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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2010


KLMNO


Astronomers get help, and students try out real science


pulsar from E1


World’s largest The Robert C. Byrd GreenBank


Telescope, built in 2000 and named for the late West Virginia senator, is the world’s largest fully steerable telescope. Its 100-me- ter-wide surface area gives it the ability to pick up extremely faint signals from the distant reaches of space. It is one of five tele- scopes at the National Radio As- tronomy Observatory, a federal facility tucked into a corner of Pocahontas County that since 1958 has been designated a “na- tional radio quiet zone” where radio transmissions are limited or banned to limit interference with scientific inquiry. But in 2007, the 16-million-


pound telescope started sinking into the ground. While workers fixed the tracks at its base, the huge instrument was frozen in position. That cut off the tele- scope’s usual clientele—astrono- mers who schedule, far in ad- vance, a period of “observing time” on the the telescope, when they point it at the particular sector of the sky they want to study. Instead, for 21/2


months, the


telescope recorded data from 70,000 “pointings” that no as- tronomer had asked for. It would have been a shame to


waste it. That’s when scientists at NRAO andWest Virginia Univer- sity conceived the Pulsar Search Collaboratory and started re- cruiting students to scan this unwanted trove of data. The sci- entists get research help; the stu- dents get real-world experience about how astronomy works. “It’s like looking for a needle in


a haystack,” said Rachel Rosen, director of the student pulsar search program and a Green Bank astronomer. “We don’t know exactly from any given sec- tion of the sky if there will be a pulsar, but we can make a bunch of guesses. The students are then filling in the blanks.” Launched in July 2008 at two


dozenWest Virginia high schools, the collaboratory has been ex- panded to Virginia, Maryland and seven other states. So far, more than 200 students at 33 schools have taken part. One thing they learn is that


those “eureka” moments of scien- tific discovery take months, if not years, of painstaking, often repet- itive work. “The two students who made


the discoveries were really hard workers,” Rosen said. “They im- proved their chances by looking through the data consistently. The teams that tend to be diligent about it build a social network, a club. That really helps.” Rosen noted that girlsmake up


half the pulsar program’s roster. “Girls see themselves as scien- tists, and that’s an important pre- dictor of future success,” she said.


‘I stay up all night’ Apulsar emits a rotatingbeam


of electromagnetic radiation at a precise and constant time inter- val. (Think ofaninterstellar light- house.) Because the flashes are so accurate, they act as celestial clocks and can help scientists understand the dimensions of the universe. Pulsars may also help researchers prove the existence of “gravitational waves,” ripples in the fabric of space first theorized by Albert Einstein. The first pulsar was discovered


by a British graduate student in 1967, and since then about 1,800 have been found. Thousands are thought to exist. Based onmathe- matical estimates about the dis- tribution of pulsars in the uni- verse, Rosen and other astrono- mers believe there may be about 30 pulsars hiding in the student data set from the Green Bank telescope. So far, students have looked through about 10 percent and found two objects. Rosen notes that the students


are looking at rawdata,whichhas not been pre-screened by astron- omers. They also have to sift out interference from television sig- nals, satellite communications and AM radio. After a student thinks he has found a pulsar, his data are checked by the experts— and, if necessary, by using the massive telescope itself. FirasNasr is hoping he’ll be the


next to find one. Nasr, a senior at Robinson Secondary School in Fairfax County, was among a group of students who spent a week this summer at Green Bank, an experience the kids dubbed “nerd camp.” The biggest hardship, Nasr


said, was turning in their cell- phones, iPods and digital camer- as because of the observatory’s ban on radio interference. In re-


Radiation beam


Birth of a neutron star


Nuclear fusion


Neutron star


12 3


Stars continuously burn their supply of nuclear fuel, oſten over millions or billions of years.


SOURCE: NASA


When the fuel is gone, a supernova explosion occurs and blows off the star’s outer layers.


Te leſtover middle of the star collapses and condenses. Protons and electrons combine to form neutrons, thus the name neutron star.


