Approved For Release 2000/08/10 CIA-RDP96-00792ROO0100120013-0 CONN ECTION 13Y PATRICK 11UYG11E A maverick scientist is shakin up quake predictors by 9 suggesting that solar flares trigger scismic activity. Editor's note: Much to the consternation of tier colleagues, a California scientist believes the sun may trigger such diverse calamities as earthquakes, human illness and arson. Officials charged with earthquake prediction have encouraged her even as scientists scoff. Is this researcher a pioneer in the tradition of Galileo or is she just another overeager soul who has misinterpreted tier data to fit her pet theory? Here is her story. After you have read it, decide whether you believe all, parts or none of it. cologists understand tile action of plate tectonics perhaps bct- ter than any other aspect of the carthquake-generating process. (.i The one great mystery that re- mains is knowing precisely when one tec- Ionic plate will break free of another and .,,-I [Ile F'arth's Crust to crumbling, The keN to solving that mystery lies in isolat- ing, the final nudge that upsets tile balance (if frictional forces locking the edges of tile plates together, Biologist Marsha Adams, 38, thinks she may have found that key 93 million miles away from the Earth in the hot, tur- bulent atmosphere of the sun. Moreover, Adams, who is at SRI International, a nonprofit California think tank, has data slit-, says indicate (hat certain people call soinchow sense tile forces thalt trigger earthquakes btfore they occur. .11 didn't start out as a still freak," says Adams candidly. "But I've come to real- ize that almost all variations that occur in biological and physical processes may be tile result of fluctuations in solar activity. I have to think very hard to come up with one that isn't. I suspect. that geophysical Biologist Marsha Adams, scen standing on the San Andreas liault, links solarflares (top) to health problems as well as quakes, processes--including volcanoes and weather fronts --are related to solar activ- ity in some quite comprehensible way." Adams's journey to solar consciousness began a decade ago in a basement. labora- tory of tile Stanford Medical School, where the young biologist was conducting a study of cardiac stimulants on embryo chick hearts. Once (lie study was completed, Adams prepared to present her results to tile American Heart Association, but just a few weeks befibre she was to do so, lier results reversed themselves. Instead of stimulation, the embryo chick hearts be- gan exhibiting depression. Assuming the experimental setup v/as at fault, Adams dismantled the entire system and changed the platinum electrodes, tile stock sotu tions and the air tanks. No matter what she did, shc couldn't replicate her results. Soon after, though, lbr no apparent reason, the experiment began to work again. Although they watched several of these reversals, neither she nor her super- visor could explain what was happening. Having taken into account humidity, temperature and all tile other factors that biologists usually control in their experi- mcnts, Adams was left with only one con- clusion: "The chick embryo results were a clue that something in the environment was profoundly influencing biological processes, but at the titne I didn't know where to look for the something," Adams then began to accum u late other instances of biological variability. In 11,000 cases of measured surgical bleed- ing, for example, site noticed that the measurements of blood loss varied. She screened these cases against a variety of factors in the geophysical environment: cosmic radiation, several measures of geo- magnetic and solar activity and a number of standard weather variables such as barometric pressure, temperature and rel- ative humidity. She found that the bleed- ing anomalies occurred following periods of increased solar activity and preceding large-magnitude earthquakes. The clinical staffal the Women's Com- munity Clinic in San Jose, where Adams was then research director, wasn't. sur- prised. she says. "They said they could have (old tile that because everything goes haywire around there a few days before an earthquake. People in the recovery room showed an increase in emotional disturbances and there was an increase in the number of people vomiting and react- ing to anesthetics. They didn't have to look at tile