other types of submissions can include articles, editorials, news (of your ship or of real-world science developments), etc. Send your submissions to editor Richard Heim at AlaricRH@sprynet.com or by regular mail to: Region One Sciences Newsletter P.O. Box 2072 Asheville, NC 28802 U.S.A. Subscriptions to the electronic version of this newsletter are free. All you need to do is surf to the url of the most recent issue. If you want a paper copy subscription to this newsletter, send 4 long SASE's for a year's subscription to the address above. A SASE is a Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope. On the first page is a series of 3 boxes indicating your SASE status. Thanks to those of you who already have SASE's on file! The Monthly CSO Reports are a monthly writeup telling us (R/1 Sciences) what your ship's science departments have been up to. They can be a couple sentences, or a long missive, or anything in between. If there's anything in your report that you don't want us to mention in this newsletter, then let us know that, too. CSO reports are due by the first week of the month. Email them to the RDC at AlaricRH@sprynet.com. If you send your reports via regular mail, use the P.O. box above. Reporting Guidelines ..... include: 1. Your name and address (email if applicable); 2. Chapter name; 3. Date of report; 4. Total members in department (including yourself). If you have any members who have been promoted, completed Starfleet Academy courses, or any members who have received any special awards (within Starfleet or outside), please list their names and accomplishment. Also, if you have any departmental project planned or in the works, please include that as well. If you have any concerns or just want to tell us what your ship has been doing, by all means include that too! Region One Sciences has a web page. Point your browser to: http://alaricrh.home.sprynet.com/science/R1Science.htm and enjoy! Photo of Asteroid 433 Eros, taken by the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft, showing unusual square craters. These are likely explained by fractures (known as structural features) at Eros' surface that were present before the impact events that formed the craters.

REGION ONE SUMMIT REPORT
by Richard Heim

This year's Summit in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, was fantastic, as usual! The special events were fun and the meetings went very well, including the Sciences Department meeting Saturday morning. I was pleased at the turnout of nine Chief Science Officers and science enthusiasts. We discussed the R/1 Sciences website, the newsletter going online, the listservers, the awards program, CSO Handbook, and monthly CSO reports. All in all, a productive meeting. I even stayed up for the dance Saturday evening! While I didn't do any dancing myself (it's been 30 years since I last danced), I did study the moves of the experts on the dance floor to try to get back into the groove.

My then-ARDC, Capt. David Klingman, and I announced the winners of the 1999 Region One Sciences division awards at the Region One Summit on Saturday afternoon, April 29. Before I get to that, I'd like to thank those who were nominated (as candidates for the awards) for your hard work and enthusiasm for science... being nominated is something to be proud of. I'd also like to thank the CSO's and others of Region One, and those outside Region One, who participate in the Science Lab listserver... we're at 86 listserver subscribers strong, with an average of about ten posts a day! And in my opinion every post has been a great post for science information and education!

Now, on to the R/1 Sciences division awards. There were three categories of awards.

1. The Albert Einstein Award for Regular Article Submission is presented annually to the regional Chief Science Officers who make the most regular submissions to the monthly reports to the RDC and the quarterly reports in the Region One Sciences newsletter. I based the selection of the winners on having a report in each of the quarterly issues of the newsletter. The five winners who had a perfect publication reporting record are:
   • RAdm. Willy Smith, USS Heimdal
   • FCapt. David Rose, USS Tycho
   • Lt-jg. Joe Lamantia, USS Jurassic
   • Capt. David Klingman, USS Hawkeye
   • FCapt. Richard Heim, USS Alaric

   Three of these CSO's had a perfect monthly reporting record.

   For the Hawking and Galileo awards, the candidates were nominated from among the participants. Each candidate was nominated by somebody else (i.e., nobody nominated themselves). I sent (via email or snail mail) ballots to all R/1 CSO's that I knew about, roughly 40 of you, and received nine ballots back. Following are the candidates and the voting results:

2. The Steven R. Hawking Award for Original Article is presented annually to the Starfleet member who makes the most original submission to the Region One Sciences newsletter or to the sciences listserver. Nominees may be any Starfleet member, and the award recipient is chosen from among the applicants by a general vote of participating CSO's from Region One. There were three candidates:
   • Julie Cook - received 3 votes
   • Steve Gibson - received 2 votes
   • David Klingman - received 4 votes --- winner!

3. The Galileo Award for Chief Science Officer of the Year: candidates are nominated by R/1 ship CSO's, and the winner is chosen by a vote of the CSO's of Region One. There were two candidates:
   • Richard Heim - received 7 votes --- winner!
   • David Rose - received 2 votes

   Congratulations to the winners, one and all!