BONNIE BERKOWITZ AND ALBERTO CUADRA /THE WASHINGTON POST


turn, the students were allowed to operate the Byrd telescope to determine if any of the objects they’d found in their data were actually pulsars. (They weren’t.) Back at school, Nasr is recruit-


search Web site. Nasr helps the others look through the data. “You’re sitting at the computer


ing and training other Robinson students to join the pulsar-hunt- ing team. After class one day, eight students gather in a physics classroom, break out laptop com- puters and log on to the pulsar


Pulsar.HEA PROOF1


Topic: Science


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and you get a huge adrenaline rushwhenyouthinkyou’vefound something,”Nasr said.He says he has long been more of an arts person but is warming to the idea of going into science. “This exper- iment has had a huge impact on my life,” Nasr said. “Before this, I didn’t think science had much


Rotation axis


Magnetic field lines


DAYNA SMITH FOR THE WASHINGTON POST


“This experiment has had a huge impact on my life. Before this, I didn’t think science had much purpose.” —Firas Nasr, who spent a week this summer at a camp learning how to hunt for pulsars


Cosmic lighthouses High school students are being recruited to comb through data to find pulsars, blinking balls of radio energy deep in space.


What is a pulsar?


Basically, it is a type of dying star called a neutron star. Each was once four to eight times the mass of our sun, but when it burned out, it collapsed into a dense ball about 12 miles in diameter. A neutron star that rotates is called a pulsar.


Giant magnet A pulsar’s magnetic field can be a million times as strong as Earth’s.


Why do pulsars pulse?


Jets of particles shoot from the pulsars’ magnetic poles, emitting powerful beams of light. As the pulsar rotates, the beams go around like the lamp of a lighthouse, making the star appear to pulse on and off.


ObserverBeam Pulse


purpose. ForHiwot Abate, whose family


moved to Fairfax from Ethiopia last year, the search for deep- space pulsars has become a bit obsessive. “I stay up all night doing this,” says Abate, a Robin- son junior. Robinson physics teacher Me-


lissa Booker says even though the program is empowering, it’s defi- nitely not for everyone. “It does take time and a particularly tena- cious student,” she says. Just ask Lucas Bolyard of Har-


Neutron star


Heavy spoonful


A pulsar is so dense that a teaspoon-size bit would weight billions of tons.


rison, W.Va., who found a signal last fall that seemed to turn on and off.Most pulsars emit a con- stant signal, so the Green Bank astronomers initially dismissed his discovery. But follow-up ob- servations proved it was a “rotat- ing radio transient”: a pulsar that switches its signal. The finding got Bolyard and his family invited to a WhiteHouse party for young astronomers, where he got to meet President Obama. “I wanted to meet him for a


long time. I got to speak with him for about a minute about the project,anditwasoneof themost cherished moments of my life,” Boylard says. Pretty good for a high school freshman. Now Boylard is think- ing about college. A career in astronomy, perhaps? “I’mthinking about it,” Boylard


said. “Actually, I’m interested in politics.”


health-science @washpost.com


Niiler is a freelance journalist in Chevy Chase.


6


PHOTOS Send in your night-sky shots to


www.washingtonpost.com/science.


EZ EE


E5


INSURING YOUR HEALTH Michelle Andrews


A big victory for people who need mental health care


T


wo federal laws that pro- vide better insurance cov- erage for more people


with mental health and sub- stance abuse conditions are just beginning to take effect, and advocates describe the changes as a huge win for con- sumers that will greatly im- prove treatment. As anyone who has ever


sought help for addiction, de- pression or any other mental illness knows, insurance cover- age is often skimpier than for a physical malady. Plans typically limit the number of therapy vis- its they’ll pay for, and they may also impose separate deduct- ibles for mental health and sub- stance abuse services and re- quire higher out-of-pocket con- tributions from patients as well. Under theMentalHealth


Parity and Addiction Equity Act, which took effect this year, the mental health and sub- stance abuse benefits that a health plan provides have to be just as generous as its coverage for medical and surgical treat- ments. The lawdoes away with different co-payments, deduct- ibles and visit restrictions. “These financial equalizers


will be very helpful to families that have not been able to ac- cess care before,” says Kather- ineNordal, executive director for professional practice at the American Psychological Associ- ation.