data to teL when ari earth- quake was coming. When I challenged them to predict the next earthquake, they did, and the bleeding data showed the ex- pected anomalies." Op, .,u~g phol,~p,ph by Roger R-nieyer; -lar flare photograph courl~%y of NASA 73 Approved For Release 2000/08/10 CIA-RDP96-00792ROO0100120013-0 A -7777r-jur' 'V -J~ 2, r Rele 1 41- _,r IF f 44 At -4 WIN jJrK4 T'N xii r 4 ,V;122 -q gi~ All' R-i '7, E S 0 Aware of the fact that certain aninials seem to act strangely Just prior to earth- quakes, Adams Icirmalized a study that used human subjects to forecast them. She had moved to tier firesent position at SRI International, and her only contact with most of the 25 people who are now participating in (lie study has been over the telephone. She has taken great pains, in the interest of scientific objectivity, for them not to know one another. "Most of them contacted me because they had themselves recognized that their flu-like symptoms seemed to precede earth- quakes," says Adams. "Many of those who called would tell me the same story. One said: 'You are my last hope before seeing a psychiatrist.' Another said: 'I feel really weird about this, but you've heard about t 11 o S e Chinese studies with animals re- sponcling to e a r t It q u a k e S haven't;you? Well, I think maybe that lt~appens with people, too.' They would then go on to describe the symptoms they felt before an earthquake, none of which their physicians could tie to specific illnesses," Twice each day, the 25 " re- sponsives" who reliably exhibit physiological sensations prior to a quake fill out a chart, noting the pres- ence or absence of such symptoms as fa- tigue, vertigo, chills, headaches, nausca, a ringing in the ears or a flushed sensation. The form also provides spaces for depres- sion and fights with it spouse or work- mates, Once the symptoms react) a peak of in- tensity, the responsives call in on Adams's hot line and give name, date, time of day, the symptom and its strength. This has allowed her to establish a track record for each person that tells her how accurate tie or she is with regard to large- or small-magnitude quakes, to local versus distant quakes and to the tim- ing of the event. Otte person, she reports, has only called in four times, but lie has been 100 percent on the mark for earth- quakes over magnitude 7 on the Richter scale (8.5 is "devastating"). As a team, the responsives have been accurate be- tween 70 and 80 percent of the time, though Adams has made no attempt to forecast all of the more thari 36 earth- quakes of a magnitude 6.5 or greater that occur around the world each year. The forecasts she has made are recorded on a Burroughs computer at SRI that time- stamps each entry. "I sit up and pay attention when they call," says Adams. "It's awesome to watch the system work, especially when twelve of the twerity-five people who haven't contacted you for weeks call within a twenty-four-hour period." She believes that whatever force is trig- gering these human somatic sensations is probably also responsible for triggering earthquakes and for 1he well-clocumented strange behavior of animals preceding those upheavals. Her data suggest that the agent responsible for this and other assorted mischief' is an increase in solar activity. L A R February of this year. "She's been right on target," says Casper. "When Adams forecasts, the arsonist hits within 72 hours. She's got it down." Solar flares, which Adams thinks are the crucial factor in this catalog of disas- ters, are the most spectacular and power- ful or all forms of solar activity. These mammoth tongue-shaped protuberance,,; display temperatures in excess of 20 ruil.. lion degrees Kelvin and release tile energy equivalent of 10 to 100 billion I-WgatOrl H-bombs, enough power to supply the United States for thousands of years. Flares usually appear in step with the sun-spot cycle, which reaches a maxi., mum every I I years. At times of solar maximum, when the greatest number of. spots appear on the sun, as many as two or three small flares may ap very hour, and one pear e enormous flare may ap- ear each nionth. But it times of solar mini- ilium, weeks nia~ pass without any significaw flares. E r u p t i n g flares unleash a tidal wavc An erupting solar flare sends shock waves rippling t&ough the solar wind and pumps streams of high-energy particles (two horizontal lines) outward. These collide with the Earths magnetosphere (shaded area), causing magnetic storms that may affect health. The list of factors Adanis claims inay be influenced by increases in solar activity is a long one and, unbelievable as it may sound, includes not only earthquakes and periodic human illness but also freak weather conditions, arson, riots, political instability and crime waves. In fact, Ad- ams points out, the Falkland Islands were invaded soon after all increase in solar ac- tivity. Railroad derailments and accidents involving airplanes, buses and ships ap- pear on the list as well. All these events tend to occur in specific time slots within about a week of increases in solar activity. Humans normally begin to react within the first few days after a flare, and the earthquakes in about four days. Adams has already provided several of radiation, electrical and magnetic fields and high-energy particles into space, part of which enhance what is known as the solar wind. When this solar debris smacks into the Earth's magnetic field, or magne- tosphere, a wide variety of terrestrial cf- fects occur: iturora borealis, geomaglietic storms, electrical surges in power lines and even in the ground itself. During one such outburst in 1859, telegraph opera- tors found that they could transmit and receive messages without batteries. "What has not been appreciated," notes Adams, "is just how much bioh)gi- cal responsiveness there is to solar activi- ty. Unfortunately, studies on solar-terres- trial interactions do not show a one-to-one correspondence. So one won- fire forectists for Andrew Casper, chief'of ders if there is not some other factor that Patrick Huyghe, who writt,~v for the New York the San Francisco fire departaient, who might actually be the mechanism that Times and science maga;lnes worldwide, met has been on the track of all arsonist re- triggers this biological responsiveness. with biologist Marsha Adonis in San Francisco. spon§ible for more than '10 fires since And there is another factor that coincide% 74 Scienc,"Woved Fur Release 200,01NA 0,,:,,QARDP 9AaQG,792R,0QfQ"44JQQ1 20013r,.A'oh.r~do 777-- Approv& FooZeledWe 2010/0840 : C_119-R with solar activity and that is ELF." F_LF is extremely low frequency elec- tromagnetic radiation (3 to 30 hertz), in ollicr. words, very long radio waves. ELF is produced naturally in two ways. The first is through solar activity. When the main bulk of particles shot from the still during a solar flare. finally hits the Earth's magnetic field, it rattles the magneto- sphere the way a hungry chimp might saake a bread box. This flapping of (lie niagne tosp here generates ELF. ELF is also produced indirectly through a sec- ond channel of propagation--weather frolits. nlE ELF FACrOR Adams is currently testing the hypoth- esis that ELF might be the geophysical variable responsible for triggering all kinds of biological and seismic proccsses. Ulifortunately, relatively little work has been done on wavelengths b,,-Iow 100 hertz. But biological processes are known to respond to several frequencies within this range. A somewhat casual German ,-(udy of 53,(M subjects, for example, seemed to show that people take longer to rcspond to normal stiniuli when they are in the vicinity of ELF waves. Biologists SlUdying ELF have conic up with a list of symptoms remarkably similar to those A(huns's responsives report. It is also known that the frequency of alpha brain waves (8 hertz) has a geologi cal parallel in what is called the Schu mann. Resonance, the frequenc- at which Y the length ofa radio wave equals the cir- curnference of the Earth. This piece of in- formation set Adams wondering whether ULF might not also help direcIly trigger CarthqUakes. Although she doesn't claim to know just how ELF provides the final nudge that brings on the catastrophe, she does speculate on two possible mecha- nisms: piezoelectricity and magnetostric- tion. lliezoelee(ricity is a process by which electromagnetic energy is converted to mechanical enei-gy or vice versa, It occurs rnost notably in crystals, and it is the basis for the quartz watch. 