This is the first year that Region One Sciences has conducted these sciences awards. Overall, it went very well. One thing that we will change is this: both the RDC (me) and ARDC will not be considered as candidates for the Hawking and Galileo awards next year.

We'd like to see more participation next year, more people nominated to these awards, and more CSO's voting. So, please keep your eyes open for participants to the Science Lab listserver, reports and articles in the newsletter, and activities of the CSO's that aren't reported on the listserver or in the newsletter. If you are a crewman aboard your ship and you are proud of the science activities of your CSO, send me a note describing such and ask me to either post it to the listserver or put it in the newsletter or both, so the region can see his/her accomplishments, and then nominate him/her as a candidate for an award!

In addition to the divisional science awards we handed out at the Summit, RC VAdm. Carolyn Donner took FCapt. Victor Swindell's place in announcing the Regional Awards for 1999. Region One Sciences is proud to report that we received the Non-Chapter Newsletter of the Year award and the Regional Department Chief of the Year award! Thank you for the interest and enthusiasm of the R/1 CSO's and general science enthusiasts, and especially for the hard work of David Klingman, for making this possible!

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In 1913 a British chemist named Frederick Soddy discovered that not all atoms of each element are exactly the same. Although their chemical properties may be almost identical, atoms of most elements come in several varieties with different masses. These varieties are called isotopes.

Different isotopes of an element hold different numbers of neutrons in the nuclei of their atoms. The numbers of protons and electrons are the same. Hydrogen, for example, has three isotopes. Normal hydrogen has one proton in its nucleus. Deuterium has a neutron and a proton, while tritium has two neutrons and a proton.

Different isotopes of an element can be separated by mass-sensitive processes like evaporation, condensation, and incorporation into living tissue. As a result, scientists can learn much about the Earth's past by studying the ratios of isotopes in sediments or ice cores.

At NASA's Johnson Space Center, the prototype of a new kind of space station has just been pressure-tested, and shows great promise for revolutionizing the way humans live in space.

The TransHab (short for "transit habitat") is an inflatable space station made of fabric. Its walls, which are more than a foot thick (1/3 meter) are made out of a composite of fabrics including puncture- resistant kevlar plastic. They can absorb impacts made by bullet- size particles travelling at 7 kilometers per second (15,600 mph) and are also able to absorb many kinds of radiation. The TransHab is almost three times larger than the crew quarters on the International Space Station (ISS), and it can be launched and deployed by a single Shuttle mission.

If TransHab passes more tests this year, it could be launched into orbit as early as 2004, and might become a part of the ISS and the first manned Mars mission.

You might think that absolutely pure water would be perfectly clear and utterly transparent, but it's actually blue. The blue color of the water in the oceans (and not the blue of the sky) is the reason why Earth is mostly blue as seen from space.

Pure water absorbs some of the light that passes through it. It absorbs red light more than yellow, yellow more than green, and green more than blue. Only the deepest blue light can travel very far through water, so a large mass of water takes on a deep blue color.

The blueness of water is easily visible in a swimming pool lined with white concrete. It's even visible in a white porcelain bathtub. But the bluest water of all is the clear tropical ocean far from land, where the sea is much bluer than the sky.

Meteors fall into Earth's atmosphere over every spot on the planet. However, there is one place that's far better than anywhere else to find the meteorites that make it all the way to the ground. That place is a windswept field of ice near the edge of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet.

There, near the Allan Hills (which are actually the tips of huge mountains buried in the ice) one can find hundreds of meteorites lying around on the surface of the ice. There are tons of them. How did they get there?

Meteorites fall into the snow all across Antarctica, then sink down until they hit a layer of solid ice. That ice flows slowly across the continent, to certain places where ice-buried mountains push it up. The upthrust ice evaporates in the dry Antarctic wind, leaving the meteorites exposed.

Ever since we started going into space, we have been leaving behind bits of orbiting debris. Today, there are known to be about 9,000 pieces of orbiting junk larger than ten centimeters (4"), and it is estimated that there are more than 100,000 pieces between 1 cm (3/8") and 10 cm. There are probably tens of millions of particles smaller than one centimeter.

Debris impacts are a serious problem for spacecraft in Earth orbit. With an average collision speed of around ten kilometers per second (22,000 mph), even a tiny particle can cause great damage.