Plans are not required to


provide mental health or sub- stance abuse coverage, howev- er, and they can also determine that they will not cover specific disorders. The regulations on parity went into effect July 1 , so in most plans the changes become effective when they re- newtheir coverage after that date. The parity law— which was championed by former Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., and the late Sen. PaulWellstone,D- Minn. — doesn’t apply to plans at companies with 50 or fewer employees or to individual health insurance policies. The newhealth-care overhaul law, however, will pick up the slack. Under the law, health plans sold through the state-based in- surance exchanges that will be- gin offering coverage in 2014 must include mental health and addiction benefits, and the benefits must be on a par with a plan’s medical benefits. The ex- changes will be open to individ- uals and to small businesses with 50 or fewer employees. Advocates say they are


pleased on the whole with the newlaws. But they are watch- ing closely to see whether plans try to erect roadblocks to treat- ment by claiming it’s not medi- cally necessary, for example, or requiring that someone get pre- approved before receiving ser- vices, says AndrewSperling, di- rector of legislative advocacy for theNational Alliance on Mental Illness. For the Bryan family of San Antonio, the newlaws are al- ready making a difference. Their 17-year-old son,Kevin, has had bipolar disorder since he was a child. But as he went through adolescence,Kevin be- came increasingly paranoid and out of touch with reality, says his mother, Chris. About three years ago clinicians deter-


mined he suffered from schizo- affective disorder, a diagnosis that led to a change in his medi- cation and a doubling of his outpatient therapy visits to twice a week. Unfortunately, the health


plan covered only 52 outpatient therapy sessions annually, so by August or September of each year, the Bryans were paying $60 out-of-pocket each time Kevin had an appointment, or roughly $3,000 a year. “I kept making the point to the insurer that it was cheaper to cover his visits than to have him wind up in the hospital,” says Chris Bry- an, but nothing changed. Under the newparity provi-


sions, the annual cap on visits was lifted.Now, whenKevin visits his therapist, his parents are responsible only for a $15 co-payment.He is responding


Insurance coverage for mental illness is often skimpier than for a physical malady.


well to treatment and consider- ing going to college next year. Looking down the road,


Chris Bryan says the family may also benefit from the pro- vision in the health-care over- haul that allows adult children to stay on their parents’ insur- ance plan until age 26. “We were starting to worry about how to get him coverage as an adult,” she says. Mental health advocates are


particularly pleased that the health-care overhaul will also beef up coverage of preventive services, including screening for depression and alcohol mis- use. In September, the Depart-


ment ofHealth andHuman Services announced nearly $100 million in grants under the newPrevention and Public Health Fund. They include more than $20 million to help local behavioral health agen- cies integrate primary care into the mental health care they al- ready provide, and another $5 million to establish a national resource center dedicated to the integration of physical and mental health care. Integrated care is critical, say


experts. The life expectancy for someone with serious mental illness is 25 percent lower than that of the average person, ac- cording toNordal, in part be- cause of metabolic problems re- sulting from the long-term use of powerful psychotropic drugs. Sharing information among health practitioners can reduce the severity of mental illness and save lives.


This column is produced through a collaboration between The Post and Kaiser Health News. KHN, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health-care-pooicy organization that is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente. E-mail: questions@kaiserhealthnews.org.


Memory Loss from A to Z


FREE Senior Health Seminar Thursday, October 21st, 2 – 4 p.m. Location: GW Hospital Auditorium


How can you tell if your memory loss is a normal part of aging or something more serious? This discussion will address the diagnosis of various conditions that can lead to cognitive impairment. Learn about treatment options for both chronic and reversible forms of memory loss, as well as current research taking place at GW.


900 23rdStreet, NW Washington, DC 20037 202-715-4000 www.gwhospital.com (Nexttothe Foggy Bottom MetroStation)


Sponsored by The George Washington University Hospital Senior Advantage Program, aspecial membership program exclusively available to adults 65 years and older.For more information or to join, please call 202-715-4263.


Physicians are on the medical staff of The George Washington University Hospital but, with limited exceptions, are independent contractors who are not agents or employees of The George Washington University Hospital.


Panelists: James K. Cooper,MD, Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine; Katalin E. Roth, MD, JD, Director,Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine; John W. Philbeck, PhD, Associate Professor,Psychology; Anthony Caputy, MD, Professor of Neurosurgery; Samuel Potolicchio, MD, Professor of Neurology; Donald Shields, MD, Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery


Seating is limited, so please register today.


1-888-4GW-DOCS 1-888-449-3627


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