'rhe quartz picks up i lie elect romagnetic signal and converts it to a mechanical vibration that is then am- plified. Perhaps the Earth's crust begins to vibrate through such an effect, says Adams, or through magnetostriction, a process by which certain niaprietic mate- rials change shape when they are subject- ed to a magnetic field. When subjected to an oscillating field, such is 17LF, a me- chanical motion, or vibration, is pro- duced. Might such a mechanical vibra- tion, set off by ELF at a frequency that resonates with a fault location that has accumulated the most strain, be sufficient to trigger an earthquake? Only further re- search will tell. Adams thinks that rcsponsives act as biological transducers and are quicker at absorbing and integrating information than any current scientific instrument. Eventually, however, she expects to be able to separate the human variable from the forecasts. Within a year or two, de- pending on the availability of funds for proper equipment that will help tier cre- ate an accurate model, she hopes to make daily forecasts of earthquake probabili- ties, like a daily weather forecast, using direct measurements of ELF and/or solar activity to supplement the human data. Certainly the most eye-opening aspect of Adams's current forecasting system is the finding that responsives need not be in the vicinity of an earthquake in order to forecast it. Low-frequency radio waves travel around the world many times with ininimum attenuation because the cavity between the Earth and the ionosphere acts as a vasc natural resonator for elec- tromagnetic energies of these wave- lengths. This effect allows responsives in one locate to predict quakes anywhere in the world. "I strongly suspect," says Adams, "that the information that won](] allow us to determine location. can be found in the symptorns themselves. What seems to be happening is that even U person who has the same symptoms over and over may have additional syniptonis that appear to be location dependent. F-or instance, I've noticed that. the flushed sensation and chills seem to be prevalent for earth- quakes that are to occur within a two- hundred-mile radius of San Francisco Bay. The timing of tire calls may also pro- vide location clues. Looking at track re- cords, I've noticed that for some individ- uals, if the quake doesn't occur within a day of their call, the probability of the dis- turbance being local decreases." The theory's potential applications probably played a large part in capturing the publie's attention when news of her work leaked to the press last September. California's Governor Jerry Brown was intrigued enough to call tier, and subse- quently Adams was invited to describe lier work before a hearing on earthquake prediction and preparedness held by the state's Assembly Committee on Govern- mental Operations. Tbe committee gave tier a courteous reception and wished to Continued on page 103 -1 AM"IN"'Gi RAYS A painful sunburn or skin cancer are only the most obvious effects of sunlight on human health. The sun may also have the power to alter your, moods, your immune system and per- haps even your fertility. Evidence suggests that secretions of melatonin---a hormone linked to re- productive function in some ani- mals---are regulated, in part, by daily cycles of light and dark ' MlTenclocri- nologist Richard Wurtman and his co- workers have found that humans se- crete more melatonin between I I P.m. and 7 A.M. Further, Alfred Lewy, a re- searcli psychiatrist at the Oregon Health Sciences University, and his colleagues have recently shown that bright artificial light and sunlight turn off this melatonin secretion. These re- sponses are thought to be mediated by visible, light (part of the sun's spec- trum), which acts on photoreceptors in the, eye, Lewy has found that some blind people have different melatonin- secretion rhythnis than people with normal sight. Although in some animals melato- nin inhibits ovulation and causes adult gonads to regress under certain condi- tions, evidence for a link between light and fertility in humans has so far been indirect. One four-year study reported that most women in north Finland conceived during the summers, when there are about 20 hours of sunlight a day. And an Italian study showed that in spring teenage girls had a 10 times greater secretion of a hormone that af- fects the ovaries than they did in an- t1knni-presurnably in response to the influence of increasing versus decrcas- ing dayliglit. Some people who suffer from manic depression, a mood disorder, are ab- normally