Current practices are aimed at limiting the amount of new debris, but existing space junk will remain in orbit for many years. Modern spacecraft like the International Space Station are heavily shielded against debris impacts.

Jupiter is not the only body in the Jovian system that has an atmosphere with auroral displays. Brilliant, colorful auroras also happen over its moon Io. These are very exotic auroras, since they happen in a weird atmosphere of ionized sodium, oxygen, and sulfur dioxide.

The small, volcanic moon orbits close to Jupiter, in a belt of radiation so intense it could kill an unprotected human. In addition, there is a vast electric circuit between the moon and Jupiter, with a charge difference of some 400,000 volts.

Io's auroras are among the most brilliant and colorful in the Solar System. Because of the particle radiation and the huge electric current, Io's entire thin atmosphere is energized, causing it to emit a dazzling show of red, blue, and green lights.

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Trek Inspired Technology (posted by William J. Higgins)

Star Trek has spawned many inventions. In London England, there is a exibition (part of the traveling Federation Science Exhibit) displaying many of these and other concepts yet to bear fruit. Details at:

http://www.foxnews.com/science/091700/times_startrek.sml

Free Astronomy Software Download (posted by E.J. Willette)

Visual Planets v2.0a can be downloaded from:

http://computingcentral.msn.com/topics/multimedia/dbdetails.asp?downloadID=67327

Stars That Belch (posted by William J. Higgins)

The hubble telescope has caught to stars less than a million years old belching out masses of hot gas. The telescope also picked up indications of dust rings around these stars. For details, go to:

http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/space/09/21/hubble.stars/index.html

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JOURNEY TO AUSTRALIA -- THE LAND OF "OZ"
by Richard Heim

Shirley and I spent six exciting weeks in and around Melbourne, in the state of Victoria, in southeast Australia. (Melbourne is at roughly the same latitude south as Richmond, Virginia is north.) We stayed in an apartment in South Yarra, a suburb of Melbourne. The city of 3 million is spread along the north end of a bay (Port Phillip), and enjoys pleasant weather. May and June are the Southern Hemisphere's winter. Temperatures while we were there ranged from upper 30's to 40's (Fahrenheit) for lows and 50's to 60's for highs. It rained about a third of the days we were there.

I commuted via train (subway) from the apartment to the Bureau of Meteorology Research Center (BMRC) every day. A train station was located about half a mile from the apartment, and the BMRC building in downtown Melbourne was 3 blocks from the nearest downtown train station, so I got plenty of exercise. The work I did at BMRC involved analyzing daily temperature and precipitation data from several hundred stations around the world to determine trends over the last 50 years. The analyses built on work done by the Australian scientist who visited the States two months earlier. We computed 44 indices from the daily data, with the focus being on changes in climate extremes. Another BMRC scientist had run a global climate model to compute historical daily data. Part of my job was to compute trends for the same 44 indices from this model daily data and compare them to the observed station trends. It was fun work, involving computer programming and writing reports. I also gave four seminars to the Bureau of Meteorology scientists. They covered the U.S. Climate Reference Network (of which I'm program manager), a temperature variability index we've developed, a history of 20th Century U.S. drought indices, and activities of the Climate Monitoring Branch where I work.

While I was working, Shirley explored the craft shops and fabric stores of Melbourne. We did sightseeing together on the weekends. The first weekend there we visited Queen Victoria Market, a huge complex in downtown Melbourne where you can buy food, produce, clothes, fabric, and all sorts of merchandise.

The second weekend we took a tour bus to Phillip Island, sight of the world-famous Penguin Parade. A major weather system was moving over southeast Australia that weekend, bringing the coldest weather Melbourne had seen in two years, with over a meter (39 inches) of snow in the ski areas of the southeast mountains (Melbourne itself never gets snow). Phillip Island is right on the coast, with a direct line of frigid Antarctic air coming right over the southern ocean, so we had to buy additional winter clothes the week before the tour, things like hat, gloves, scarf, sweater, rain poncho. We needed all of that gear since the evening on the island began rainy, windy (winds to 20-30 mph), and cold (30's, with wind chills lots colder), although the rain stopped early evening. The Little Penguins come out of the ocean just after sunset, and we saw 4 or 5 groups (of a dozen or two penguins in each group) scamper up the beach. Several of the little fellows waddled past me, within 5 feet of me! The skies cleared and I was able to do a little stargazing. The local ranger pointed out the Southern Cross to me, and the Milky Way was sharp and distinct, much more beautiful than I'd ever seen it in the Northern Hemisphere!

