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Show 4 THE SUMMER UTAH CHRONICLE WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13. 2001 Geochemist Explores Australian Ice-Ag- WYNNE PARRY Chronicle Asst. News Editor Jt . . S ft v I 3v- - Marsupial lions, large, rhino-lik- e creatures, big snakes, reptiles and other large animals vanished from the Australian continent millennia ago. In a "clean sweep," all of Australia's animals weighing more than ioo kilograms, and seme smaller ones, died out. .J - -' " ' AW .tr . . r . V'- -' . ; Researchers blame humans for major extinction of mammals 1 for the funding. Machen testified that the federal government is the museum's "landlord," since the federal government owns about 70 percent of Utah and, accordingly, the samples collected from that land. l or the building site itself, the U has donated the 14 acres in Research I'ark, valued at about $5 million, according to George. The worth of the land is much higher, though, as real estate in Research Park brings considerable revenue to the U, she continued. The State of Utah has volunteered to pay operating and maintenance costs of the new museum, estimated at $800,000 per year. The new facility would double the museum's existing exhibit space, provide better storage facili- ties, include modern in . . I .t-- :i Australia. better off we all arc," George said. Having expanded facilities would be "phenomenal," according to MUSEUM continued from page ' :'. - air-filteri- and temperature-contro- l systems and accommodate more lab space, said I'atti Carpenter, museum spokeswoman. The museum's available parking spaces will vault from 12 to 200. "The more opportunities people have to learn about dinosaurs, the museum employee Paula Wilson. "We just have no space. Space is a critical problem for the museum," Wilson said. A rocks and minerals curator, Wilson works in a cramped, room in the museum's basement. There are more than 35,000 samples in the room and Extinction e Speculation surrounds the cause of the extinction. And the lack of a reliable time frame for the animals' disappearance has made understanding why it happened even more difficult. But an article published in the June 8 issue of the journal Science places that extinction date about 46,400 years ago and forces researchers to revise theories explaining the extinction. University of Utah geochemistry researcher Linda Ayliffe, one of the authors, downplays climate change and the last Ice Age, once speculated to be a major cause of the extinction. In fact, the date implicates Australia's first human colonizers, who arrived about 56,000 years ago, in the extinction, according to the paper. Hunting may have decimated the animal populations. Hunters may have altered the environment, indirectly causing the extinction. In general, large animals' slow reproduction rates leave their populations very vulnerable, Ayliffe said Traditionally, aboriginal hunters flushed game from bushes by lighting the plants on fire, Ayliffe said. Frequent burning may have altered the vegetation, affecting many animals' as has Rep. Jim Hansen, chairman of the Resources Committee. Sen. Robert Bennett has fought for similar legislation since 1999, contributing to a bill last year that provided $500,000 as a "down payment" for the new museum. Bennett has introduced a companion bill to Mathesoh's in the diets and perhaps driving them to extinction. In fact, cores taken from lake and marine sediments show soot and charcoal particles from fires increasing rapidly several thousand years after humans arrived, Ayliffe said. Similar patterns appear all over the globe. The population of large animals in North America plummeted about 12,500 years ago with the arrival of early peoples. Woolly mammoths and cave bears disappeared from Europe and New Zealand lost giant birds when humans first arrived in these places, she said. However, other factors may have been at work. While the new dates indicate climate change may not have been a big factor, they cannot eliminate it entirely. Imprecise dating techniques impeded previous attempts at dating the extinction, Ayliffe said. "The chemical methods weren't rigorous enough to remove contamination in the past," she said. The i! researchers compared results from two methods, looking at both quartz crystals in the sediments surrounding the fossil sites and at calcite flowstones above and below the fos- Natl Accredited Health Center SHEENA MCFARLAND Chronicle News Writer The University of Utah's Health Student Center became the first nationally accredited college healthcare organization in Utah last week. "Accreditation assures the students that they are receiving quality care and allows them to compare us to other clinics," said Joan Rawlins, director of the U's Student Health Service Cenout-patie- nt ter. Because the health center accredited, insurance agencies such as Medicaid and Medicare will more readily add the health center to their list of providers, Rawlins is said. The Student Health Center sought review from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, the same organization that accredited University Hospital. After a two-dasurvey, the Joint Commission approved the U's application. "Most of our standards were up to par, so we just had to provide the documentation for our facility," said sils. Because the dating techniques focused on the site surrounding the animals' remains, researchers looked for bones still attached to one another. This indicated that the animal was still in the same location where it died and had .not been moved from an older on-si- te y, site. wparrychronicle.utah.edu and his colleague Sen. Orrin Hatch has announced support of this bill. "So far, things are looking very good in terms of... this legislation," Matheson said, noting that he has a list of representatives to lobby for help with the bill. jwhitleychronicle. utah. edu U.S. Senate Rawlins. The accreditation lasts three years, after which the Joint Commission will the health center to make sure it is maintaining current standards and complying-witany future standards ey changes. The health center has a staff with family and pediatric care, as well as women's and men's health screenings. Patients' ages range from two days old to years of full-servi- only one microscope. "It's not much," she said. Wilson has a joint appointment in the department of geology and geophysics. To properly prepare her samples for research, Wilson must lug them across campus and use her department's equipment. She looks forward to the prospect of a new facility, not just for expanded space, but for the chance to design a work place for scientific 60-pl- ce us age. The health center contributes to the U's educational mission, providing clinical practice teaching sites for medical and pediatric residents and advanced practice nursing students. "We're here to meet physical needs, but also to address the psychosocial, spiritual and emotional sides of health and provide the support that can help students balance their lives," Rawlins said. purposes. George estimates that 99.5 percent of the museum's samples are not on display. The general public can tour the basement and see these densely stocked samples, but only one day every year at the museum's "What's in the basement?" open house. Utah's Rep. Chris Cannon has voiced support for the legislation, Houses First U smcfarlandchronicle. utah.edu Ancient ribs might get a new home if museum - friendly legislation passes. 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