sensitive to light; Lewy and his co-workers discovered that some sufferers stop secreting melatonin at a lower-than-average light intensity. But whether the hormone directly affects mood or is just a marker for other bio- chemical changes going on inside the body is not known. Other evidence indicates that the sun's ultraviolet light impairs the hu- man immune system by causing ab- normalities, at least temporarily, ill white blood cells. Work with animal cells at Harvard Medical School has demonstrated that exposure to itltravi- olet rays prevents the proper function- ing of cells involved in fighting infec- tion and, at the same time, stimulates suppressor cells, which normally turn off the immune system, -Madeline Chinnici Approved For Release 2000/08/10 : CIA-RDP96-00792ROO0100120013-0 EA49kLWAKk&se confinueeiftopir page 7.5 I)c apl__u of further progress in tier re- iscill-ch. -Ffic U.S. Geological Survey'!; (USGS) office of Earthquake Studies in Menlo park. California, also gave her an Opp0r- timity to present her work, but the niajOT- itv ofits scientists apparently felt that the e% idence site presented was riot persuasive enoligh to warrant funding by tile USGS. Barry Raleigh, it geophysicist with the 1,11,',GS at the little, however, indicates that thcv encouraged tier to pursue lier work. i)Caling Willi ~l subject orsucli scope in %okcs risks, and Adams's theory has in its share of criticisin, inuch of it froln geologists. "I never saw pulled to- "ether the kind of' critical evidence re- I I (pired to make a hypothesis like that be even marginally ac-ceptable," says Ra- leigli, currently director of the I.aniont- 1)(dierty Geological Observatory, who has been outspoken in his eritic,~srrt of tier work. "'I'lic idea is interesting, but it was tiot backed up to iny satisfiaction by air ZICIC~J]JatC b0d), of objective data that coold allow you to decide if there was anY.tiring to it or riot. Probably the weak- link in tier work is that thert: is no rea- ~onablc physical model that might ex- phiin ill(, phenomenon. But there is obvioustv sonlething it) tile ide.1 that has tier Coll vinced. PREMATURE EXPOSURE Adanis regrets the preniatun, publicity she has n2ceived. It has forced tier to pre- sent lie]' work through the inedia, without Ill t having (lie results presentc-d in a sci- entific journal and, even more important, ~%tlllolll first hilvill" corriple(cd a rig(ItOLIS mialysis of all fier data. Lven in its formative surge, however, ~%&uns is clearly excited by (lie theory. "I fere is a variable that we are riot aware 01 Mid yet i~, Present and inflUencing all our lives," she says. "I think everyone may be sensitive to it to sonle degree. It's Just thut people are riot aware of what to hook for. It's a matter of exposure, recog- nilion and awareness. Unfortunately, I think that right IIOW We are CUlturativ bi- zis,,d against this particular variable. 1. While niany Of Adams's colleagues re- iii,iin skeptical about tier work, tier notion thal the, sun has ~t protbund effect Oil our ll%cswoul(iccl.t;iililyli~AVCCOIII(,'~ts~iosur- prise it) Uncle Joe Cannon, the venerable S oftlic U.S. House of Representa- 6ves between 1903 and 1911. During a dk,batc on appropriations for solar re- scarch, it was Uncle Joe who argued: "Everything huigs upon the still, sir, and it ought to be investigated." 0 Do vou want to knoll, morc ohout how the :ojn q/~&,ts us? See next months Science Digest stoi,-), about the vxcifing.~-esearch on thesolar wind's role in the aurora borealis. LdKA-RDP96-0 Continuedfi-oin page 88 effect-thc character of the original gene pool. If III-. first ancestors did riot have a pafficular genetic disease, their it is un- likely to appear in their descendants. "These communities are nucrocosrus, living laboratories of what can happen frorn gencrations of inbreeding," says Dr. Martin Greenberg, head of pediatrics at a hospilal ricar the Ridge. Although no one has done any clinical studies oil the Ridge, such its those that have been done oil the Amish (see page 87), tire Families (here reveal ~md talk about problems that Greenberg says may be hereditary. "I"rorn what I have seen and what I aill aware of, there are Sortie abnormalities that seern to be related tO disorders of, tile boric, connective tissues and joints. Also apparent in sonic of the families is all ill- creased incidence of neurological prob- lems, ranging rroin sl rokes and seizures to cases of' incival retardalion." 