Above: kangaroos at Warrook Cattle Ranch. Right: Koalas.

On the way to Phillip Island, we stopped at Warrook Cattle Ranch, where they raise, among other things, kangaroos. On the way back to the tour bus I noticed several people inside the fenced area. So I went through the gate and saw a worker handing out feed to us tourists. He gave me three pieces of feed, and I walked up to two small kangaroos and gave them each one piece. Then this huge (6 or 7 foot tall) kangaroo hopped over to me, looked right at me, and, I could tell in his eyes, demanded to be fed. He got the last piece! We also stopped at the Koala Conservation Centre and got to see some of those marsupials.

The next weekend we rented a car and drove to Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary, which is a two-hour drive east of city center. Healesville has 200 species of Australian native wildlife. We were able to walk amongst kangaroo and cockatoos, emus and eagles, koala and birds of the bush. My favorite animal in the Sanctuary was the colorful musical lorikeet (which is pictured to the left). On the way back to Melbourne, we spent a few minutes in Badger Weir Park.

Australians use the metric system, so temperatures are in Celsius, weights in kilograms, distance in meters, and speed in kilometers per hour. They also drive on the left side of the road. I found the street signs to be interesting: keep left (not keep right), give way (instead of yield), and they have intersections called roundabouts. I was able to adapt to driving on the left side of the road far easier than I thought I would. The hardest part was the cars. The steering wheel is on the right side of the car. The controls are switched too: it took a few times before I turned on the turn signal (like I wanted) instead of the wipers! And keeping the car in between the lines of our lane was a challenge (because I was so used to lining up the car while sitting on the left side, not the right side).

The next weekend we rented a car and drove a third of the way down the Great Ocean Road, along the coast west of Melbourne. We explored some shops, walked the beaches, visited a light house, and had lunch with a beautiful view of the southern ocean (the Twelve Apostles formation is shown to the left)! On other days we toured Como House, the Royal Botanical Gardens, Rialto Towers, Melbourne Zoo, Polly Woodside Maritime Museum, Fitzroy Gardens, and Treasury Gardens. The John F. Kennedy memorial in the Treasury Gardens was especially touching. On the last weekend, we took a boat cruise down the Yarra River. All in all, I shot over 500 slides. We bought enough souvenirs, books, and fabric to fill 4 boxes, which we mailed to ourselves (each took 1 to 2 weeks to get to the States, and each cost around $80 - $120 {Australian dollars} to mail!).

I can't end the report without saying something about Australian culture. The people of Australia are absolutely wonderful. They're laid back, friendly, pragmatic, practical. Such a pleasant contrast to the hustle-bustle rush and political / cultural extremism of the U.S. We would love to go back ... for a visit, maybe even retire there!

We didn't get back to the States until June 27. This makes 2000 a unique year for us. Assuming we're in the Northern Hemisphere all of December, 2000 will be the year with no summer solstice (since we'll have experienced winter on both solstices)!

The 15-hour flight from LAX to Melbourne (14-hour flight from Melbourne to LAX) was a grind, but it was fascinating being able to follow on the plane's movie screens where we were over the Pacific via GPS feeds.

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Chief Science Officer Report: FCapt. Richard Heim, CSO USS Alaric -- Asheville, NC AlaricRH@sprynet.com

USS Alaric's Sciences Roster:

FCapt. Richard Heim - Chief Science Officer
Capt. Susan Vaughn - Chief/Astrophysics

FCapt. Richard Heim - Specialist/Astronomy
FCapt. Richard Heim - 2nd Watch/Fortean Research Dept.
FCapt. Richard Heim - Specialist/Lost Civilization Relics, Oop-Arts, Lost Continent Civilizations, Unexplained Phenomena
FCapt. Richard Heim - 2nd Watch/Planetary Sciences
Cmdr. Mark Gassman - Specialist/Geology
Capt. Susan Vaughn - Specialist/Zoology
FCapt. Richard Heim - Specialist/Climatology
C/3 Joe McCollum - Specialist/Mathematics, Ecologist-Environmentalist
LT. Dale Anderson - Chief/Social Sciences
LT. Dale Anderson - Specialist/Anthropology, Archaeology
Cmdr. Mark Gassman - Specialist/Klingon Culture
Cmdr. Ian "Krell" Johnsson - Specialist/Ferengi Culture
RAdm. Susan Bolick - CMO, Chief/Medical Sciences

Alaric Ship Log

The Alaric participates in several community activities, including supporting Manna Food Bank with canned food and Eliada Children's Home with Campbells product labels. We also recycle aluminum, both as a community activity and as a fund raiser. Another fund raiser is auctioning items donated by members over eBay.

Alaric Science Log

The primary emphasis of Sciences aboard the Alaric continues to be education through newsletter articles, both in Alaric publications (the Carolina Communicator) and others. The Alaric Science Department has a web page, and its url is:

http://alaricrh.home.sprynet.com/science/AlaricSci.htm

During the last six months, the Alaric science departments have been active in writing the club's Star Trek / James Bond spoof, "The Universe Is Not Enough", which appeared in the 0005 and 0007 issues of the Carolina Communicator. In September, we attended the End of Summer Bash picnic organized by the U.S.S. Reprisal, our neighbor ship to the north.

As noted elsewhere in this newsletter, in addition to being the fictional Science Officer aboard the Alaric, I'm a scientist (meteorologist / climatologist) in "real life", and I've done a lot of traveling this year. Since the last issue, I've journeyed to Australia (see report above) and to Logan, Utah. In between those two trips (in fact, just a couple days after getting back from Australia), Shirley and I led an Alaric away team to DragonCon in Atlanta, Georgia. During the August Utah trip, I participated in the American Association of State Climatologists annual meeting, followed by meetings with the Regional Climate Center (RCC) directors. We discussed a variety of things, including climate services, climate research, and reports by the state climatologists, RCC's, National Weather Service, and other climate-related organizations. I gave two talks, one about the Climate Reference Network and the other about drought monitoring activities of the National Climatic Data Center's Climate Monitoring Branch. I also participated in a drought panel and was interviewed by a local tv reporter on the history of national droughts during the 20th Century.

Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda

Check out the following web page. It contains really neat background info and pictures on Robert Hewitt Wolfe's new science-fiction ship show, Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda, starring Kevin Sorbo!

LL&P, Richard

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Chief Science Officer Report: Commander Dee Okolotowicz, CSO USS Carolina -- Greenville, SC captdee@usscarolina.com

Members in Department: 2 (Dee Okolotowicz, Capt.; Laura Hensley, Brig.)

The Carolina continues to explore and investigate ideas for summer activities, including possible fundraisers with the MDA. Several away missions with area ships planned; some missions already carried out, i.e., zoo trip to Riverbanks. Crew discussing new fun activities, as we need a change from our typical laser tag and paintball missions. Also, a camping weekend is being planned for July. Activity is a bit slow this June, with several members away on vacations, and other activities.

First, I am pleased to announce that Brigadier Laura Hensley, formerly of the U.S.S. Yorktown, has joined the Science Department on board the U.S.S. Carolina. I would like to note that Laura is also the Vulcan Ambassador, and that the Science department on the Carolina now has two Vulcans. I would very much enjoy seeing many alien races represented in the department over the next several months. I also look forward to any and all activity that may be initiated by Laura.

Second, I am pleased and very proud to say that "yours truly" received a promotion to Captain at the Region One Summit in April. Somehow or another the crew managed to keep this a complete secret for two months. (How they managed it I'll never know!) Think it would make a good experiment to find out!?

Moving on to our department and ship activities... I have made a decision regarding a subscription to a science related magazine for circulation in our department. I now have Discover, Astronomy, Sky & Telescope, and well as Wildlife Conservation, Endangered Species and Audubon Magazines available for science department or any other Carolina crew member to read through if they have an interest to do so. Now that we are starting to fill our science positions, I am also looking forward to discussing articles of interest within the department and on the listservers.

After some discussion, a science department sponsored activity (but also one that the entire crew can and will become involved with when the time arises to plan and present it), has been discussed. We are now actively working on some ideas. Initially, the thought was to become involved with a local school science fair by assisting students with their projects and exhibiting our own.

However, after more thought, and gaining exceptional input from our FDC and R/1 RDC Science Officers at the Region One Summit, we are going to wait and build up our presentation skills by working from a different angle first. This way, we would have a successful project to present to the school as an example of our efforts to help educate. So not to get off topic, we are now discussing and exploring other ideas at this time.

Personally, my project of choice is to have the Science Dept. and the rest of the crew of the Carolina sponsor/coordinate a multi-information public Science Fair with guest speakers and presentations (some of our own as well, if possible), and some interactive science activities. I am going to try to see this happen over the next several months or possibly even into the next calendar year, if necessary. But further activity ideas will be entertained and I'm certain we will have other things going on over the next few months besides the planning of this large project. I am immediately planning a trip to the local planetarium and an evening of viewing the stars on our famous 23" Clark Refractor telescope at the Roper Mountain Observatory.