1'EAR 01-' INBREIA)ING 'I'lic severity of the punishments orten given to tIlw.e who have violated taboos against incest would scent to reflect I very profound fear of int-.weeding. It is hardly surprising ilhat tile sporadic and often sudden aPPe;Ir!IIlce Of physical or mental illness 11111011i,, childlell of-consaliguilicous Marriages issei/,ed oil as the uItiniatcjus- tification for such taboos. T'he problematic history of incest and tile simultaneous fragility and strength of human evolution ar,~ only a few of the cli- leninias one Faces ill trying to understand (lie nicaning, of communities like tire Ridge. How can you separate tile social and medical kfft~cis of inbrec(lin Ili judging tile inedical effects ofinbrceding, how certain cart We be about tire nature of the original gene pooP How can we decide which sociely is more advanced: tht: community that lol- crates and cares for tile sick and the old in the normal run or family life. or the one diat put.,; Ilicni away In Institutions? Greenberg had listened for years to tales Of ViOleIICe ,ind mental (list urbance oil the Ridg,.-. l"illally, lie Went up to see I*or hiniself. "What is st riking ,About these people," lie soys, "is riot so niuch their genetic problems. Rather, it's the whole area of sociiii interaction, their tolerance air(] caring, the iulordependence, the ac- ceptance, the charity, the openness of' their loves and their hatcs." Ili spite of its anarchies and contradic- tions, occasional ugliness and tire laby- rinth Of ~cgends, there are lessons to be learned on the Ridgc% "Nature," Wrote Williant I larvey in 1657, justifying his Ill- terest in rare diseases, "is nowhere I its- acc tonied niore openly to display ]let- secret mysleries than Ili Cases where she shows traces of hcr workings apart front tire beaten patll~- a A0V1 &J1J0JAq 0 N D 1 N ETERNITY Must nian die co release his inner con- sc;ousness? Can we experience momentary flights of the soul---that is, become one wilb the universe and receive an influx of great I Inderstand in g~ 7'he shackles of dit, body --its earthly limitations-- cari be thrown off and man'v wind can he altuned to the infinite Wisdom for a flash of a sccorid. During this brief interval intuitive kno-wledge, great inspira tion and a new vision of our life's inission are had. Some call. this great experience a ps,chic plictioniercon. But (heancients knew 3 It and caught it as Cosmic Consciousness--- tile merging of nian's ruind with the Uni- versal Intelligence. Let This Free Book Explain I'his is not a religious doctrine, bit( the ipplication of simple, natural laws %khich gl.ve man an insight into tile great Cosmic plan. They make possibte a source of great joy, streng-th and a regeneration of man's personal powers. Wri cc to the Rosicrucians, an age old brotherhood of understanding, for a free copy of the book, "'file Mastery of 1-ife." It will tell you lioNv, in tile pri- vacy of your own lionie, you may inclulge in diese mysteries of life known to tile ancients. Addrejs: Scribe DYB eN b V79~e N-oncrucians C SAN JOSE (AMORC) CALIF., 95191 U,S.,AL SEND THIS COUPON Please Include Your Zip Code IScribe DYB 't ROSICRUICIANS (AM011C) sal Jose, California 95igi U.S.A. Ph.-ase u-nd me the hee book, 77ye M,istery of 'llich explai;is how I may Jcaro to its iny faculties and powers of n1,11d, Name Addrcs5 Sta le- Approved For Release 2000/08/10 : CIA-RDP96-00792ROO0100120013-0 103 The Ancients Called It COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS 3z-0d':- '101i -RDP96-0 7 2- 00040012001 9 ppiroved For Release 2000108110 CIA N&I V W K. AIMEM fi NIATURE"S 1IIDDE.?"tt4 PO'WFF16. LINE VAR "Veryone ~ nowsabout the kind of clvc- E 0!, trio current provided by utility compa.. ffles Less fliniliar are the currt~nts mano- l'actuied by nature's own po werhouse. Charged particles from the sarl.,et off os- cillations in the Earth's atagnetic field at the edges of the atmospliere~ 'I lie~,e pilkes in turn induce electric currents on tile Earth. John R. Booker, a geophysicist at the niVerSity 01 U Wa~,hingtoll, was study ng Ithe structure of the "esterr, se;troasi 4 when he came across all inlaiense cut rcint, strong to be CaLISCd Solely bV one far too local phenomena, In early 1980, lie and co-worker Gerard llen:icl tract-d tile cor- rent along a line that rurts rou&hly south- cast from T-Lcoma, Waihington, to tile Columbia River . 