Here is the status as of June: Science Department is coordinating an away mission to the Roper Mountain Planetarium and/or Observatory for July or August. As a member of Roper Mountain Astronomers, I hope to coordinate a visit by the Carolina to a Star Party or Meeting night. I also plan to take some time exposures with my 35mm Minolta of constellations and deep sky objects once a t-mount is purchased for my telescope and share them with the Carolina crew. Plan to have a "Star Party" of our own with my telescopes and binoculars as well as music, food and atmosphere.

Also, the Science Department newsletter is actually going to start happening!!!! YAHOO! (Please excuse that momentary display of emotion. Unfortunately, this has actually occurred more often than I would like to admit, especially since having a great deal more contact with humans). But seriously, I would like to at least start with a brief newsletter/flyer of newsy science tidbits and/or anything else of interest and then build it up to a more interesting and lengthly newsletter. If there is one thing I've learned in life and in STARFLEET, it's "never bite off more than you can chew." (As earthers like to say).

Science Officer just purchased a new pair of Meade 50mm zoom binoculars (with 8x - 24x resolving power) and a 4.5" Meade Reflector telescope with EC and AutoStar controls to go along with my little 60mm (2.5" telescope). As an amateur astronomer, I am enjoying viewing and observing and learning more in the field of Astronomy and plan to make another telescope purchase later this year (possibly a 10 or 12" Dobsonian Reflector, or 8 or 10" Schmidt Cassegrain) once I have a working knowledge to be able to appreciate a scope of this size.

I also joined the American Association of Amateur Astronomers last month and am enjoying going through some of their observing programs such as the Binocular Club and the Universe Sampler as a member-at-large.

Science Officer starts a new job this week working for an environmental engineering company. Finally found a position in an atmosphere I prefer. This is a welcomed change. My new bosses are experts in several areas including geology.

Science Officer out.
---
www: www.usscarolina.com
ICQ: 64501204

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Chief Science Officer Report: Capt. David Klingman, CSO USS Hawkeye -- Greensboro, NC mirodon@carolina.rr.com

Members in Department: 1 (Captain David E. Klingman, Chief Science Officer/Xenobiologist).

Steven R. Hawking Award 0004.29 (for original article)
Albert Einstein Award 0004.29 (for most frequent submissions to sciences)
Completed SACOM courses in Xenobiology, Hematology, and Pharmacology

As you may already know, I have gone through some rather radical departures from things I have been doing in an effort to return to the scientific endeavor I intended to have created in the first place. Therefore, on May 6, 2000 I resigned as FDC Science in order to pursue more local science pursuits and actually function as a chapter CSO for a while.

Because of this, the FDC Science web site (with some alteration) is now the Science Web Site for USS Hawkeye's Science Department.

Projects I am working on include:

• The Science Trivia Contest (Email xenobio@carolina.rr.com for more information)
• The Xenobiology Database (I have added a section on Taxonomy and Classification).
  • Visit http://www.angelfire.com/nc2/sardis/xenobio.html for more details.
  • I have added:
    - alien species from thr Paramount Web Site
    - alien species from Starfleet Fan Fiction as they have come in
  • You can request a copy in Word97 format through the web site

I had, of course, a wonderful time at the Region 1 Summit. The highlights included:

- Seeing Richard Heim
- Spending $700.00 on a quilt made by Linda Oakley
- Helping run the Charity Auction
- Being Matthew Baillie and Alice (Rayburn) Baillie's best man
- Throwing the chocolate party

June 10 - met with members of USS Hornet, IKAV Grand Inquisitor, and IKAV Executioner for a day at IMAX at Discovery Place, Charlotte for a viewing of DOLPHINS and SEARCH FOR INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE, and afterwards we ate out in uptown Charlotte.

I have recently taken on the responsibility of being the NC/SC Section Representative, so I have been less active in sciences the last few weeks but continue to enjoy all the posts to the Science Lab list and make my weekly posting from the Mad Science Lab.

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Chief Science Officer Report: RAdm. Willy Smith, CSO USS Heimdal -- Amherst, VA R1RDC@aol.com

• Department Head - RAdm. Willy Smith
• Department strength - 4 (Willy Smith, Bonnie Davis, Richard Reeves, Alan Provo)

Enjoyed the R/1 Summit immensely and as always am looking forward to next years Summit already. At the Summit I was awarded the Albert Einstein Award for frequent submissions to R/1 Sciences. Thanks guys!

Have a rejoining member that wants to be in the Science department again and am gently guiding him thru the process of the Starfleet application. If all goes well you might see Ray Burke as a new member of Heimdal/Sciences.

At our May Heimdal meeting, Tab O'Neil, Meteorologist for channel 13, arrived and gave a presentation on his background, what his job entails, and the future of forecasting. After his presentation, he graciously answered our many questions and also invited the Heimdal crew to the news studio to see a live broadcast and have a tour. Since I asked many of the questions I thought it prudent to mention this in my report. Sounds like a fascinating job.

Planning annual trip to the planetarium and maybe even a "road trip" to the Smithsonian.

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Science Department Report: Lt. (j.g.) Joe Lamantia, CSO USS Jurassic -- Reston, VA Joe_Lamantia@knight-hub.com

Spoke with Chris Walker via eMail during April and he has some interesting thoughts on the possibility of white holes at the center of the vast majority of all stars. He also brought my attention to the Excelsior Campaign - link to the Web site: http://excelsior.iftcommand.com/. The site is not for the faint of heart and professionally done. I'd like to think that we could bring back the dream that we all enjoy based around what the original Star Trek was, a vision of a good and redeeming future. You'll need 'Shockwave' to fully enjoy the site and a reasonably robust personal computer. Think about joining with Chris and I on the campaign.

Being well past my prime I can say things and possibly get away with them. Here are a few predictions on what the end of this new century may hold for us. Remember the art of prediction - make it far enough off so that very few will be around to know how dead wrong you were.

• Prediction one: There will be less than one third of the number of humans alive on Earth than are living today.
• Prediction two: We will have images of planets many light years away and numerous of them will show signs of living entities.
• Prediction three: We will be able to communicate faster than light by using a micro worm hole sending photons through the mouth of the worm hole, entering at one place in the universe and exiting at another. Our science will understand enough of the mathematics so that the receiver can be placed any where we wish it to be. Now all we would need is some one to talk to.

Came across some interesting information on our seeming enjoyment of the art of war. It is only approximate numbers so does not really express the devastation it represents. Consider that during the second world war the Soviet Union lost ten percent of it's population. Think about this:

• World War II - 40.5 million deaths / 15 million were soldiers
• World War I - 18.7 million deaths / 9 million were soldiers
• Russian Civil War - 9 million deaths
• Korean War - 2.9 million deaths
• Vietnam Wars - 2.7 million deaths
• Napoleonic Wars - 2.5 million deaths

I've noticed that in the area of the country in which I live the summers are quite a bit warmer than when I first arrived. If there is currently no workable basis for the concept that our planet is suffering from a global warming then this should not be a problem. On the other hand, suppose it is. Take a good hard look at the number of S.U.V.'s on the road and the amount of hydro-carbons we are burning each and every day. Does is not make sense that we are the villains in our own nest?

Have you heard of the concept of "Gaia"? All of nature seems to be self-regulating so why not our world?

From my July report: "I will be enjoying a temporal shift on the 3rd of August by flying a World War II aircraft - an AT-6 Fighter-Trainer built in 1943 and currently in use near Winchester, Virginia. Should you care to link to their site it is on the Web at - http://www.giftflight.com. For a short time I will be permitted to fly her. Those few minutes will be some thing for this old pilot to remember. Wish me well."

An international team of scientists has made the world's first DNA motors, paving the way for molecular electronic circuits thousands of times faster and smaller than silicon chips.

"You would have much smaller and faster computers. For the same surface area you could fit in some 10,000 times more components and you could make three dimensional arrangements," Bernard Yurke, from Bell Labs, the research and development arm of Lucent Technologies explained.

DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is the genetic material inside the nucleus of a cell that carries instructions for making living things. The DNA motors, which assemble themselves, pave the way for the development of minute electronic systems composed of molecular switches and other elements which could be produced by mixing the components in a test-tube. Single-strands of DNA will only bind to other DNA strands that have a complementary sequence of molecules on their surface to form the stable double-stranded helix.

Hence a DNA "tweezer" was assembled by the simple expedient of mixing three specially designed single strands of DNA in a test-tube. Each single strand then found its complementary partner and attached itself to it forming a V-shaped structure 100,000 times smaller than the head of a pin, scientists have written in the journal Nature.

"Tweezer" knowledge could pave the way for molecular electronic circuits. The idea is that you add DNA tags to each molecular component -- then you mix them in a pot, complementary tags find each other and an ordered, designed device assembles itself.