5"Zi -rent will usually flow ~T; An electric cur 'I more easily throu-h ~ZT~ water than through V iX - 4 land, but rock that 2 holds watcr ill ifs l ghly conductive. pores tends to be bi Booker discovered that -his current flows 1~2_: I along a thin wedge of porous sedimentary rock squeezed between older, denser con- tinemal crust to ill(: cast and ocean crust being pushed in from tile west. 5 ooker believes the curt ,N vw is indu ed it, tile I)acifivillid liavels down beiwe Ii vallcouver Island aud the Canadlall mainland. Theo, piev(-rited by a milder illc~,tlllll, 'L CUrTO141 rl'olll f(tilOWing tile path of' 1(-as( resistatice ba6'. to the ocean, it 1:0111.1111.le~ WWII (J.)"ll Puget Sound, wh--re it leaks into tile continental niass. Cl.lrreut*~, path Loijicidcs with it scis- r1lik t',Wlt. and wictitists hope that map- ping it ~Nffl provide infi-n-nation about the i-c-ion's geological stru 1 It re that can help thein evaluate (-.:trth(Ju,,.Ikc hazards. Althow0i 11lic curreur N)ws alono at a powerful ratc, local residents won't be ahl,_ to plu" their toaocrs into their back- ytros. The io~_k veitt's high conductivity, ,ays Booker, makes it imt)osiibl(- for the energy to bc concenirated and tapped. -1 A CANIEL CAN SURVIVE iWthq desert not bucause its hump stores.. 1 water, but beealts:e It Stores W.-Ar, the tat is broken dwin, hydrogen is given off. Th is mingles with oxygen inhaled by the animfil suid tye ates- -you guessed it--water. Nil %N1,R, 1) M WNDAR - - - - - - - SI RAI 1'0F Y t. VANC011 VLR FTRAIT' Of" , 01E TUAN F1110A. SOUND CANADA NkAMUNGION IACONIA _JJ MONTANA OREGON A naturally occurting electric curreni flowi; through a we~(ge (1f,noi-ous rock in the Pacific Xorthivem coinvident with a scistric fidult. & inapping ~he current's path, researchen; inav unco-ver efu&s to the reaian!,;_gwLagu WORLD SPACE CAPITAL RISES IN BALTIMORE ' Beginning in early 1985, the world's capital of astronomy will not tic a wind- swept mountain in California, a Volcano in Hawaii or even a huge telescope Ili thL Soviet Union. It will be a five-story build- Ing in doANntown Baltimore. Tile Space Telescope Science lustituk", (STSI), now being built at Johns Hopkins University, will be the final desfiriatioll 1 -fele, for data !ratismitted from the Spac e 1 scope, an orbiting observatory flint [)ro ut scientists say will see objects 50 firlies fainicr and 7 times farther away than car, be detected by the largest telescopes. Oace the Space Telescope is placed into I orbil by the space shuttle and begins I0, j observations, a crew about 80 strong will -k~ As operate the STSI around the clot. onescientist's experiment ends, anolfier's will bcgin. and by the end of one year itis estirnated that the facility will have host- rot mers cd naorc~'than 150 visiting ast i0 frorri around the world. Data and pictures from the Space fele 7 scopc, will first be transmitted to NASA's, i~ Goddard Space Flight Center in Greell'. belt, Maryland, where the craft's grOtInd systcals are located, and then relayed to tile STSI's on-line observation t- As area ut a the data become public, after abo OWi year, they will also be sent to a European -w~ Space Agency facility now under Con- W't struc",tion in Munich. "Calculations suggest that the Space upiter. Telescope will be able to see ally f rs as far size planets orbiting Sun4ike sta aw, entv ay as ten light-years-possibly tw to thirty," says project scientist C. within ten O'Dell. There are I I stars light-years of the Sun, 76 more within a 4. radius of twenty light-years. as- If all goes according to blileprints, tronomers at the STSI will carry out the renaissance of optical astronomy in pleas- ant surroundings. "The Institute is being built. into the side of a hill in a Ver)"wood- '~I iv ed section. It's a nice rural setting within a city," says chief facility manager H a James LyalL The building will include libritry, data archives, a 200--scat lectur hall, A skylit lobby, a terrace cafeteria and office space for support staff and visiting scientists, The STSI is being built under the aegis of AURA (Association of Universities 110,,' i: Research in Astronomy), a NASA-fund- ed consortium that proposed the, institute, It already operates three ground-bascd 0% f% 4!