The DNA "tweezers" can open and close by using a "fuel" strand which binds to the single-stranded DNA dangling from the ends of the arms of the tweezers and zips them closed.

At the moment the only two things that appear standing in the way of the production of molecular devices with practical applications were the technology to assemble molecular components, which the "tweezers" knowledge should overcome, and molecules that act as transistors.

Researchers have already created molecular wires, logic gates (a building block of computers) and switches, which could be hooked up to make a working computer a fraction of the size of ones based on silicon chips. The development of molecular circuits is essential, since something has to be done to revolutionize electronic circuit assembly because conventional processes are going to run into a brick wall within the next 10 to 20 years.

Live long and prosper.

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Chief Science Officer Report: PO3 Adam Gorrell, CSO USS Tycho -- Fremont, OH naegling19@yahoo.com

Hi! I am Adam Gorrell, the new Science Officer on the USS Tycho. I'm looking forward to being part of Starfleet's science comunity.

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Chief Science Officer Report: LT.jg Tina Walker, CSO USS Yorktown -- Rock Hill, SC 6855 Mandarin Drive Rock Hill, SC 29732 Yorktown_SO@hotmail.com

Total members in Department: 2 (LT.jg Tina Walker, CSO; LT. Andrew Gossett, Projects)

I really enjoyed the Region One Summit! So did my daughter. I met a lot of nice people there. I was promoted to Lt.jg and OIC Captain of the MSG on the Yorktown. I attended a couple of Panels. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the Science Panel. I did however, recieve the handout that Richard Heim and David Klingman passed out. It was very interesting. I used some of the data in my Counselor's report. I hope that the Bennu Station will be able to get the Region One Summit in their area. If not, I hope that it will be a little closer to me.

I would like to add a new member to our ranks. She has been with me for as long as I have been in STARFLEET. She just turned six years old. She is my daughter, Jennifer Michelle Walker. She is also unofficially part of my Science Department. She likes to collect plastic bugs. She watches Voyager when it comes on and watches the new TNG tapes I get in the mail. She also enjoys going to Star Trek cons.

The Yorktown plans on doing an event at least once a month. I would welcome ideas to take to the meetings. If you hve any, please either write me or send them to Yorktown_SO@hotmail.com. Since my email/computer is down, I'm sharing that addy with Andrew Gossett. Put "ATTN: Tina Walker" in the email subject line. He'll let me know.

Jo Lantru,

Tina Walker out.

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FEDERATION COMMUNICATIONS

I have worked hard to maintain a positive relationship with the other regions within STARFLEET that have active Sciences RDC's. This is the section of this newsletter where we put information and links from these RDC's and the FDC.

The Fleet Division Chief (FDC) of Sciences is Commander Rick Driver. Rick can be reached via email at rtdriver@erols.com. Rick's Vice Fleet Division Chief (VFDC) is Lt.jg William Higgins, who can be reached at higginsb@kos.net. The FDC Sciences web page is http://www.starfleetscience.org/

The following table of Science RDC's was prepared from information on the regional web pages, and the Science Correspondents came from a list prepared earlier this year:

Region	RDC or SCo*	Science RDC	Contact
1	RDC	FCapt. Richard Heim	AlaricRH@sprynet.com
2	RDC	Cmdr. Neil Yawn	CMOSNUFFY@aol.com
3	RDC	Cmdr. William Downs	Science@region3.com
4	RDC	FCapt. Charles Flowers	charles@migmaster.reno.nv.us
9	SCo	Jürgen Van Waeyenberge	jurgen.vanwaeyenberge@planetinternet.be
10	RDC	Cmdr. Nan Dooley	nancyrae@alaska.net
11	RDC	Lt. Forbes Kerry	stuart@ay.com.au
12	SCo	Lt. Steve Gibson**	nosbig@inlink.com
13	SCo	Lt.jg William Higgins	higginsb@kos.net
14	SCo	Cmdr. Joost Ueffing	web.warrior@delhaven.ns.ca
15	RDC	FCapt. Anthony Bonti	tony5372@aol.com
17	RDC	Capt. Pat Stewart	captainpat@pcisys.net
* RDC = Regional Division Chief, SCo = Science Correspondent ** no official program in R/12, Steve is a science correspondent residing in R/12

Please send any updates or other changes to this table to AlaricRH@sprynet.com

Region 4 RDC FCapt. Charles Flowers now has an R/4 science newsletter, QUANTUM FLUX.

This issue of the Region One Sciences newsletter welcomes you as visitor number:

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